This is What Happened When I Asked for Help {"Chatting" with the phone company}

 AT&T Company ‘Chat’ Transcript

On June 17, 2022, I contacted our phone and internet provider AT&T, using the “Chat” feature on their website, to request help getting service restored after a windstorm knocked down the lines. 

We didn't actually chat; I typed in a message and they responded (or they sent me a canned response).

My typed messages are in black; the typed responses  of the customer service reps are in color. This is a transcript of that 69-minute chat.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Reference Number: 16554796806762538 DATE/TIME: 2022-06-17 10:26:47

*Your chat transcript:*

Good morning!

💻 >>>>>>>>>>Friday 10:26 AM CDT<<<<<<<<<<<< 💻 

[AT&T] : Hi, I'm your AT&T automated assistant. How can I help you today?

[Me] : Phone service (and power) at XXX W___ , Madison,  went out the afternoon of Monday, June 13, 2022. We called AT&T on Monday to report the outage. Now it has been four days and there has been no sign of an ATT&T repair crew.

The residents are both over 70 years old and one of us is disabled. The cell phone we were using died, so we have no way of communicating, except using this Chat on-line (at the public library)

[AT&T] : Sorry, I didn’t understand that. Could you ask your question again with fewer words? You can ask follow-up questions later, if you want.

 Tip : You can say things like "How much is my bill?" or "I lost my phone."

[Me] : Where is the AT&T repair crew?

[AT&T] : So I can get you the right info, what service are you asking about?

 - AT&T Internet

 - AT&T Digital Phone

[Me] : Repair downed phone lines

[AT&T] : So I can get you the right info, what service are you asking about?

 - AT&T Internet

 - AT&T Digital Phone

[Me] : WE HAVE NO PHONE SERVICE

[AT&T] : So I can get you the right info, what service are you asking about?

 - AT&T Internet

 - AT&T Digital Phone

[Me] : PHONE

[AT&T] : So I can get you the right info, what service are you asking about?

 - AT&T Internet

 - AT&T Digital Phone

[Me] : AT&T Internet

[AT&T] : Choose a topic to chat about:

 - Billing, usage, plans & equipment setup

 - Payments

 - Shopping

 - Order status

 - Moving or changing service

 - Troubleshooting & repairs

 - Sign-in help

[Me] : Troubleshooting & repairs

[AT&T] : Let me try connecting you with someone who can get you the help you need.

***Connected to live agent***

***Naomi is here to help!***

[Naomi] : ​Thank you for contacting AT&T! My name is Naomi. I'm happy to help you today

[Naomi] : Hello Steven

[Me] : Phone service (and power) at XXX W___ , Madison 53711 went out the afternoon of Monday, June 13, 2022. We called AT&T on Monday to report the outage. NowiIt has been four days and there has been no sign of an ATT&T repair crew. The residents are both over 70 years old and one of us is disabled. The cell phone we were using died, so we have no way of communicating, except using this Chat on-line (at the public library)

[Naomi] : I completely udnerstand your concern

[Naomi] : No worries I will help you

[Me] : When can we expect a repair crew?

[Naomi] : Not to worry here the best thing I can do is I will quickly involve our technical specialist on chat to check this for you right away, is that fine for you?

[Me] : Yes

[Naomi] : Thank you for confirming

[Naomi] : Please do not disconnect the chat you will get connected soon

[Me] : OK

***Naomi transferred chat to Amaal***

***Amaal's here to help!***

[Amaal] : hello.

[Me] : Amaal, when can we expect someone to repair our downed phone lines? The windstorm on Monday, June 13 tore down trees, which pulled down the phone lines from the pole. The trees have been removed and electrical power was restored.

[Amaal] : Hi Steven!  My name is Amaal.  I'm happy to help.

[Amaal] : I understand how frustrating it can be to have no phone service at home. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you, and I can help you with that!

[Amaal] : Please do not worry, I own this case now and I will take care everything for you.

[Me] : So, when will you have a repair crew out here?

[Amaal] : Let me get the earliest available slot for you.

[Amaal] : Just to confirm, May I know the affected phone number?

[Me] : 608 XXX-XXXX

[Amaal] : Thank you.

[Amaal] : Apart from this, I just want to ask are all of your computers and devices able to connect to the Internet?​​ ​

[Me] : NO. We have no landline or internet service.

[Amaal] : Thanks for the info!

[Amaal] : Please do not worry. I will schedule the technician and completely resolve the issue for you.

[Me] : We need to go shopping for all the groceries we had to throw away and then we need to start cleaning up the huge mess that the storm created. The more precise you can be about when the repair people will be here, the better we can plan our time. That's why we need to know when you will have a repair crew out here.

[Amaal] : Sure, I am checking for the earliest avaialble slot.

[Amaal] : May I know the best alternate number to reach you?

[Me] : You have no way of contacting us. The cell phone we were using died, so we have no way of communicating, except using this Chat on-line (at the public library)

[Amaal] : Please do not worry, Since the all service is down , I will quickly schedule the technician and completely resolve the issue for you.

