PBS Continues To Spread Misinformation on Locke

Recently Georgia Public Broadcasting and NPR affiliates of PBS published a piece on Locke, titled, "This Historic California Town Is A Living Legacy To The Chinese Immigrant Experience" by John Ruwitch.  Well, sadly the article is chocked full of historical errors. Nothing surprises me anymore, but it sure is frustrating to see history being pushed that is not only false, but very blatantly one-sided. 

Anyone who knows me, knows I love the quote by Cicero that states, “It is the first law of history that the writer should neither dare to advance what is false, nor suppress what is true.”

I literally live by that quote. When I started researching the history of Locke, and started to peel back the layers, like an onion, I realized there was so much history within this town-- but the scary part was that there was a group of people dead set on keeping the real history forgotten and buried. The more I dug, and the more I found this out, the more I wanted to shine a light on the truth for everyone to see. And honestly, I will never stop. I will keep digging and sharing the facts with the world. I am like a pit bull, and once I get hold of something "God help you," 'cause I am not going to let it go.

Going back  to this particular article, I wanted to briefly go through a few of the points they attempted to push, which are clearly false or misleading and instead share with you the facts.

As the journalist John Ruwitch wrote about the scenery of the location being  like an “rundown movie set for a Western.” Well, that’s because it was. Documented history shows that the town was actually built by Caucasian carpenters. It was made exactly like any other western town was built back then, and I could take you to town after town across the entire United States and show you the architecture is the same.  Locke was no exception.

One thing that people don’t seem to understand, because certain people continue to perpetuate a continued lie over and over, year after year, but Locke was not “Founded by Chinese immigrants.” As hard as it is to believe this, the documented history shows that Locke was founded by a lot of people, and yes, Chinese were among those who helped start the town, but it was not founded by them.

Why is it that the Locke family are always a footnote or an afterthought when it comes to the history of their town? That is something people should really think about. Had it not been for the Locke family, the town of Lockeport (or later Locke) would not even exist. Period.

Going back to the article, there are a lot of errors in it that the public should be made aware of.

For one, the fact that Chinese never owned land in Locke had absolutely nothing to do with the Exclusion Act.  It was because the land was owned by the Locke family, and they were never going to break it up and sell it. It was their estate. The Locke family allowed a town to be built on their private property for a reason, and it was for their own benefit. It was never about discriminating.

In fact, there were many Chinese in Locke who owned businesses and voted, (they are in the voting registry) and they couldn’t have voted back then unless they were citizens, which meant they had “papers.” Legitimate or not, if they had papers that meant they could own land. Remember, the only ones who couldn’t own land were the ones who were “immigrants.” Many of the Chinese had “fake papers,” which said they were born here, thus they had the right to own land, and therefore that silly theory about them not being able to own land goes right out the window.

Lockeport had already ‘started’ per se,  a few years before the Walnut Grove fire, when the Locke’s had buildings constructed near their Packing House and their Lodging house to cater to their workers and the railroad workers (who by the way were also Caucasian). The Locke Boarding House predates all the buildings in Locke, and has absolutely no history within the Chinese residents in town.

Also, the Libby, McNeil, Libby company had purchased a piece of land literally on the north western tip of where the Locke family’s property sat, and they were building their new cannery during the early part of 1915. Mr. Locke knew that this cannery would bring in a lot of people to work. What better way to cater to them than to have a small town less than ½ mile down Old River Road?

Lockeport was in its early beginnings before the Walnut Grove fire, but by October 1915, when the fire occurred, the Lockes agreed to allow some of the Chinese families (as well as others from all different countries) to come to Locke to start over. Mr. Locke cleared 14 acres of his own orchard (that wasn’t cheap; even back then) to clear an area for the town to be built up. He invested his own money into the town, too.

He had saloons and brothels built, and those continued to run for many, many years. The post office was established in Lockeport, and it was Clay Locke who was the post master. George Carlton was the town constable. Tell me again how the town was founded by Chinese?

Now, let’s get to the mention of Al the Wop’s.  Al came to Locke and was very good friends with the Locke family.  In fact, when he came to Locke in the early 1930s he opened up his restaurant known as “The New Locke Café.” The Chinese didn’t do any favors for him, he came because he wanted to start over in a small town and the Locke family were his friends. Again, it is very easy to make stuff up about a dead person when he isn't here to confirm it. It seems to be a habit over there.

Locke, from its very beginnings was a cultural melting pot of people from all nations. As time went on even more people flocked to Locke, and by the 1930 Census records show 550 residents of Locke, (136 separate "households"). Most of the residents at the time were Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, American, Italian, along with Swedish, German, Japanese, Filipino, Mexican, Turkish, Armenian and various others.

For those of you interested in the true history of Locke, I encourage you to dig deep. Go to the primary sources, not books by other writers pushing their agendas. Go to the source. Go as far back as possible, That is how you find the truth. I cannot emphasize that enough.

Locke is a beautiful town and has a wonderful and colorful history, but a history full of all walks of life that helped create and build it. Not just one group. 

(Copyright 2021- J'aime Rubio, www.jaimerubiowriter.com)

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