User:Carabinieri/anti-chinese

In the course of the 19th century, some 1,000 Chinese indentured servants migrated to Jamaica, then a British colony; this mirrored similar migratory movements in a number of Caribbean and Latin American countris. There would be a further influx of Chinese from nearby Trinidad and Guyana from the 1860s to the 1880s The Chinese were brought to the island to serve as agricultural laborers, but soon managed to leave the plantations, often before their five-year contracts expired. By the 20th century, few, if any, Chinese worked in agriculture. Most managed to establish themselves in commerce in Jamaica's cities. By the beginning of the 20th century, 61 percent of Jamaica's Chinese population lived in the capital of Kingston. Just 0.3 percent of the island's population was Chinese. Yet, 13 percent of those in retail were. Most of Jamaica's Chinese, were ethnically hakka. Based on their common language and ethnicity, they created credit associations, mutual aid societies, schools, newspapers, chamber of commerce, and homes for the poor, elderly and infirm.(Hu-DeHart, 69,70,71,76,77,78

On July 7, 1918, a Chinese grocer, Fong Sue, left his store in Ewarton, Saint Catherine to be looked after by Caroline Lindo, his lover. A local policeman, Acting Corporal McDonald, proceeded to sleep with Lindo in Sue's absence. Sue returned to the shop unexpectedly and found the two. Along with several friends, he beat McDonald who ultimately managed to escape. McDonald would not reappear until two days later, on July 9. In the meantime, rumors spread that McDonald had been killed by Sue. According to these rumors, McDonald had threatened to prosecute Sue for leaving his shop open on Sundays. After police unsuccesfully searched for McDonald all day on July 8, a hostile crowd assembled before the Ewarton police station. (Johnson 19,20)


 * 
 *