[Me] : Since you have no way of contacting us, how will we know when the crew is ready to fix our lines? Should I sit here in the library until you can tell us?

[Amaal] : Please do not worry, I had added valid notes in your account about the contacting issue.

[Amaal] : The technician will completely resolve the issue for you.

[Amaal] : I am checking for the earliest avaialble time slots , please allow me once more minute.

[Me] : I am waiting

[Amaal] : I am working with my tools to schedule, its taking longer that usual.

[Amaal] : I am really sorry.

[Amaal] : Steven , I can dispatch a technician to resolve this issue. There is no charge for the technician visit if the trouble is found in the AT&T network or equipment. If the problem is found inside your premises and the technician fixes your issue, you will be charged a $99 flat rate for the repair. However, any charges will be discussed by the technician.

[Me] : Fine. So, when will you have a repair crew out here?

[Amaal] : I could see that the earliest available slot is on WED JUN 22 between 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM.

[Amaal] : Shall I book the slot?

[Me] : NOT ACCEPTABLE. We called right after the line was pulled down on Monday. Didn't anyone record our initial contact with AT&T on Monday, June 13? If so, why haven't we seen any sign of AT&T around our house? If not, why not?

[Amaal] : In this case ,I will transfer the chat to my supervisor to assist you further

***Amaal transferred chat to Sanjay***

***Sanjay's here to help!***

[Sanjay] : Hi! My name is Sanjay. I'm happy to help! Let's get started

[Sanjay] : As I checked the details, I could see that the earliest time slot is on Wednesday( June 22) between 12pm to 4pm

[Sanjay] : Can I reserve it for you?

[Me] : NOT ACCEPTABLE. We called right after the line was pulled down on Monday. Didn't anyone record our initial contact with AT&T on Monday, June 13? If so, why haven't we seen any sign of AT&T around our house? If not, why not? We are very tired of waiting for a response. This is poor customer service. 

[Sanjay] : I am really sorry and we do not have any earliest time slot available, I will add the notes and in case if there is any earliest time slot we will inform you

[Sanjay] : Would that be okay for you?

[Me] : You have no way of contacting us. The cell phone we were using died, so we have no way of communicating, except using this Chat on-line (at the public library)

[Sanjay] : I am really sorry and we have slot available on on Wednesday( June 22) between 12pm to 4pm

[Sanjay] : Can I reserve it for you?

[Me] : NO Please turn this over to someone with more authority.

[Sanjay] : I am really sorry and in this case we need to check with the loyalty team and I would request you to call the dedicated team on this number to fix the issue 18002882020

[Sanjay] : Just checking to see if you are there so we can continue.

[Me] : WE HAVE NO PHONE!  We have NO phone service and the cell phone we were using died, so we have no way of communicating, except using this Chat on-line (at the public library) Is this not clear? WE CAN"T CALL YOU or anyone else until you get someone over here to fix the phone lines. 

[Sanjay] : I really understand your concern and we have time slot available only on June 22 between 12pm to 4pm

[Sanjay] : Can I reserve it for you?

[Me] : NO - PLEASE TRANSFER THIS CHAT TO YOUR SUPERVISOR

[Sanjay] : I am one of the supervisor and I have tried to get an earliest time slot, unfortunately the slot is no earliest time slot available 

[Me] : TRY HARDER

[Sanjay] : I am really sorry and we do not have a earliest time slot as of now

[Sanjay] : You can also check later in myatt app to get an earliest time slot

[Me] : You need to move us up to the top of the list.. We called right after the line was pulled down on Monday. Didn't anyone record our initial contact with AT&T on Monday, June 13? 

[Sanjay] : I am really sorry for this and I have tried to get an earliest time slot and unfortunately we do not have a earliest time slot available

[Me] : If I have to travel back to the library to use their wi-fi to contact you, it seems like it would be a better use of my time to  contact a different phone service.

[Sanjay] : Alright and in case if there is any earliest time slot we will notify you, let me reserve the June 22 between 12pm to 4pm time slot for you

[Sanjay] : Would that be okay for you?

[Me] : You didn’t answer my question about whether anyone recorded our initial contact with AT&T on Monday, June 13.

[Sanjay] : Alright and I can see the details and since there is an issue with a connection we need to schedule a technician

[Me] : Good idea. And remember, WE DO NOT have a phone, so you CAN'T CONTACT US.

[Sanjay] : Let me reserve the June 22 between 12pm to 4pm time

[Sanjay] : And in case if there is any earliest time slot you will be notified

[Sanjay] : Please make sure all AT&T equipment is accessible to do repairs. Our technician will not move any furniture. 

[Sanjay] : An adult 18 years of age or older must be on-site for the duration of your Service Call and reachable on the day of the service call. 

[Sanjay] : Ensure all pets are secured while the technician is present. 

[Sanjay] : Ensure all pets are secured while the technician is present. 

[Sanjay] : A text message will be sent to the all AT&T customers with the status of the appointment. You can reply to the TEXT with HELP and the text will be answered by our live agent which would reduce your need for call back. 

