WEBVTT 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:05.529 >> Erika Gee grew up like any other Los Angeles kid, playing with Barbie and 00:00:05.529 --> 00:00:10.689 clutching on to Pooh Bear for dear life. But she was different. Her grandfather 00:00:10.709 --> 00:00:16.190 was not who he said he was. He'd come to the United States from China illegally 00:00:16.210 --> 00:00:22.230 as a Paper Son, paying about $1800 to attach himself to another family. 00:00:22.250 --> 00:00:28.550 >> I found out in high school. I was pretty surprised, and the legacy is that in 00:00:28.570 --> 00:00:33.729 some ways our family came in illegally, and I was wondering are we going to get 00:00:33.750 --> 00:00:34.969 deported? 00:00:34.989 --> 00:00:39.149 >> Now, 35 years old, Erika Gee is with the Angel Island Immigration Station 00:00:39.170 --> 00:00:41.529 Foundation, an organization that has researched Paper Sons. 00:00:41.549 --> 00:00:46.749 >> Who are these people? They don't have the same last name as us. How could 00:00:46.769 --> 00:00:48.489 they be related to us? 00:00:48.509 --> 00:00:54.539 >> One scholar estimates 150,000 Paper Sons and Daughters committed this crime 00:00:54.559 --> 00:00:57.479 to navigate around the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. 00:00:57.500 --> 00:01:01.929 >> We have to remember the times. It was during the Chinese Exclusion Act, and 00:01:01.949 --> 00:01:07.849 at the time, and still is today, the only law in the U.S. immigration history 00:01:07.869 --> 00:01:12.549 books that specifically excluded a specific group of people, and those were 00:01:12.569 --> 00:01:14.950 Chinese laborers. 00:01:14.969 --> 00:01:19.930 >> 125 years ago this month, the Chinese Exclusion Act was approved by Congress. 00:01:19.950 --> 00:01:24.269 It stated that in the opinion of the government of the United States, the coming 00:01:24.289 --> 00:01:28.530 of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain 00:01:28.549 --> 00:01:29.629 localities. 00:01:29.649 --> 00:01:34.069 >> The fear among the Californians and those especially in the Bay area of all 00:01:34.089 --> 00:01:38.290 these Chinese wanting to take over their jobs. These were all people that were 00:01:38.310 --> 00:01:42.409 willing to work, that helped to build the railroads and yet when the railroads 00:01:42.429 --> 00:01:46.640 were completed, all of a sudden there's this hysteria about the Chinese 00:01:46.659 --> 00:01:48.489 invading. 00:01:48.509 --> 00:01:54.230 >> For 61 years until 1943, it was illegal for Chinese who were not among the 00:01:54.250 --> 00:02:00.030 elite to enter the United States. David Leong was a Paper Son. He was eight in 00:02:00.049 --> 00:02:04.959 1940, the year he came through Angel Island Immigration Station, the main 00:02:04.979 --> 00:02:10.119 gateway for Chinese immigrants. While on the boat for 20 days, he memorized his 00:02:10.139 --> 00:02:14.519 coaching papers, grand cheat sheets, that outlined who your fake parents and 00:02:14.539 --> 00:02:19.099 siblings were and who lived on certain blocks of your would-be family village in 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:24.949 China. Young David had to convince his Angel Island interrogators he was the son 00:02:24.969 --> 00:02:27.419 of a Mr. Chan and not a Mr. Leong. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:33.139 >> So this is the interrogation room. This is where you walked in after three 00:02:33.159 --> 00:02:38.019 weeks and what do you remember of this? 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:44.469 >> I think it was me, interpreter and interrogator, and I think two people on 00:02:44.489 --> 00:02:45.489 the panel. 00:02:45.489 --> 00:02:49.799 >> Leong passed the interrogation, and that's why today he was able to return 00:02:49.819 --> 00:02:54.439 with us to Angel Island Immigration Station. Today, there's only a rebuilt 00:02:54.459 --> 00:02:59.189 foundation of where the main administration building once stood. As we walked, 00:02:59.209 --> 00:03:03.609 Leong spoke about his acting ability as an 8-year-old and the life he escaped 00:03:03.629 --> 00:03:04.689 from in China. 00:03:04.709 --> 00:03:13.369 >> The Japanese was -- plane was shooting at us, and missing us but then 00:03:13.389 --> 00:03:17.739 [inaudible] was hitting the sand, and the sand was rising just as you see in the 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:19.489 movies. 00:03:19.509 --> 00:03:23.329 >> Leong escaped a war as well as dirt floor living conditions to come to the 00:03:23.349 --> 00:03:27.859 United States. On Angel Island, he was alone with no family and recalls the 00:03:27.879 --> 00:03:28.879 fears he had. 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:33.479 >> At night, I won't go to the bathroom at all. People -- I heard people had 00:03:33.500 --> 00:03:34.500 commit suicide in there because they couldn't [inaudible]. 