HOM SHEE MOCK
35" X 29" Acrylic on canvas
Based on an Angel Island Immigration mug shot.
of MY MOTHER'S MOTHER
Her father's sir name was Hom, my grandfather's
surname was Mock, I do not know her name.
She was sold to my grandfather, a U.S. citizen, in1922, and brought to San Francisco from China in the cargo hold of the President Lincoln.
Interned and interrogated for 3 months on Angel Island,
there was doubt regarding the parentage of the baby boy in her arms.
He was a "paper son". My grandfather brought him to the U.S. to sell.
PAPER SONS:
The Chinese Exclusion Act 1882-1943;
prevented laborers from bringing potential wives/Chinese women into the US, limiting their chances of procreation. A male Chinese baby-
the Chinese laborer's pension plan
Letter from Sue Tom (Hom Shee Mock's #2 child) to Cynthia Tom (Sue's#2child)- May 4, 1998
Dear Cyndy,
Thank you for the wonderful tribute to my mother. Your painting spoke volumes along with your imaginative installation. She paid dearly for being a woman sold into marriage with a man whom she did not know, coming to a foreign country where she did not speak the language. She had no friends or family to call upon, except a mother-in-law, who probably was a tyrant and treated her like a servant, that was tradition.
Ethel had some (my mom's friend) thoughtful observations of your painting. She saw the sadness in my mother's eyes, but she also saw the anger in my mother's face. You seem to let her have her anger. In her day, being sold in marriage to a stranger was the norm, rather than the exception. A woman had neither choice nor say in the matter.
I was always taking care of my siblings and even my own parents. As soon as I was able to understand English, I was the one who was taken out of school to accompany my mother to the Welfare Dept. or Health Dept. to do the interpreting. The family came first, no matter what happened. I was willing to go along with it, even to the point of spending 4 years in Hassler's (tuberculosis sanitarium in Redwood City) when I didn't have to. (If you could imagine her living in a Chinese environment, including food and language, then being forced to move away to an all-Caucasian environment, all this during a time of extreme anti-Chinese sentiment.. My grandmother was suspicious of the Health Dept. They wanted to x-ray my mother's siblings before they let my mother out of the sanitarium. She would not allow it, so my mother stayed at Hassler's.)
Whenever I was let out of Hassler's, I would have to give up going back to school and sent to work instead, to help keep the family afloat. All this, my mother asked of me.
There was also the trauma of having to submit to a sexual pervert in order to obtain opium for my dad. (My grandfather died when my mom was thirteen. He was broke, an opium attack and had TB.) I thought that my parents never knew what happened. But as your father pointed out, many years after our marriage, there is no way you could send a 9 year old girl to a man's apartment alone to pick up opium without money to pay for the drugs and not know what was going on. I, in my innocence, believed Mr. Sook when he told me my parents would kill me if they knew.
I believe that was probably why my father tried to kill us all one night by disconnecting the heater gas hose, but my mom talked him out of it. Perhaps, it was his conscience and despair that drove him to it. I was supposed to have been his favorite because he wanted a little girl. I got my TB (tuberculosis) from him and watched him go through withdrawal many times. It was not a pretty picture. It never occurred to me to question my mother; I would always do as she asked in order to help her. Of course, she had to survive. She did her best because she knew little else (and never spoke English and never made any friends in the US) other than depending on her children. She was a farm girl, who had a very strong mother and according to her story, a father who would help defend the village people.
What a shame she didn't let us know as a family, that she really wanted to save money in order to by a house. It took me 5 years to work for and save the $600 that I thought was mine. Had I known that she considered the money to be hers, I would have gladly given it back to her. After I married Richard, she told my sisters that I took the money with me, as I have said I would have gladly given it back had I known.
In a way, it was fortunate that I spent my teen years at Hassler's Health Home. That's where I met Edith. She became the mother that I could talk to and who gave me advice. She stood up for me against some of the (racist) bitches that also were at the sanitarium. I also met Jenny there. She was a good person. I kept up with the friendships for many years after I left the sanitarium. Edith had quite a bit of tragedy in her life also. She acquired T. B. from her husband. Her son Johnny was a handsome guy who turned to drugs and even beat her up for her welfare money. That is how low you stoop in order to support the drug habit. Johnny spent many years going in and out of prison.
Thinking back now, my dad was a very trusting soul, ever the optimist.
My mom's mistake was not letting us all know what her goal was. She knew how dependent she was, having to live through her children. She wanted to buy a home for her own security. Mockie(oldest son) took care of her for many, many years, until she died and he was in his 60's. He took care of her and how some of my brothers and sisters could think that Mom had money, I don't really know.