[Sanjay] : You can just note down the link to track the tech on the appointment date. The link you can use is : https://www.att.com/global-search/search?q=track+technician&autoSuggest=true 

[Sanjay] : Is there anything else I can assist you with?

[Sanjay] : May I know the best number to reach you

[Me] : HOW CAN I EXPLAIN THIS?******WE HAVE NO PHONE! *****We have NO phone service and the cell phone we were using died, so we have no way of communicating, except using this Chat on-line (at the public library) Is this not clear? WE CAN'T CALL YOU or anyone else until you get someone over here to fix the phone lines. NO WAY YOU CONTACT US. Get it?

[Sanjay] : I am really sorry and I understand your concern, unfortunately we do not have a earliest time slot available

[Sanjay] : I would request you to wait for the technician to come and fix the issue

[Me] : I think I need to CHAT WITH YOUR SUPERVISOR, NOW

[Sanjay] : I am really sorry and I am one of the floor supervisor and we have got the earliest time slot for you

[Sanjay] : We have June 19 between 12pm to 4pm time

[Sanjay] : That is the earliest time slot we have, can I reserve it for you?

[Me] : You have a supervisor. Please transfer this chat to your boss, now.

[Sanjay] : I am really sorry and I am the end point of this chat and I am one of the floor supervisor

[Me] : This is nonsense, but go ahead and reserve Sunday June 19 between 12pm to 4pm Central Daylight Time.

[Sanjay] : Alright and let me reserve the time slot for you

[Sanjay] : Please make sure all AT&T equipment is accessible to do repairs. Our technician will not move any furniture. 

[Sanjay] : An adult 18 years of age or older must be on-site for the duration of your Service Call and reachable on the day of the service call. 

[Sanjay] : Ensure all pets are secured while the technician is present. 

[Sanjay] : A text message will be sent to the all AT&T customers with the status of the appointment. You can reply to the TEXT with HELP and the text will be answered by our live agent which would reduce your need for call back. 

[Sanjay] : You can just note down the link to track the tech on the appointment date. The link you can use is : https://www.att.com/global-search/search?q=track+technician&autoSuggest=true 

[Sanjay] : Is there anything else I can assist you with?

[Sanjay] : Thank you for choosing AT&T. We appreciate your business!

***Sanjay left the chat***

__________________________________________

Bye for now! We hope we helped.

[Me] : You are going to send a text to a landline phone? You want us to track the tech online using a computer that has no internet connection?

***Sanjay left the chat***

>>>>>>>>>Friday 11:35 AM CDT<<<<<<<<<<

_________________________________________

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2022 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.

AT&T and Globe logo are registered trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property.

📞 EPILOGUE: Six days after the storm, an AT&T repair person arrived on Fathers Day, Sunday, June 19 and repaired the broken phone line in about 40 minutes.

This Scares Me

2022, Steven B. Zwickel

The photos of Putin greeting the Ayatollah sent a shiver down my spine.

I can see what Putin gets from befriending Iran—an ally in his war against Western culture. The Iranian government has cracked down on Western art, entertainment, news media, and ideas like democracy, sexual equality and freedom of speech. That’s what Putin wants to do, too.

But what does Iran get from being Putin’s pal? They don’t need Russian gas or oil; they have plenty of their own. What does Putin have that the Iranians want? Could it be Russian nuclear warheads and missiles capable of reaching the US?

Now a much stronger shiver is running down my spine.

Becoming a Teacher {…was never my intent}

 Becoming a Teacher

Steven B. Zwickel

October, 2021

At the end of 2019, I retired from teaching at the University of Wisconsin after 28 years. It wasn't my first teaching job. Before that I had been an Adjunct Professor at the Madison campuses of Upper Iowa University,  Concordia University , and Cardinal Stritch University. I taught adult ed courses for Edgewood College, the State of Wisconsin, UW Minicourses, and many other places. By the time I began teaching at U.W–Madison, I already had a lot of experience. I just didn’t plan on  becoming a teacher.

When I was 12, I swore I would never become a teacher. Both my parents were schoolteachers and I loathed their endless writing and grading of quizzes and cranking out lesson plans; the stacks of papers waiting to be graded that seemed to have a permanent home on our dining room table, and the dark winter nights when my parents came home exhausted from having to attend in-service training sessions after a whole day of teaching. 

I promised myself that my dining room table would remain bare and beautiful when I grew up. I broke my promise and for many years my table groaned from the weight of papers needing grading, textbooks, and rubrics for all my courses.

In 1992 I had the misfortune of being laid off during an economic recession. My unemployment benefits were extended, but I really needed to find a job as quickly as I could. That’s why, when the UW advertised for someone to teach a technical presentations course, I jumped at the chance. While it was a new topic for me, my natural chutzpah kicked in and I blew them away in the interview. A few months into the semester, the Program Director needed someone to take over the technical writing course. One thing led to another and within a year I was teaching undergraduates full time. And that is how I became an educator.