00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:45.109 >> The fear Leong shares is what litters the walls of the Angel Island barracks, 00:03:45.129 --> 00:03:50.879 poems of melancholy retrospectives of life in China or simple hopes of freedom. 00:03:50.899 --> 00:03:55.419 Daniel Quan is an architect specializing in museums and has been researching the 00:03:55.439 --> 00:03:57.779 history of Angel Island for 13 years. 00:03:57.799 --> 00:04:04.229 >> The frustration that was felt by many of the detainees was written on the 00:04:04.250 --> 00:04:10.259 walls as a statement or sort of silent statement, and so for them, the feeling 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:13.619 was this was a prison because they were just being held with -- against their 00:04:13.619 --> 00:04:18.720 will. And for a lot of people, this was -- they heard about the immigration 00:04:18.740 --> 00:04:24.259 process in China but actually have experienced it and lived in the wooden 00:04:24.279 --> 00:04:29.319 building as they called it -- was something very different for them because they 00:04:29.339 --> 00:04:31.389 weren't used to be helding against their will. 00:04:31.389 --> 00:04:35.959 >> Under reconstruction now, the barracks here at Angel Island Immigration 00:04:35.979 --> 00:04:40.290 Station held some 300 detainees at a time. The purpose was to keep them here 00:04:40.310 --> 00:04:44.100 from two weeks to two years as they were interrogated. They were trying to keep 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:49.470 out illegal immigrants, potential Paper Sons and potential Paper Daughters. 00:04:49.490 --> 00:04:54.189 Today, no one can enter inside the buildings of Immigration Station. The walls 00:04:54.209 --> 00:04:59.050 are falling, halls dangerous with holes in the floor and the paint mosaic of 00:04:59.069 --> 00:05:03.829 delapidation. Still many visitors come to the island to learn about their own 00:05:03.849 --> 00:05:05.410 past. 00:05:05.430 --> 00:05:09.629 >> Often we've met people that come over here, and they learn about their 00:05:09.649 --> 00:05:15.230 parents' past through researching the national archives or through meeting 00:05:15.250 --> 00:05:20.329 people that have worked with Immigration Station project and didn't even know 00:05:20.349 --> 00:05:22.030 about it through their own family. 00:05:22.050 --> 00:05:26.129 >> That is because many Paper Sons and Daughters still feel embarrassment or 00:05:26.149 --> 00:05:31.500 even fear of being deported to this day, which takes us back to Erika Gee. She 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:35.500 was lucky enough to hear from her own grandfather who broke his silence and told 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:39.399 her real family name was Chen. But some questions remain. 00:05:39.419 --> 00:05:43.319 >> Are you glad that your grandfather committed the crime? 00:05:43.339 --> 00:05:49.670 >> In some ways, no because it was a crime, but at the same time, I'm really 00:05:49.689 --> 00:05:55.810 fortunate that he did, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for the risks 00:05:55.829 --> 00:05:58.500 that he took in order to come over to the United States and to provide a better 00:05:58.500 --> 00:06:00.370 opportunity for his family. 00:06:00.389 --> 00:06:03.910 >> And when asked about immigrants trying to do what her grandfather did a 00:06:03.930 --> 00:06:06.129 century ago, she waivers. 00:06:06.149 --> 00:06:09.669 >> I don't know. I don't know if I feel comfortable saying it's okay for people 00:06:09.669 --> 00:06:12.449 to come in. 00:06:12.469 --> 00:06:13.490 >> It's perplexing for you, isn't it? 00:06:13.490 --> 00:06:15.160 >> Yeah. 00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:18.879 >> Hundreds of thousands of Chinese Americans face a similar dilemma. 00:06:18.899 --> 00:06:22.959 Researchers suggest that one in three Chinese Americans are survivors or 00:06:22.979 --> 00:06:28.240 descendants of the Paper Son system. That's about one million people. And many 00:06:28.259 --> 00:06:31.699 only learn of their background as a love one takes the paper secret to their 00:06:31.699 --> 00:06:34.089 grave, which was the case for Erika's cousins. 00:06:34.109 --> 00:06:39.930 >> Some of my cousins are a little confused because they don't read Chinese, and 00:06:39.949 --> 00:06:45.699 -- but then they know our character Gee, and then they're like well where is it 00:06:45.719 --> 00:06:46.879 on the tombstone? 00:06:46.899 --> 00:06:50.939 >> Erika still visits her grandfather's grave site to pay her respects to a 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:56.850 tombstone that has not one but two names engraved. His Paper Son name in English 00:06:56.870 --> 00:06:59.620 and his real name in Chinese. Richard Lui, CNN Oakland, California.