On November 14, 2022, Texas state Senator Lois W. Kolkhorst introduced Senate Bill 147 aiming to ban citizens, governments and entities of countries including China from purchasing real property in Texas.[1] This bill, while early in the state legislative process, has invoked outrage in both national and local Asian communities.

Discrimination in housing and real estate transactions against people of Asian heritage is not news in U.S. history. The infamous Alien Land Laws originated from California in 1879 throughout the Union – including Texas in 1891, 1892, and 1921 - that traced their roots from the anti-Asian racism in U.S. history manifested in discriminate bills and incidents: the Page Act of 1875, Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Immigration Act of 1917 and Asiatic Barred Zone, the Immigration Act of 1924 and the national origin quota, the Internment of Japanese Americans, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and countless of lynching against Asian Community including the murder of Vincent Chin, etc.

Against the backdrop of past years’ anti-Asian rhetoric and a sharp increase in hate crimes and incidences during the COVID-19 pandemic, Senate Bill 147 raises alarms in both Asian American communities and the nation as a whole on visible and invisible discrimination against people of Asian heritage.

Similar to the Alien Land Laws in the 19th and 20th centuries, Senate Bill 147, if in effect, is discriminatory, unlawful, and unconstitutional. It is against the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Const. amend. XIV. §1, it is against the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3601, et seq., it is against various Federal and State case laws overruling the Alien Land Laws including but not limited to Oyama v. State of California, 332 U.S. 633 (1948). Senate Bill 147, if in effect, is against the law of the land.

We call on the Texas Legislature not to pass Senate Bill 147 and to censure state Senator Kolkhorst. We also call on Governor Abbott to veto the bill should it pass the state legislature.

About Texas #StopAsianHate: Texas #StopAsianHate is a gross root organization that is in the process of incorporation based in Round Rock, Texas. We wish to make our voice heard, and push for racial and social justice.

 
[1] Website: https://www.thecentersquare.com/texas/new-bill-would-ban-certain-foreign-entities-from-purchasing-land-in-texas/article_d1604e42-94eb-11ed-a16d-57b52d89086c.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share; date of visit: Jan. 16, 2023.