For new readers and those who request to be “好友 goodfriends”  please read  my 公告栏 first.

In the current season of the American Presidential Election, for  minority immigrants to the US less than 65 years old, it is difficult to imagine  the three  legislative acts in the first half of the1960s initiated by the President  and passed by the US Congress that greatly benefitted Asians.

1.    The Civil Rights Act of 1963. This Act forbids discrimination based on religion, race,and national origin in everyday American lives

2.    The Voting rights Act of 1964. This removes all kind of voting restrictions  designed to prevent minorities from exercising their right to choose  at the voting box

3.    The Immigration Act of 1965 which  removed restrictions against Asian immigration and equalized quota among all immigrants.

It is hard to imagine the environment of the US before 1960:  when I had difficulty to rent apartments during my first job in Detroit during 1955-57, and  the African-Americans beaten, bloodied, andlost their lives to secure  these  rights  which now we enjoy. Every night my wife and I after dinner  would say to each other “ how lucky we are to have lived through this past  half of the American Century”. The old Chinese saying of“when you drink the life  sustaining water, think about the source饮水思源 ” bears repeating  for the younger  generation.