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CELEBRATING OVER 40 YEARS
FREE EST. 1974 — SEATTLE VOLUME 44, NUMBER 4 — FEBRUARY 15, 2017 – FEBRUARY 28, 2017
THE NEWSPAPER OF NORTHWEST ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. FIND YOUR INSPIRASIAN.
NEVER AGAIN
EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066 75 YEARS LATER “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Soldier naili ng up Exclu sion Orders Bainbridge on Island, 1942 . Courtesy of Museum of the History and Industry.
r Natalie, while Fumiko Hayashida holds 13-month-old daughte to Seattle on March waiting board a ferry from Bainbridge Island and Industry. 30, 1942. Courtesy of the Museum of History
, 1942. Japanese Americans r forced removal of ustry. Jackson Street afte Ind and tory His seum of Courtesy of the Mu
Japanese Am erican inm ates lined up a mess hall at Camp H in the rain outside arm Museum of History and ony, Puyallup. Courtes y of the Industry
2 — February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE OPINION
American healthcare:
All about money, hospitals, meds, and insurance By Bob Shimabukuro IE Columnist
home with other critters, like scorpions, spiders, lizards (geckos), ants, flies, mice (and sometimes, big old rats, although We go hospital with Sam. Emergency. they were generally kept outside), and of Your faddah and me talk to the hospital course, termites. man. He say, “This is serious, we can save Sam’s lockjaw story made me very him, but going be expensive. You want to apprehensive about the American medical go ahead, leave him for a few days?’ establishment. “You pay, we save. You Your faddah, he get mad. He start yelling don’t, we don’t.” at the hospital man; I calm him down. Tell Great message. him we go check with Zen (Tokuda) Uncle. Sam stay hospital, I t’ink a week maybe.” *** —Zenwa (Shima) Uncle, on what Colchicine has been used for a long time. happened when Sam contracted tetanus/ Used to cost pennies a day. All generics. lockjaw from a scorpion bite in the One company saw a loophole—none of the summer of 1944 shortly after he was born. generics had been tested. This company I had heard the story of Sam and the ran its generic through the necessary tests, hospital many times from Dad, but when got it approved, and charged that none of Uncle told me what happened (it was in the others were qualified generics. Sued the the summer after my first year in college), other companies and won. Their generic it made me think deeply about our colchicine is called Colchrys. The other families’ lives in colonial Hawai‘i. Uncle companies couldn’t sell their product. The just told the story in a matter-of-fact way, company had a monopoly and raised their like just an ordinary day in the life of our prices.” —Rheumatologist Dr. NJS family, with him finding a way to calm his younger, hot-headed brother, and working things out. It was a powerful realization, that he turned an outrageous tale of an uncaring medical staff person callously asking if we could pay the fees to save Sam’s life into an everyday story.
URL Pharma, the company that manufactures colchicine then decided to patent their formulation, Colchrys, and won a 20-year patent protection. Expiration date: February 10, 2029.
individual insurance because of a business decision—it was simply losing too much money on the Obamacare exchanges. Now a federal judge has ruled that [Aetna’s statement] was a rank falsehood. In fact, says Judge John D. Bates, Aetna made its decision at least partially in response to a federal antitrust lawsuit blocking its proposed $37 billion merger with Humana. Aetna threatened federal officials with the pullout before the lawsuit was filed, and followed through on its threat once it was filed. Photo by TaxRebate.org.uk
why I was paying so much for medicine that earlier was going for “pennies a day.” I learned about “tier reduction.” It’s a reduction that’s given only when your doctor applies for it. In other words, they don’t tell you. You have to find out about it yourself. (Well, this one I found out about from my friendly pharmacist. She advised me to call the insurance company, after I complained about the price.) Remember EpiPen for people with allergies? Went from $100 a dose to $600 for a two-pack, because “sometimes you can’t get to a hospital quick enough, so you need 2.” Daraprim for HIV patients? Naloxone for drug overdoses? These monopolies are gouging people who need their medicine. Now Takeda/URL Pharma. I’m sure there are a lot more. If you want to dig deep.
