Yakima Valley Anti-Filipino Riot
The Yakima Valley Anti-Filipino Riot was an Anti-Filipino riot that took place from November 8-11, 1927 in the Yakima Valley of Washington. In the late 1920s anti-Asian sentiment in the US grew, culminating in the Immigration Act of 1924. Unlike other Asian groups at the time, Filipinos were permitted in the country as a result of the US Colonization of the Philippines, and although they were legal residents, they still faced a great deal of discrimination. Many of these workers found jobs in Eastern Washington on the numerous farms in the area. At the same time the Ku Klux Klan had been exploiting this existing anti-Asian sentiment with the residents of the valley, claiming to protect white women from the threat of interracial dating, and local men from the source of cheap labor. In November of 1927 this culminated in a series of intimidation and threats by the KKK in the valley. Beginning the night of November 8th, a mob gathered at a local boarding house owned by an interracial couple, demanding all Filipino boarders leave town. Throughout the week Filipino workers were threatened with death if they did not leave the valley. Most were forced onto trains out of town, or simply left on foot. Those who remained were put into the county jail for their own protection. Overall hundreds of Filipinos were forced out of the valley as a result of the riot, which was finally ended November 11th. In the aftermath of the incident, the local leaders were arrested and put on trial, eventually being found guilty by an all white jury and sentenced to 10 days in jail.