I loved teaching and I was very good at it. I had good rapport with my students, even though I was teaching required courses that they didn’t like having to take and didn’t value very much. I taught communication courses in the College of Engineering, where math and science acumen is acclaimed and writing and speaking skills are not always accorded equal respect. All through their education, students who went into engineering got a lot of positive reinforcement for their math and science skills; no one ever told them they were good at writing or speaking. 

Grading was tough—grade inflation made it hard to give them the Cs that many of them deserved. Motivating them to work at their communication skills was also difficult until I found the key. If I could impress them with my expertise and the breadth of my knowledge (depth was not an issue, since I have no background in engineering and did very poorly in math after high school), then I could get them to a point where they wanted to please me, to show me how smart they were and how well they could learn the skills of good writing and speaking. Not every student was won over, but it happened often enough that I felt justified in giving them good grades for their work.

I enjoyed my job, but I couldn’t understand why someone who was so set against having a teaching career, would become a teacher. Then I had a conversation that gave me a new perspective.

One of my students invited me to be her “honored guest” at a student-faculty dinner. We were seated with another professor and student and started making small talk. The other professor told me he taught an introductory course in genetics and one of the students in that class had invited him to the dinner. We talked about teaching undergraduates and how hard it was, sometimes, to reach them. 

I asked him how he’d gotten into teaching and learned that he’d followed the usual path, from Teaching Assistant while working on his Ph D to taking on other assignments once he was hired as a professor. 

I told him my story and then I asked him, “Is there some kind of “teaching gene” that brought me into this career?”

He laughed. “No, there is no such thing as a teaching gene. However, there has been some research into what might be an inherited tendency to enjoy watching other people learn. You may have inherited that from your parents.”

That was great for me to hear. I loved it when my students did well. I used to do a little celebratory dance when I gave an A for great work. And I know I got a terrific thrill from that “aha” moment when one of my students “got it”—understood that the lesson wasn’t just about the moment, but had broader applications to the wider world as well. For me, teaching was not just about helping my students acquire academic skills; it was preparing them for lifelong involvement in learning and contributing to the community. I have no doubts about the value of what I did; my students who went on to work in business and industry frequently told me that they apply the lessons learned in my classes just about every day. 

And I learned a heck of a lot from them, too.

What to Wear to the Trump Funeral

Steven B. Zwickel, 2021

I have been thinking about what will happen when #45 passes away, and some of my imaginings are a bit unsettling, to say the least. He turned 75 in June, 2021, he’s in bad shape, physically and psychologically (banned from Twitter), so we have to consider what will happen when the inevitable comes to pass.

       Two possible scenarios—the sudden and the lingering. If he collapses and dies quickly, it will take a while for the conspiracy theorists to come up with alternative realities, but I am sure they will come through. Needless to say, they will be helped by politicians of all flavors. Those farthest out on the right, in the region where Q-Anon and off-world beings dwell, will certainly claim that #45 was done in by a) antifa b) Pelosi c) Lyn Cheney or d) heavily armed critical race theorists. 

Let me be the first to suggest that it was Melania, in the gold-plated bathroom, with a stiletto heel.

       Of course, if he lingers, it will be much, much worse. The prayer vigils will begin immediately. The danger is that his base base will troop to Mar-a-Lago, with their guns and loads of ammo, ready to take out whoever they deem responsible for ending his life. They will camp out, getting angrier and less rational by the day. This could drag on for days until his bloated body, already weakened by the virus, slowly comes to an end. What happens after that? No one knows, but these folks have a history of violence, so anything is possible.

       The reaction from the Republican politicians will be something to see. Save these quotes, because future generations will never believe this stuff. Can’t you hear Mitch McConnell telling the world that, “He’s not dead until I say he’s dead.” 

Or Ophthalmologist/Ambitious Politician Rand Paul, “I’m a doctor and many of my patients were just as sick as he is and a few of them survived.” 

Or Ron Johnson, “The Democrats want you to believe he’s dead, but we have a majority of 60 Republican medical examiners who will testify that he may not be.”

       Kevin McCarthy, drifting even further away from reality, may decide to introduce legislation that would allow dead people to run for office.

       There could be a mad scramble among Republicans to seize the mantle of the great man, each claiming to be the true heir. Republican primaries will be interesting, as they all try to out-Trump each other. Can’t you hear them, as they proclaim that they KNOW what he would want them to do. 

If we are very, very lucky, a few will take this opportunity to free themselves from bondage, but don’t bet on that. They are so used to following orders, many believe that the Republicans  can no longer think for themselves.

       If the Democrats have any cleverness in them, they will salute the late president by saying, “President Trump’s legacy is that he made it clear to us that too many Americans feel left out and left behind. We hope all Americans will get behind us as we push for the new programs we are working on that will help rectify that situation.”

       No matter how he goes, some loonies are sure to gather in Florida, believing that, after 3 days, he will surely come back to life, like you-know-who. 