How much did they raise it? Well, Asia’s biggest drugmaker, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company bought URL Pharma in 2012, probably sensing the possibilities with patent protection, and raised the The message here: “You’ll pay whatever price from 9 cents/tablet, to $4.85. That we can get out of you, because we really translates monthly (30 days) into an in- don’t care.” I was born a year after Sam’s bout with crease from $2.70 to $145.50. *** lockjaw, and I don’t remember much what My co-pay in 2016 was about $144 for this house was like, but common among the first month, but that was for more Aetna claimed this summer that it all the houses that I remember living in, than one-a-day. And a little after that, I was pulling out of all but four of the 15 was that our family of nine, shared our called the insurance company and asked states where it was providing Obamacare It also emphasized my own internalized colonial oppression that I had been harboring over our poverty. I knew we were poor, but I didn’t get a sense of how poor until spending a year at Reed College in Portland Oregon.
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—Los Angeles Times Columnist Michael Hiltzik What more is there to say? Aetna lied when it said it was losing money. In fact, it was not. All this talk about the Affordable Care Act being a losing proposition was pure baloney. Are you listening, Mr. Speaker of the House? Paul, Paul, hello, Paul? Are you there? I often wonder about Dad and Uncle. They wanted us to make the world a better place. And I look at what’s going on now. Is it really better? We still got some pretty selfish, arrogant, greedy actors running around claiming they’re our leaders. Back home, over 65 years ago, we had a group which we all called the Big Five. They controlled Hawai‘i. Today, the world economy is controlled by the Big Eight, who control a lot more than Hawai‘i. Six of those eight are Americans. Two of them live in Washington state. How different is it? ... Really. Get Ready. Catch a Breath. Then Keep Moving. Who knows, we may catch a wave? Something is Definitely Happening here.
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INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017 — 3
IE OPINION
Funding Equity: Washingtonians stand together for targeted tax reform By Sigourney Gundy Equity in Education Coalition Every child deserves access to a great education, a safe environment, and supportive and caring adults in their lives. In Washington state, we can make that a reality in our communities by equitably funding our schools and the public services that children and families rely on. As the McCleary case makes headlines and dominates the education conversation this legislative session, community members and advocates from all across the state are coming together this February with the goal of urging the Legislature to fully fund education in addition to critical state services—not in place of. The Equity Rally being held on February 20, 2017 at the State Capitol in Olympia aims to bring together the voices of a collective, concerned community to stand together on the capitol steps with one message: “Affordable housing, health care, reliable transportation, clean air and water, reliable food sources, and a robust economy create an environment in which students are ready and able to learn and
reach their highest potential. We must not fund our education system by defunding other services!” The idea for the Equity Rally began as a way for a few organizations to demonstrate a community-wide unity in the vision for funding fairness and has grown into a movement, challenging the way funding is allocated for services in Washington state. While the organizations joining for the day may have differing mission statements, they all unite in the fact that all services are critical. Tony Lee, a key organizer of the Equity Rally, believes that the rally tells Washington legislators that the community as a collective values all services and that they will not meet the needs of children and families if these services are pitted against each other. “From education to environment, from reproductive rights to health and human services, we must ensure all of our critical state services are fully funded and not at the expense of one another,” Lee said. Student Celise Marci Owens will be participating in the rally on February 20
to represent and advocate for transgender rights and equity. Owens has experienced first-hand the harm done when state services are not working for the community and wants to see education funded without any necessary services affected. Owens believes that everyone should get involved in the Equity Rally because everyone is affected by our state policies. By being knowledgeable advocates and speaking to legislators, Owens believes that positive changes can be made to the education system. “Our decision makers need to be accountable for funding education and instituting a state budget that serves all interests and does not remove any vital services,” Owens said. Events for the Equity Rally will begin at 10:00 a.m. on the Capitol steps on the morning of Monday, February 20, 2017 and will include a plenary, rally and chain action, linking arms from the temple of justice to the Capitol building symbolizing the alliance’s unified vision of justice in the Legislature. Transportation from
various locations around Seattle and Washington state is available for any individuals interested in joining for the day. Organizers of the Equity Rally aim to have 1,000 participants join in for the cause in Olympia. For more information and to get involved please contact info@ eec-wa.org or visit the rally’s official Facebook page: Equity Rally 2017. The Equity in Education Coalition (EEC) was founded in August of 2012 out of a wide, deeply felt concern that the Washington State Supreme Court ruling, McCleary v State of Washington, would justify even deeper cuts to the state’s safety net, housing, healthcare, early learning and higher education. Today, the Equity In Education Coalition is Washington State’s largest coalition of stakeholders from communities of color and white allies who are striving to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for children of color through policy and advocacy work.
