Denver's Halloween riot( Colorado History the centennial state ) Essay

Denver's Halloween riot( Colorado History the centennial state ) - Essay Example The Chinese first settled in Colorado during the 1860s; they were drawn there by the completion of the transcontinental railroad and demand for cheap labor (Hall 77). They existed amidst poverty, wretched living conditions, and persecution, and they mostly worked in mines, laundries, and as house servants. By 1880, hostilities between other immigrants and the Chinese had intensified as competition between them for jobs increased and opium dens habited by the Chinese getting negative publicity from the local press (Brown 178). The Chinese were accused of invading the state and therefore forcing women into prostitution and men into starvation. There were accusations that California had already been ruined by Chinese labor and that Colorado was then threatened with similar disaster (Historical Findings 18). One week after the Rocky Mountain News reported about the looming disaster in Colorado due to Chinese invasion, Halloween riot erupted in Denver. The riot began when a group of four drunken white men attacked Chinese men who were playing pool along Wazee Street at John Asmussen’s salon (Brown 179). Soon after, a crowd of about three thousand started throwing bricks and breaking into the homes and stores of the Chinese. Attempts by the police to calm the riot were futile as they were vastly outnumbered by the crowd and were not able to stop the growing violence. As a result of the riot, Chinese homes and business in the area were gutted (Hall 85). Denver’s Halloween riot is important in history of Colorado; even though the riot did not immediately end the struggles with underlying issues of racism, it helped to address the challenge of racial prejudice in the long run (Brown 180). Since then Colorado has grew to be among the top states for business. In 2010, it was rank ed as the third top state for business falling behind Texas and Virginia. The state has been able to overcome the challenge of