       Others will allege that he never died at all, that he has gone into hiding (from the “witch hunt”) and that he will return when the coast is clear {Meanwhile, “Stand down and stand by!} “TRUMP SIGHTED LUNCHING WITH ELVIS”

       The looniest of all will be the guy who claims to BE the man, having had some plastic surgery or some such nonsense. You will be able to see him on Fox News; he may even get his own show.

       Can you see Putin proclaiming the loss of Russia’s greatest friend and offering to have him interred in the Kremlin? Ivanka will thank him and offer, instead, a lock of hair as a relic to be kept in St. Basil’s—after all, the man was a martyr and a saint, wasn’t he? Maybe Kim Jong-un will get jealous or angry or (fill in any psychopathological diagnosis here _______) and launch a nuclear-tipped missile to express his feelings about the death of his good buddy.

       And then there’s the obituary problem. How do you write an obit for someone who spent his entire life promulgating one lie after another? I hope newspeople have been keeping track of this, because it’s going to be really difficult to pull together a truthful obit at the last minute.

       The funeral possibilities are terrifying. Will they let him lie in state in the nation’s Capitol? Can you imagine the reaction to that proposal? 

       Where can they hold a funeral that won’t end in a shooting civil war? Imagine the cortege moving slowly down some broad avenue in Florida/Washington/Some other city.  Those who hated him will stand on one side and those who worshipped him on the other. Passions will run high and there will be guns…. 

       Yipes! I am not going. 

Call or Write your representative TODAY! {Don't waste your time!}

2021, Steven B. Zwickel 

I keep getting phone calls and messages from various groups urging me to write or call my elected officials. I am supposed to tell them how I feel about a particular issue and encourage them to do something about it. What nonsense!

First, my elected officials have access to tons of polls and market research so they already know exactly how I, and millions of my fellow citizens, feel about these issues. In many cases they apparently choose to ignore this information. They don't care how I feel. Telling them how I want them to vote in a phone call or letter is a waste of time.

Second, while they can, and will, ignore the many calls and letters they receive, they seem to have no hesitancy about responding to those which include a check for a large campaign contribution. No one can deny that money, BIG money, influences lawmakers. 

Since I am not rich enough to cut a check for $1,000,000 or more, I have no influence, except, I still have the power of the vote. Right now, in many states, politicians are trying to reduce that power.

So, forget about writing or calling your legislators. Without having a fat wallet, voting is the only way you and I can really have any political power. If you don’t have loads of money, your only power is the vote. Use it wisely, cherish it, and fight like hell to keep the politicians from taking it away from you.

Immigrants from China {Module #5}

Immigrants from China were among the groups most discriminated against. Many laws, starting with the 1790 Immigration Act, kept them from becoming naturalized citizens and denied them the rights of white Americans.1 In 1882, Congress passed The Chinese Exclusion Act—the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States—which suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and declared Chinese immigrants ineligible for naturalization.2 

Old Chinatown, Los Angeles, scene of the Chinese Riots of 1871 courtesy USC Libraries Special Collection

Motives for immigration

The “push” to emigrate from China came from natural disasters, internal upheavals, and imperialistic aggressions in China during the 1840’s and 1850’s. 

The 1840’s and the 1850’s in China were full of natural calamities. The major ones were a severe drought in Henan Province in 1847, flooding of the Yangtze River in four provinces, and a famine in Guangxi Province in 1849.3 

Flood and famine in Guangdong [Kwangtung] gave way to the catastrophic Taiping Revolution (1850-1864), which devastated the land, uprooted the peasantry, and wrecked both the economy and political system. China’s attempts to stop traffic in opium led to two wars that China lost—the first with Great Britain in 1839–42, the second against a British-French alliance in 1856–60.4 The treaties that ended the wars gave the Europeans special trading and territorial rights, which made social and economic conditions worse. 

Things were particularly bad in the area in southern China around Guangzhou (Guangdong/Canton) and Hong Kong—the Pearl River Delta—where there was “constant warfare” and the “usual floods and droughts”.5 The natural calamities, wars, and changes in agriculture left many peasants without land to work and few jobs available.6 Not surprisingly, the Pearl River Delta was home to many of the immigrants who left China for the US in the 1850s.

The “pull” to emigrate resulted from the discovery of gold in California and the economic opportunities in the United States.7 News of the discovery of gold in California came to the Pearl River Delta first,8 then spread like wildfire and attracted thousands of gold seekers to California.9 Among them were 325 Chinese “forty-niners.” The number of Chinese in California increased from 2,716 in 1851 to 20,026 in 1852.

