Seriously??!!

I don't know which is worse; the fact that the sign was put up in the first place or that it took the Mayor 108 years to apologize.

Okay, a little history here.

This is one of a series of historical markers along Harris Street in Fairhaven, Washington. Alan Rhodes, writing for Whatcom Watch in August 2006 commented on this one as follows:

"I can't recall a single minority group in America that has not at some time in history been the victim of discrimination, and around the turn of the 20th century the Chinese were a focal point of much popular bigotry. Brought to Fairhaven as cannery workers, they were restricted to segregated bunkhouses near the cannery and denied free access to the town. In 1905 a machine was invented that automated the fish-gutting process, putting many Chinese out of work. In a triumph of offensive language, the machine was called the 'Iron Chink'".

Mr. Rhodes went on to wonder ".....if the Whatcom Minutemen had been around here a hundred years ago, would these paunchy paladins have plopped themselves down in lawn chairs to scan the landscape with their binoculars, determined to do their patriotic part in keeping the Chinese on their side of the line?"

I shudder to think.