What does it mean to be a Laotian man? By Felix Sitthivong F.I.G.H.T. When the question, “What does it mean to be a Laotian man,” was presented to me, I immediately had an answer in my head. But after thinking about it for a few days, I realized that I really didn’t know. I mean anybody can come up with a common generic answer, right? But who will that benefit? I came to the conclusion that the start of being a man, not just a “Laotian” man, is being completely honest with myself. My parents came to America in the early 1980s from a tiny, war-torn, communist country in Southeast Asia called Laos. I grew up in the Eastside of Long Beach, California though. So I actually had a lot of different elements and people that influenced the Laotian man that you guys see today. As a young kid growing up, I barely knew how to speak English. Even though I was born in America, English was not spoken in my household. So you can imagine how hard it was to adapt to life outside the house once I was old enough to go to kindergarten. My parents didn’t know that they served lunch at school, so they would always pack me a lunch that consisted of our traditional foods. It wasn’t anything unusual to me, it was the same stuff that I ate every day at home. But then you start noticing the weird looks you got at lunch when the other kids were eating pizzas or ham sandwiches, and here I was eating sticky rice with bamboo shoot soup that was made using stinky fermented fish. Did I mention I could barely speak English? And the only English that I could speak had a little Laotian twist to it. So you already knew the jokes were on the way. Many Laotians, including my family, are Buddhist, so life usually revolves around what is going on at the temple, or in our language, the Wat. My grandma still routinely wakes up early every morning
to get food ready to take to the Wat for the Buddhist monks. Buddhism played a very significant role in the way my parents raised me and my siblings. We were taught to respect our elders, to be content with whatever we had, and that excessiveness was not something to strive for. Watching my grandma wake up every morning to do what she did for the monks taught me a very valuable lesson in discipline and compassion that I will always carry with me, even if I don’t always show it. In 1997, at the age of 12, I got jumped into my gang. I didn’t know any better. All I knew was the few square blocks of my neighborhood. So what I saw and learned in my own living room was totally different from how people acted on the block. I would see my dad wake up every day at 4am for work. But my older homies wouldn’t wake up until 2pm in the afternoon, yet they had all the stuff that I wanted. My parents struggled to buy us school clothes from Kmart and thrift stores while my big homies put guns, drugs, and money in the brand new clothes that they bought for us from Macy’s. My dad always taught me to respect my mom and look after my sisters, but in direct contrast to that, my O.G.’s always said “never trust a female,” and “the more women you had the better.”
I caught my case in the summer of 2010. At first, the homies were there. The women stuck around for a little while. But eventually things change and people fall off. My trial lasted a little over a month. In that short period of time, I saw two things that I’ve never seen that would change my life forever and eventually open my eyes to who really mattered. I saw my dad miss work to come support me in court, and I saw my dad cry as the prosecutor attacked me in his opening statements. There were two things my dad never did. And that was miss work or cry. Right then and there, I saw that a real Laotian man loved me. That no matter what anybody said about me, my father was there to support me and loved me unconditionally.