To make emigration from China even more attractive, it was often financed by brokers who acted like employment agencies. They used a “credit-ticket” system, in which a borrower was advanced enough money to pay for his fare and small expenses.10 After arriving in the US, the borrower had to repay the loan plus interest within a predetermined span of time. Failure to repay on time led to additional charges, and, unlike the contract-labor system, the creditor wasn’t obliged to find employment for the borrower. This arrangement was similar to that of a pawnshop.11 

Demand for labor in some parts of the world was so great that it led to the kidnapping of workers in China. These abductions became known as “Shanghai-ing.” Usually they involved getting laborers, called coolies, to undesirable places where the work was hard or the climate severe, so it really didn’t affect Hawai’i or California.12

By 1882, when the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act ended large-scale Chinese immigration, about 300,000 Chinese were living in the continental United States.13

Help for immigrants

Chinese immigrants were helped by groups called huiguan. Each of these were made up of immigrants who came from the same part of China for mutual aid. {Chinese hui guan or hwee kuan 會館, literally means “meeting hall”}14

The huiguans provided mutual aid, self-protection, and homeland ties. They also worked to improve the social habits of the immigrants. One writer said of the huigans, “They are somewhat like American churches! The buildings furnish beds, fuel, and water to guests who remain for but a short period; also a lodging place and medicines for the infirm, aged or sick. Means are bestowed upon such to enable them to return to China.”15

The huigans were originally benevolent organizations, formed to help the Chinese come from and return to China, to take care of the sick and the starving, and to return corpses to China for burial. The huiguans also smoothed the way of the immigrants by organizing sea passages from China to America and back, negotiating with contractors to supply gangs of laborers, looking out for the interests of their members generally, and, later, protecting the immigrants from white racist hoodlums. The huigans were run by the richer and better educated among the immigrants, in the paternalistic manner typical of 19th century Chinese society.16 

Over time, some of the huigans became associated with criminal enterprises, such as the triads—secret societies that became crime syndicates in America—and the tongs—some of which were trade associations and some of which were criminal gangs. 

“Tongs were organizations of former rebels that had fought in or supported a series of uprisings and regional conflicts back in China. When they arrived in America, they switched their focus to the money they could make from facilitating the ‘three vices’ that were associated with Chinatowns in California; prostitution, gambling and opium. The Hip Yee Tong was originally formed with a mission to protect Chinese women from prostitution, but soon became the largest provider of prostitutes when they realized the enormous profits to be made.”17

You may not know about - Race Riots in Los Angeles and Wyoming

In 1871, the huigans in Los Angeles were involved in criminal activities and one night, in the Chinatown section of LA, two huigans got into a fight over a prostitute. The LAPD and a civilian tried to intervene and one cop was wounded and the civilian was killed. An angry lynch mob of Whites charged into Chinatown. Eighteen Chinese were hanged by the mob, equal to more than 10% of all the Chinese living in Los Angeles. None of those involved in the hangings went to jail. It was one of the worst race riots in American history.18 

The Los Angeles race riot was not the worst anti-Chinese activity. In 1885 in Rock Springs, Wyoming (then a Territory), Chinese miners were massacred.19 On September 2, white miners, angry because the Chinese were willing to work for less, rioted and then started killing Chinese. By the end of the day, 28 Chinese laborers were dead20 and many others injured. More than 75 Chinese homes were burned down. The attackers were apparently mostly immigrants: A remarkable fact in connection with the butchery is, that but a few, if any, of the mob are citizens of the United States. Cornishmen, Danes, and Poles appeared to predominate.21 No one was punished for the murders. News of the Wyoming riot spread and touched off more anti-Chinese riots in Washington Territory and Oregon in 1885 (Tacoma), 1886 (Seattle) and 1887(Hells Canyon). In the 1880s, Chinese communities were attacked in 34 towns in California.22

The US Library of Congress materials on Chinese immigrants includes this:

“… immigrants from China were forced out of business, run out of town, beaten, tortured, lynched, and massacred, usually with little hope of help from the law. Racial hatred, an uncertain economy, and weak government in the new territories all contributed to this climate of terror and bloodshed. The perpetrators of these crimes, which included Americans from many segments of society, largely went unpunished. Exact statistics for this period are difficult to come by, but a case can be made that Chinese immigrants suffered worse treatment than any other group that came voluntarily to the U.S.”23

You may not know about - Mississippi Settlers

From 1850 to 1864, China underwent the Taiping Rebellion, a massive civil war between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty army and Taiping Christian "Heavenly Kingdom" rebels. Between 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 Chinese died in this war. In one province—Guangdong, near the area where the rebellion began—as many as 1,000,000 people were executed.24

Between 1863 and 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad was extended across the USA, laying tracks from outside Omaha, Nebraska, to Oakland, California. To build the railroad, the Central Pacific recruited Chinese immigrants, who were both interested and available, and employed about 12,000 to 15,000 of them— many from Guangdong province.25

The American Civil War ended in 1865 and the railroad was completed in 1869. At that point, some of the Chinese immigrants went back to China, some stayed in California, and some moved to the Mississippi Delta, responding to cotton planters’ need for a workforce to replace the freed slaves. Chinese laborers, “were cheap, disposable, and politically voiceless.”26 

They were paid for their work, and free to leave it, as most of them did when they could, to build their own economic means—largely businesses “serving the black community when the white community wouldn’t.”

