Area Immigration: Where We’ve Been and Who We Are Now

In collaboration with the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and other community partners, KQED presents “Bay Area Immigration: Where We’ve Been and Who We Are Now,” a public forum on Wednesday, December 13 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the San Francisco Public Main Library.

Panelists Bill Ong Hing, Professor of Law & Asian American Studies at University of California at Davis, and Nu Nu Kadani of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration will lead a lively discussion about how the history of immigration affects who we are today and what this means for the Bay Area. Specifically, they will address the following topics:

• Many Bay Area immigrants aren’t aware of the diverse history of immigration that preceded them. The Bay Area has been home to many large immigrant populations stretching back almost 200 years. Large black, Chinese, Irish, Japanese, Latino and Russian communities settled in the Bay Area and started new lives. Why did they immigrate and when did they arrive? Which immigrant communities live in the Bay Area now?

• Are certain communities left out of the immigration conversation and debate? Do African Americans consider themselves immigrants or migrants? What experiences do new African immigrants encounter? Where does this leave American Indians?