Dusky Peril

Dusky Peril is a term used by Puget Sound American a daily newspaper[1], published from Bellingham, Washington, USA, to describe the immigration of what it described as Hindus to the area, in its 16 September, 1906 issue by way of a feature article.[2] It has been considered as an expression of xenophobia similar to the term Yellow Peril, that found practice in white and non-white countries across the globe in those times.[3] The term is analysed to have both an ethnic and a religious dimension. The article is in response to the immigration of 17 individuals to the town.[4] The article's headline is "Have we a Dusky Peril: Hindu hordes invading the state" with the byline going thus, "Bellingham workmen are becoming excited over the arrival of East Indians in numbers across the Canadian border and fear that the dusky Asiatics with their turbans will prove a worse menance to the working classes than the "Yellow Peril" that has so long threatened the Pacific Coast."

An article from the September 16, 1906 Puget Sound American describing recent "Hindu" immigration to Bellingham, Washington.

Hindu-American reaction

Shefali Chandan writing in Jano conjectures that the emotions behind the circumstances that led to the ethnic cleansing of Bellingham in 1907, in which white mobs went door to door to locate Indian immigrants and forced their expulsion, resulting in the entire community numbering about 200 leaving the town for good, found expression in the feature article written less than a year ago.[5]

References

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