The Chinese realized that working on a plantation did not produce economic success, so they turned to opening and running grocery stores. The first Chinese grocery store in Mississippi likely appeared in the early 1870s and some became shopkeepers and landowners.27

By the end of the 1870s, the Chinese had abandoned the plantations and were opening small family-owned grocery stores in many small towns of the Delta. The Chinese were middlemen between blacks and whites, often providing a needed contact point in a segregated society. Most modern Mississippi Delta Chinese are the descendants of Chinese who arrived in Mississippi during this time. Until the end of the 1900s, Chinese-owned groceries could be found in every Delta city and town, serving both white and black customers.28

The huiguans continued to be active in California, but for the Mississippi Chinese, religious organizations, like the Chinese Baptist Church in Cleveland, Mississippi, served as a center for weddings, community service projects, fundraising activities, funerals, and other occasions that brought the extended Chinese community together.29 

Steven B. Zwickel, 2021

Notes

1  United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization” (March 26, 1790). Under this law, naturalization was specifically limited to “free white persons.”

2 History.com Staff “Chinese Exclusion Act” (2018) https://www.history.com/topics/immigration/chinese-exclusion-act-1882 

3 Janku, A. “Drought and Famine in Northwest China: A Late Victorian Tragedy?” Journal of Chinese History (2018; v.2 n.2) p. 373-391 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jch.2018.4

4 “The Opium Wars in China” Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada https://asiapacificcurriculum.ca/learning-module/opium-wars-china 

5 Mei, June “Socioeconomic Origins of Emigration: Guangdong to California, 1850-1882” Modern China (Vol. 5, No. 4 (Oct., 1979), p. 496 Doi: https://www.jstor.org/stable/188841  Dr. Mei notes that in “Guangdong, we find that domestic turmoil and economic decline resulted in the inability of the countryside to provide an adequate means of livelihood for a growing population.” p. 492

6 Mei, June “Socioeconomic Origins of Emigration: Guangdong to California, 1850-1882”

Dr. Mei argues that the main push for Chinese emigration was that, in China, “industrial development was slow and inadequate for a variety of reasons, and the domestic economy could not absorb this "free" labor force” at a time when the US could offer good-paying jobs. p.498

7 Chen, Yong "The Internal Origins of Chinese Emigration to California Reconsidered" Western Historical Quarterly (Winter, 1997, Vol. 28, No. 4.Oxford University Press) Pp. 520-546 Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/969884 

Chen offers evidence to show that socio-economic conditions in the Pearl River Delta—the part of China from which most immigrants to the US came—were not significantly worse than in other parts of China. She feels that the pull of the California Gold Rush and economic opportunity in the US were more powerful drivers of emigration than poverty.

 8 Chen, Yong "The Internal Origins of Chinese Emigration to California Reconsidered” p.541

“Legend has it, for example, that a man named Chun Ming, who had come to California as a merchant earlier and became a successful gold miner during the Gold Rush, was among the first to break the news to people back in Canton from overseas. (Liu, Boji Meiguo Hua jiao Shi, {“A history of the Chinese in the United States of America, 1848-1911”} (1982, Taipei: Liming Cultural Business).p.36. ) Based on such news that they learned one way or another, local Chinese formed their image of California: during the very first years of Chinese emigration, they knew California as "Jinshan" (meaning "Gold Mountain" or "the Country of Gold" in Chinese). Indeed, gold was what most early emigrants had in mind when going to California. A Chinese-language article in the San Francisco-based The Oriental stated that "most of the Chinese arriving in this city are gold-miners," and few came for other reasons.(The Oriental, San Francisco; 15 February 1855)”

9 Chen, Yong "The Internal Origins of Chinese Emigration to California Reconsidered" p. 522

10 wikipedia.org entry for “Credit-ticket system” citing Cloud, Patricia and David W. Galenson. “Chinese Immigration and Contract Labor in the Late Nineteenth Century,” Explorations in Economic History 24.1 (1987): p. 26.

 11 Mei, June “Socioeconomic Origins of Emigration: Guangdong to California, 1850-1882” p.499

 12 Mei, June “Socioeconomic Origins of Emigration: Guangdong to California, 1850-1882” p.478

 13 “Chinese Immigrants: Push-Pull Factors”; https://immigrationtounitedstates.org/425-chinese-immigrants.html

14 wikipedia.org entry: “Kongsi” {a southern Chinese term for company or corporation}

15  The Oriental: or, TUNG-NGAI SAN-LUK. SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1855: “THE CHINESE COMPANIES THEIR MEMBERS, NUMBERS, AND PROPERTY”

16 “The Six Companies: Historical Essays”; Dr. Weirde & Kevin J. Mullen’s Chinatown Squad; https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Six_Companies

17 Edwards, Christopher “Homeland Comfort in an Alien Land: The Role of the Huiguan in Exclusion Era Los Angeles” Toro Historical Review; https://thetorohistoricalreview.org/2019/04/16/homeland-comfort-in-an-alien-land-the-role-of-the-huiguan-in-exclusion-era-los-angeles/

18 Zesch, Scott. The Chinatown War: Chinese Los Angeles and the Massacre of 1871. New York, NY: Oxford Press, 2012.

19 wikipedia.org entry for “Rock Springs massacre” Other sources describing the massacre include:

