<P> Both SJR 23 and SCR 122 acknowledge and celebrate the history and contributions of Chinese Americans in California . The resolutions also formally call on Congress to apologize for laws which resulted in the persecution of Chinese Americans, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act . </P> <P> Perhaps most importantly is the sociological implications for understanding ethnic / race relations in the context of American history: there is a tendency for minorities to be punished in times of economic, political and / or geopolitical crises . Times of social and systemic stability, however, tend to mute whatever underlying tensions exist between different groups . In times of societal crisis--whether perceived or real--patterns or retractability of American identities have erupted to the forefront of America's political landscape, often generating institutional and civil society backlash against workers from other nations, a pattern documented by Fong's research into how crises drastically alter social relationships . </P>

In the 1880s congress proposed the chinese exclusion act which