If somebody asked me that question, “What does it mean to be a Laotian man,” again, I have one answer: IT’S COMPLICATED! The Laotian man that my dad and uncles are is very different from the Laotian man that I’ve become. I was drawn to the streets, and the way of the hood was what I fused in with the traditions that my parents taught me. So while I respect my mom and love my sisters, I’m still that same hypocrite that will often objectify women. And even though I was raised to be content with what I have and Being raised in a Buddhist household to be a compassionate person, I still strive where we were taught to be soft spoken and to get as much money as I can by all means compassionate people was totally opposite necessary. to what gained you status in a street gang. I’d be a liar if I said I’m proud of the I was living a double life. At home I would man that I am. I’ve been gang banging for do what my parents asked, but as soon as nearly 20 years now and all I have to show my feet hit the pavement, all that went out for it is a 65-year prison sentence. It’s an the window. The people that I looked up to uphill battle every day to get up and do all sold drugs, had money, were extremely what I know is right. But every test that I violent, and had a stable of women. My ace in my math class and every time I learn parents didn’t raise me like that, so I knew something productive is another battle that lifestyle was wrong. But it didn’t won. Nobody said that life is easy, and matter. I was a young and ignorant kid that nobody owes me anything. If somebody had my mind made up. I was going to be does owe me though, it’s me. I owe it to just like my big homies.
my dad to start being a real man and start doing what is right for me and my kids just like he did. He deserves to know that his son isn’t always going to be that ignorant gang banger who speaks a foreign language with a black accent. The Laotian man that I strive to become is the man that my dad has been all my life: a man who not only loves his kids unconditionally, but shows it by working hard to provide for his family. I’m confident that I’ll eventually get there. I’m just adding a little Eastside flavor to what has already been taught to me. Felix Sitthivong #354579 is the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Awareness Group (APICAG) President. Formerly Incarcerated Group Healing Together (F.I.G.H.T.) was started by a group of Asian & Pacific Islander (API) men who were at one time incarcerated in the Washington state prison system. F.I.G.H.T. is a direct outgrowth of the organizing that many of us did through different API groups in different prisons. This organizing built deep bonds of unity among us. Together we learned about our own diverse cultures and political histories, life experiences, and perspectives. We also created cultural celebrations featuring various forms of traditional arts, like language, music, and dance. Upon being released, we stayed committed to continuing to support each other, whether inside or outside of the prison system. We support both current and formerly incarcerated APIs through mentoring, advocacy, outreach, and political education. We encourage each other to embrace positivity, compassion, strength, hope, confidence, and building healthy lives and healthy communities, while breaking the cycle of mass incarceration. For more information, visit www.fightwa.org.
4 — February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE OPINION
Using the tools of the YouTube generation How to Serve Communities through Asian American Film Festivals By Vanessa Au Seattle Asian American Film Festival The independent Asian American media landscape has undergone significant changes in the past decade. With video capture and editing technologies becoming increasingly affordable and easy to learn, the creation of short videos has become a commonplace pastime among the digital natives who make up today’s “YouTube generation.” While film festivals once served as the only vehicle for minority filmmakers to find an audience for their work, now social media platforms like YouTube let anyone publish videos for the world to see. This has helped filmmakers to share their videos quickly and gain large audiences with minimal investment in time or money. In this new media landscape, traditional film festivals can seem entirely irrelevant. But there is an alternative model of film festival organizing that negotiates this online—offline divide. Taking the best practices from traditional offline festivals and online video sharing through social channels can enable the production of an event that is not only relevant, but critical to serving the needs of local Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities. Traditional film festivals like the Northwest Asian American Film Festival and previous iterations of the Seattle Asian American Film Festival (SAAFF) have existed in fits and starts across the United States for decades. Boston, DC, Eugene, San Francisco, San Diego, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle have all been home to such events, which last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. One of the biggest challenges in operating a film festival is the months of planning and volunteer hours required. Organizing committees write grants, find sponsors, promote the call for film submissions, view the submissions, program and market the festival, and plan event logistics. Given the amount of labor for an event that might sell a few thousand tickets at most, it’s no wonder traditional film festivals have struggled and often fizzled out, while the popularity of sharing and watching online digital video has skyrocketed. Another problem facing traditional film festivals is that decades-old groups may have developed the skills for putting on successful traditional film events, but they are struggling to accommodate new media technologies. Vincent Pham (2011) observes that the proverbial “elephant in the room” among festival organizers is how to best deploy new media and capitalize on their potential, while addressing the competition that they provide. Despite the challenges of operating a film festival in this new media landscape, the reasons to do so are both abundant and important. In line with Jurgen Habermas’s (1989) theory of the public sphere, film festivals can provide a space for private people to come together face-to-face and discuss matters of common concern. Asian American film festivals in particular