◆ Storti, Craig The Incident at Bitter Creek: The Story of the Rock Springs Chinese Massacre (1990, Iowa State Press) ISBN-13: 978-0813814032

◆ “Rock Springs is Killed”: White Reaction to the Rock Springs Riot http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5042

◆ “Rock Springs Massacre Victims Plead for Justice” https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/790

◆ Alexander, Dave “Legends Of America Riot in Rock Springs Leads to Massacre” https://www.legendsofamerica.com/wy-rockspringsriot/

◆ Milner, Clyde A. II, Butler, Anne M., and Lewis, David Rich eds. Major Problems in the History of the American West 2nd Ed “Miners and Cowboys: Chinese Accounts of the Killings at Rock Springs, 1885” (1997, Houghton Mifflin Co.; Boston/New York) ISBN: 9780669415803 Pp. 316-319

◆ Gardner, A. Dudley “Wyoming and the Chinese: Cultural Diversity, 1850 to 1895” http://www.wwcc.wy.edu/wyo_hist/ev.wyoming_and_the_chinese.htm 

20 Bromley, Isaac H. The Chinese Massacre at Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, September 2, 1885 (1886, Boston, Franklin press and 2018, Sweetwater County Museum Foundation; Green River, WY) ISBN-13 : 978-1986672238 According to Bromley, the riot left 22 dead and another 26 presumed dead p. 91

21 Bromley, Isaac H. The Chinese Massacre at Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, September 2, 1885 p.53

22 National Park Service “A History of Chinese Americans in California: the 1880s” https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/5views/5views3e.htm 

23 “Intolerance” https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/chinese/intolerance 

24  wikipedia.org entry for “Taiping Rebellion”

25 Hua, Vanessa ”Golden Spike Redux" National Parks Conservation Assn; https://www.npca.org/articles/2192-golden-spike-redux?s_src=g_grants_ads&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIk-rZjvC76wIVAtvACh2E3gRPEAAYASAAEgKhu_D_BwE

26 Jones, Josh “Learn the Untold History of the Chinese Community in the Mississippi Delta”;<http://www.openculture.com/2017/09/learn-the-untold-history-of-the-chinese-community-in-the-mississippi-delta.html>

27 Wilson, Charles Reagan Mississippi History Now  “Chinese in Mississippi: An Ethnic People in a Biracial Society” http://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/articles/86/mississippi-chinese-an-ethnic-people-in-a-biracial-society 

28 wikipedia.org entry for “Chinese Americans in the Mississippi Delta”

29 Wilson, Charles Reagan “Chinese in Mississippi: An Ethnic People in a Biracial Society” Mississippi History Now

Talking Points {What they are and how to use them}

Talking Points

Steven Bernard Zwickel

May, 2012

Talking points are used by advocacy groups to keep members “on message.” They give people in the organization a way of staying on track—so they don’t wander off topic, contradict, or say something completely different than what others in the same organization are saying. They’re supposed to be prompts: not read word-for-word (unless one is doing a live phone interview).

Talking points are internal. They should not be sent out as press releases. In fact, the content is often sensitive, so one should never write and distribute talking points that one wouldn't want outsiders to see, because they do leak out.

For external use, one may turn talking points into a separate fact sheet, which you can give out and which reinforces the messages and themes in the talking points. Most of the time, talking points are presented as a list of items. Talking point items should be short and simple, but if you give out a fact sheet, you can add more information to support the items on the list and it can be longer and you can refer readers to reliable and credible sources that support the items on the fact sheet.

Because they have become associated with political propaganda and the spread of misinformation, talking points have negative connations for some people. Various sources give different definitions of “talking points”:

• “a topic that invites discussion or argument." Definitions from Oxford Languages <https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/>
• “something that lends support to an argument” Merriam-Webster Dictionary
• “A position or planned series of remarks on an issue or an aspect of an issue, 
  especially when used to help guide a person's discourse in public and in the media” American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. ©2016 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
• “a fact or feature that aids or supports one side, as in an argument or competition” dictionary.com Unabridged {Based on Random House Unabridged Dictionary © 2021 by Random House, Inc.}

Good Talking Points: Clear and Concise

• Strongest point first: If your people can only say one thing, what would it be? Make that your first talking point. Offer support for your idea. Keep it simple and easy for people to remember.
• Come up with more reasons to support your position. (People think in threes, so it’s a good idea to have three solid arguments ready to discuss).
• Anticipate questions readers/audience members will ask. What can you expect opponents to say? What objections might they raise? Think about both the rational and subjective responses people might have when you tell them your ideas. Have your answers ready ahead of time. Do not put people on the defensive. Listen and respond politely. Always be respectful of other points of view and always tell the truth.

Example of three talking points:

• This idea is the least expensive of the alternatives considered (do NOT say “cheapest”; a word that has connotations of poorly-made or shoddy).
• The proposed solution will have the longest-term impact on the problem.
• The recommended solution will have the least impact on the environment of all the alternatives considered.