Radio Rootz' This Day in History

• produced by Hana Georg
• in

A huge earthquake shook San Francisco, destroying much of the city. While the National Guard is praised for its heroic relief efforts, few know about the excessive brutality it used to persecute the Chinese-American population in the aftermath of the earthquake. Additionally, the city also forcibly evacuated Chinatown in order to gain control of the real estate. This natural disaster allowed businessmen and politicians to profit while reorganizing political structures in their favor, revealing the severe power imbalances between the rich and the poor, and whites and non-whites. And then, almost a century later, there was Katrina.