can be seen to create what Nancy Fraser (1990) calls a counterpublic sphere. Films provide commentary on the experiences of Asian Americans and allow viewers to meet others with common experiences or ideas that are outside of dominant media discourses. Cindy Wong (2016) has pointed out that ethnic film festivals can serve as counterpublic spheres because they screen films that “articulate different experiences and expressions” and provide a space for the exchange of ideas that are ignored in the larger mainstream (p. 160). But with sparse resources and a volunteer workforce, it is hard enough to do what is generally considered the bare minimum for a film festival: screening films, facilitating Q&A with directors, and hosting receptions or parties. Outreach to community groups, social activists, community leaders, and scholars is generally considered a nonessential add-on. Fortunately, new media tools can be used to assist in a number of ways to sustain traditional film festivals and maintain this important counterpublic space. But successfully operating and attracting an audience for a live in-person event in this new media landscape requires two things: first, an understanding of the tools, channels, and strategies that the YouTube generation has used to build a following; and second, an event that offers more than just film screenings, because viewers are now able to view digital media at home on their personal devices. Nearly every aspect of running SAAFF has been made easier through the use of digital tools. We use an online platform called
Film Freeway for film submissions and Gala Festival Engine for building our website and selling tickets online. Additionally, we rely on a number of online collaboration tools to overcome the challenges of not having an office or dedicated meeting space. During the event, Facebook and Twitter become our primary channels for communicating the latest updates with festival attendees. Our community co-presenters’ program has a social media component too. The non-profit groups that we invite to speak and promote themselves to our audiences do so in exchange for tweets and Facebook posts about the film they’re presenting to their followers. Being competitive in the age of YouTube demands developing a social media strategy and using online tools effectively across all areas of the festival. And the payoff is great. Because traditional film festivals actually bring people together to the same space at the same time, they have the potential to facilitate a kind of community engagement that can’t be reproduced online. SAAFF fosters unique opportunities for unlikely faceto-face interactions, such as helping filmmakers to connect with audiences they do not typically encounter online and facilitating conversations that might otherwise not happen—between filmmakers, cast, crew, and audiences; younger and elder members of the community; and elected officials and their constituents (particularly of marginalized communities). Operating a traditional film festival has also created a space for tough conversations about issues like immigration, mental health, and sexual violence, through
discussion panels, Q&As with filmmakers, and encounters with local nonprofit co-presenters that aim to serve the community on those topics. While it might sometimes feel as though traditional film festivals are at odds with what is going on online in the digital world, it has become clear that there is still an important role to be played by traditional film festivals like SAAFF; but only if they can traverse the new media landscape by effectively using digital tools to more effectively organize, collaborate, raise funds, partner with other organizations, publicize the festival, and strengthen their unique and vital form of advocacy and community support. Excerpted from The Routledge Companion to Asian American Media. Lori Kido Lopez and Vincent N. Pham, editors. Routledge, 2017. Seattle Asian American Film Festival runs from February 23 to 26, at Northwest Film Forum and SIFF Cinema Egyptian, Seattle. For more information, visit seattleaaff.org. References Fraser, Nancy. 1990. “Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy.” Social Text (25/26): 56–80. Habermas, Jurgen. 1989. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Pham, Vincent. 2011. Mobilizing “Asian American”: Rhetoric and Ethnography of Asian American Media Organizations. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Illinois. Wong, Cindy H.-Y. 2016. “Publics and Counterpublics: Rethinking Film Festivals as Public Spheres.” In Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice, Marjike de Valck, Brendan Kredell, and Skadi Loist (eds), 83–99. New York: Routledge.
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal addresses about a hundred constituents who arrived to the open house on January 17, 2017. • Photo by IE Staff Photographer Isaac Liu
On Tuesday, January 17, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal hosted an open house at her new district office in downtown Seattle to assist the people of Washington’s 7th Congressional District. Constituents were able to meet Rep. Jayapal and her staff, and to talk about an agenda for the district. “This office belongs to the people of Washington’s 7th Congressional District,” Jayapal said. “We intend to advocate strongly for all our constituents, to assist them in tangible ways, and to build the strength of our community. Everyone is welcome at our office.” The Seattle office will primarily deal with casework, constituent services, and community outreach, including helping constituents deal with federal departments and agencies, connecting them to government services, collecting their feedback, and acting on their concerns. Jayapal’s District Office is located at 1904 Third Avenue, Suite 510.
