This is Asian Pacific Heritage Month , and the idea is to celebrate the many contributions of Asians and Asian-Americans to life here in the US.

That is the easy part — just one meal of any Asian cuisine reminds us that, without it, North American culture as we know it today simply wouldn't be the same. And if something so fundamental like food has changed our way of life, imagine the impact of scientists, business people, languages, fashion...

Heritage Months are very important for considering who we all are.

Chinese people in North America suffered a profound discrimination that should be remembered. By 1850, California imposed a Foreign Miners Tax  to pressure non-White miners away from the gold fields, aimed especially at Hispanics and Asians.

The US economy depressed in the 1870s  and the strains brought prejudices to the surface. There was a movement to blame the Chinese for the problem. In 1882, the Burlingame Treaty, as the Chinese Exclusion Act  was formally known, suspended immigration and denied citizenship to Chinese immigrants. For those stuck here due to economic hardship, or for those who chose to stay here because it was their home, the Exclusion Act kept them in a limbo of nebulous civil rights — legalized discrimination, that is.

If Chinese people left the country, they needed certification for reentry. This basically meant sponsorship by white men. Charles Crocker , a historical giant and one of the builders of the transcontinental railroad, vouched for Chinese workers because their labor was instrumental in his personal fortune. Local merchants, business people and officials also vouched for Chinese Californians with whom they had relationships. But the burden of the process — and of individual identity itself — lay with the Chinese people who were trying to make their way trough the harsh realities of China, America, the sea, and the toil of everyday life.

In 1893, Wells Fargo's Agent in Los Angeles, William Pridham, certfied his working relationship with Wong Yuen Ark, who sought to return to Los Angeles to resume his business.

We like to assume that the two men were on good terms, but a situation where one could not act without the consent of the other reduces the respectability of both. Whatever the circumstances behind Wong Yuen Ark's and William Pridham's dealings, and however they felt about the right or wrong of the procedure, the document is a stark reminder that one of them was lesser in the eyes of the law at that time.

If you celebrate only one thing during Heritage Months, let it be that so many people had to migrate across intolerance as much as across geography. The journey from past to present is mucky and smelly, and those who made the passage deserve the moment.