On May 12, students from the University of Massachusetts Boston’s class, Boston’s Asian American Communities, met in person for the first time on a trip to visit the Chinese burial grounds at Mt. Hope Cemetery. Led by Professor Peter Kiang, the class visited the site in part to remember the lost lives of Asian American workers in the Atlanta shootings, while they also discussed the issues of injustice represented by the condition of the tombstones. In more ways than one, the cemetery is a symbol.
“This was such a year of loss,” said Kiang. “…It is a beautiful space. It is supposed to be a rest in peace space. But honestly, compared with the rest of the cemetery, [when it comes to] inequality [because of], race, language, culture, immigrant status, and money – there’s less status and recognition in this corner of the cemetery. No one can come here and not see it with their own eyes.” He added, “We are seeing inequality, historically, in the public cemetery in Boston, in relation to Asian American communities, in death, not just in life.”
According to Kiang, the Chinese immigrant burial grounds are a demonstration of racialized segregation of Boston’s Chinese immigrants after their passing. The gravestones are notably smaller and simpler than those in the rest of the cemetery, and many are crumbling or deteriorating, gathering weeds. In an essay written by Kiang, he describes how the upkeep of the Chinese burial grounds are in many ways a reflection of the City’s historic attitudes towards Asian American immigrants.
“More importantly, though, the City’s obvious neglect of the public cemetery’s Chinese section mirrored the unequal levels of quality, care, and attention throughout the City’s racially segregated streets, schools, and neighborhoods. By the 1980’s, hundreds of the Chinese gravestones had eroded or been broken and displaced, due to vandalism and institutional disregard as well as the cumulative effects of harsh winter weather in Boston and the low-cost, poor quality of materials originally used for the stones,” writes Kiang.
In the past, Asian American Studies students, faculty, and alumni have participated in cleanup actions and documentation projects. Student Jaely Pereira spoke to the importance of honoring the memory of Chinese immigrants, many of whom have been “othered” through the segregation of the tombstones, and she said that she wondered whether the deceased have family members nearby to hold them in their thoughts and visit the site. Tianmi Feng, a teaching assistant in Kiang’s Introduction to Asian American Studies class, said that it is important for the lives to be respected.
“Maybe the people who are resting in peace here don’t even have families anymore in the US. Maybe they moved out of the US – we never know,” said Feng. “They have to be memorialized. They have to be remembered. That is the reason why I come here, because I don’t want them to be forgotten.”
The students were excited to be convening in person for the first time. Tran Do, who is not in the class but was visiting with a friend, said that the pandemic and virtual learning have posed challenges for students, being unable to meet classmates or professors in person. Kira Mathiesen, who is a student in Kiang’s course, said that meeting up with the class was an uplifting chance for everyone to come together.
“We’re still able, as students, to connect and just pick it up, even though there was no starting point – there was a virtual one. Naturally, we were kind of all here for each other,” said Mathiesen. “[…]It’s refreshing.”
Pereira remarked on the tragic events that the country has born witness to and emphasized that people must continue to honor the lives of people of color, not only as a response to hate crimes or acts of discrimination.
“Especially with everything that’s happened this past year, it’s really important to recognize and uplift multiracial and interracial solidarity,” said Pereira. “[…] It’s important to not just honor after something happens or for a certain month but to uplift Asian American lives and experiences, as well as people of color’s lives and experiences, throughout the whole year, and it is important for communities of color to come together and honor each other’s lives and stories,” said Pereira.
Kiang said that many of the deceased at the burial ground were working class immigrants who died from tuberculosis, a disease that is similar in transmission to the coronavirus. Having a public cemetery where individuals can find a peaceful resting place is important, though the burial ground is linguistically, culturally, and racially segregated and suffers from a lack of attention.
“Many of the men who were here died of tuberculosis,” said Kiang, “without the family members, the support to have their bones returned to their home villages, where the proper recognition and accounting for their life and their generational representation and their linkage across generations would be taken care of. It’s not taken care of here, in general. And so we do our part.”