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017 — 5
IE NEWS
Rebecca Saldaña plans to open doors for immigrants, people of color By Chetanya Robinson IE Staff Writer One of Washington state’s most racially and ethnically diverse districts has a new representative in Olympia. Rebecca Saldaña was chosen on December 12 to fill the state Senate seat previously held by Pramila Jayapal, who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November. The 37th District contains much of south Seattle, including the Chinatown-International District, Beacon Hill, the Central District, Rainier Valley, Columbia City, Rainier Beach, and SODO as well as the community of Skyway and the city of Renton. The district is around 60 percent people of color, including almost 26 percent Asian Pacific Islander and 23 percent Black, according to 2010 Census data (compared to the state as a whole, which is 80 percent white according to 2015 data). Saldaña was a close-second choice for the King County Democratic Central Committee, which submitted her name to Metropolitan King County Council for consideration as one of the top three candidates. The County Council ultimately approved Saldaña over the Committee’s first choice, Rory O’Sullivan of the Housing Justice Project. Diversity of representation was a deciding factor in the decision for some councilmembers. Saldaña, a Latina, enters office as the only woman of color in the state Senate (as was her predecessor Jayapal). Starting when she was a student at Seattle University, Saldaña has a history as an activist and organizer for farm worker and labor movements. Before she was appointed as state senator, she served as executive director of progressive organization Puget Sound Sage, which is located in the Little Saigon neighborhood. Saldaña spoke to the International Examiner as she was driving to Olympia for her first day on the job as state senator. This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity. International Examiner: What have you learned from your career at Puget Sound Sage that will inform your work as a state senator? Rebecca Saldaña: I’ve always worked on worker rights, immigrant rights, but it was at Sage where I really dug into how decisions around transportation, land use really impact the lives of folks in the Puget Sound region. At Sage we worked on housing policy and land use, we worked on transit equity, transportation decisions. We do everything in coalition, and I think that’s another piece that I will definitely take to Olympia. It’s important having diverse stakeholders at the table shaping policy from the very beginning. IE: You’ll be the only woman of color in the state senate. How will being a woman of color inform your perspective as a senator? RS: Really it’s important that people come that are qualified, and I think a lot of times when people say “qualified,” a certain idea and a certain type of training and experience comes to mind. For me, I have worked for a decade now on policy
Saldaña
work on a very local level, and have always been about making sure that it matters who is at the decision-making table in terms of what you consider and what you don’t. So in that context, as a woman of color, as working parent, as a daughter of an immigrant, as someone that was priced out of my neighborhood when I wanted to start raising my family—those experiences will help me be a better legislator. I will have an experience and have a voice and have a perspective that many of my colleagues in the state Senate do not have in that really personal, lived way. I think the other piece is that I have a long record—as a woman of color but also as an organizer, of really empowering others’ voices to be heard, and that democracy is best when you have a twoway communication. IE: What will your top priorities be as a senator in this legislative session? RS: A couple of things. One is, given the political climate nationally, the importance of being able to champion and protect and advocate for the various residents of Washington who Trump, our presidentelect, has really threatened and made to feel insecure. And number two is really the work that I have done at Puget Sound Sage—how do we make sure that we leverage transportation investment to ensure affordability and opportunity for everyone? Number three is really about doing my part to help bridge conversations around new revenues for education, that will create equity outcomes. Our education system is failing our kids, particularly our Black kids and our kids of color, but also our kids that are facing multiple barriers, whether those are stability or special needs. Our state Legislature has undervalued the importance of public education and have been unwilling and unable to find a sustainable revenue to be able to support our education system. [Also] looking at particular bills where we may have opportunity to advance those top three things. Opportunity for people with barriers, whether that’s banning the box, and also looking for particular bills and legislation that further makes immigrants and all of our community feel safer, by clarifying the distinction between our local enforcement agencies and ICE. IE: Are there any issues facing the Chinatown-International District in particular that you might address as a senator?
