Audio: The forgotten war against
Chinese Americans

Author Jean Pfaelzer broadens the context of the immigration debate

By Will Femia

Producer

MSNBC

updated 4:00 p.m. ET July 9, 2007

The immigration debate currently gripping the United States typically focuses on low-skilled labor crossing the southern border or the threat of terrorists slipping through the system, past our guard. In her new book "Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans," Jean Phaelzer gives the issue a longer view through the context of Chinese immigrants. Going back to the gold rush and extending through the Civil War and the turn of the century, Phaelzer exposes a largely forgotten history of violent discrimination.

Pfaelzer joined MSNBC.com's Will Femia on the phone to talk about what motivated anti-immigrant sentiment then and the lessons we can draw from that period in considering the matter in present day.

MP3 Audio

Left click to listen or right click to save the mp3 recording of Jean Pfaelzer on the phone with MSNBC.com's Will Femia.

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