RS: I think a couple of different things continue to be a priority. One is public safety, and with that I think support of and stabilization for small businesses in Chinatown and Little Saigon. And so when I mentioned earlier equitable development around transportation investments—the International District is the transportation hub for our region, with trains, rail, light rail, street cars all running through our neighborhood. A lot of times you talk about rising rent just thinking about renters, homeowners and residents, but also the impact it has on our small businesses is really a threat to all of us—because it’s small businesses that really create new jobs, that create a lot of our culture and our heritage at each of our district’s distinct neighborhoods. So that’s important for me to work on. IE: Your district has a large Asian Pacific Islander population, and the Chinatown-International District is a historic neighborhood for this community. What, if anything, do you see as important issues facing this community that you could address as a state senator? RS: Well the Asian community is the most diverse community, and so I definitely don’t want to think that we can group it all in one, but I do think one is language access and being able to make sure that regardless of the 70-plus languages that might be spoken, that people have access to information in case of emergencies, for their healthcare, and the right to be civically engaged. I think secondly is really around safety. Just like the Latino community, the Asian community also has a lot of mixed status families and particularly within certain communities, also face the threat of DACA being removed. And I think transportation needs to be an issue. I had the privilege to work with ACRS [Asian Counseling and Referral Service] and the Filipino community in Seattle along with the Transportation Choices Coalition, to make sure that our elders, our families were able to access some really rich and cultural institutions that are at the International District or in the Rainier Valley, even if the residents live outside of Seattle. With one or two buses they’re able to get to where they need to go for their healthcare and language for their worship service and for their after school enrichment programs. And so making sure that as our region grows, that people have access to real transportation choices, that are good for their families, that meet their needs and are actually good for our environment as well. IE: Can you expand a bit on the issue of public safety? It’s been a longstanding issue in the International District and other parts of your district. How might you help address it as a legislator? RS: For me, public safety is much more about making sure that people have clear pathways to opportunity. To housing and healthcare, including mental health care, and being able to access a job so that people feel that they’re able to have a meaningful role in our community. It’s important for us to not vilify anyone when we’re talking about public safety, but I do think a couple of things that are
important that immigrants and refugees in our community are able to feel safe when they call the police—that there’s not going to be detention or feeling fearful if they have mixed status or undocumented status. I do think that the efforts that have been made at the city level in terms of getting police out of their cars and onto their feet to really get to know our community and our neighborhood is also important. And I think that what the International District has is a history of the citizens and the residents actually really activating their own community and leading public safety. Those are the things that need to be supported by the right kind of policy. I think at the state level some of our responsibility is to adequately fund mental health, do our part in addressing housing affordability and making sure that the department of transportation is working diligently with the community in terms of creating safe spaces on the properties that they own. IE: In your interview with the King County Council before being appointed to this position, you said “laws are written, but justice is not always done.” Could you expand on this? RS: I think that is exactly how I feel, and that’s been my experience. [It’s] exactly why I’m going to Olympia, because too many folks have experienced the law as something that actually does not create justice or does not create opportunity for them. A lot of young people, people of color, feel disenfranchised. I hope that by sending me to Olympia I can help create a platform to allow and support more children of immigrants, women of color, to be able to see themselves in a similar position. I plan to use this opportunity to really open doors and create more opportunity for others to be able to join me, not just in the state Senate but in all the different places where decisions are being made. IE: As someone who’s somewhat of a political outsider, how might this inform your work—do you see it as an advantage or disadvantage? RS: I do believe fundamentally that the only way that a representative can be effective is that they are able to find ways to connect with their colleagues, but even more so to communities that will hold them accountable. The way I got to where I am today is in large part because of my community. And my community is diverse and includes labor, immigrants, racial justice advocates, and that democracy only works when people are engaged and are pushing from the outside as well as within. I do see and I hope that this is really not me stepping away from my past. I’ve worked for Congressmen, I’ve been on the streets protesting, and I think that all of that is part of making good policy work. So I see that right now my role is within, and finding connections and helping advance and be a voice, but that I won’t be successful alone. I look forward to being engaged by the socalled outside, because I do think that that experience and that expertise is critical so that we are able to really make good policy.
6 — February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE NEWS
Sawant rallies in support of LGBTQ rights and NoDAPL movement By Clifford Cawthon IE Contributor On Saturday, February 11, several hundred gathered in Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill as Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant led a rally with environmental, indigenous, and LGBTQ activists to denounce the Trump administration and celebrate the No Dakota Access Pipeline movement. The rally followed the massive $3 billion divestment from Wells Fargo Bank by the City of Seattle in response to their financialsupport to the North Dakota Access Pipeline project. Sawant called for supporters to be united and militant, in building what she sees as a movement that includes her Socialist Alternative party and a number of advocacy organizations and social movement organizations. “[The movement] needs to be militant and combative, it has to be run with the idea of winning what our communities need not what is acceptable to corporate Democrats,” Sawant said. In addition to the divestment victory, Sawant also referenced what transgender rights activists have called an anti-transgender ballot initiative, I-1552, and urged constituents and voters to “decline to sign.” The measure on the ballot this year would repeal the state’s non-discrimination laws when it comes to gender and usage in public facilitates (i.e. the gender-neutral bathrooms). Before the march left Cal Anderson Park, I had a very brief chance to speak with Sawant about how she would tackle this as a local city councilmember, since this is a statewide measure. “Since [I] took office in 2014, [local advocates and I] have used the council position in a very bold manner to help build the movement [and] help build the struggle,” Sawant said. Even as a local councilmember, Sawant feels that “we as a city council don’t have a legal mandate ... but we can move mountains if you have an elected person ... who uses their voice to amplify the voice of the movement.” Sawant’s conviction to make the fight local is important to many of her constituents in
Councilmember Kshama Sawant leads a rally in Capitol Hill on February 11, 2017. • Photo by Clifford Cawthon
the city’s third council district (Capitol Hill, Central District, and Madison Valley) as “the center of the LGBTQ rights struggle since the 1980s,” according to Sawant. The district is a center that is radically changing due to rising housing prices that she links to the struggle for LGBTQ rights, “because most of the LGBTQ population is working class and they’re being pushed out of their historic neighborhood because rents are rising sky high ... so we need to build a movement to bring these issues [forward] in a connected manner,” she said. The connections between social equity and justice issues that Sawant was referring to were present throughout the march. The several hundred-strong march went a familiar route through Capitol Hill escorted by police. For Christine Margot, a protester from Tacoma, this march was personal. “My rights as a Transgender American are under attack and I’m not just going to lay down and take it.” After the election, Margot said that she’s “felt suppressed” and “minimized [her] trips outside,” but today she wanted to march as the beginning of getting involved to fight for her rights as a transgender person. Around the country, hate crimes against transgender people have pushed authorities,
sometimes supporting transgender antidiscrimination legislation or denouncing it. Margot said that Tacoma is “pretty good” and “[officials in Seattle and Tacoma] have taken a clear stand that they will protect our rights and they are not going to let the Trump administration’s policies affect us.” Another protester, James Lewis, a Microsoft worker in Bellevue, was impressed by the solidarity with marginalized communities. “There’s a lot of people who have stood by my side in hard times. I’m a Christian and I believe in being there when people are hurting,” said Lewis, who is Black. He felt that the mostly white crowd, who began to chant, “Whose lives matter? Black Lives Matter,” was reaffirming. With his daughter in tow, Lewis reflected on his own experiences of discrimination and racist attacks: “I’m from the South ... I was born in Louisiana and I grew up in North Carolina. ... I’ve seen racism up-close. I’ve had people spit on me, call me awful names and I think it’s important to meet those people with love [instead of hatred].” The march continued down Broadway from East Madison Street and one of the protesters, Bernadette Vinas, carried a very unique sign that got a lot of attention
because of its message that all the equality/ civil rights issues are connected. When asked why she was out here, she proudly declared, “I’m a part of it!” Vinas, an Eastlake resident, is a first-generation immigrant from the Philippines who thinks “we need to stay strong, stay positive, and make sure that everything doesn’t change the way [Trump] wants it to be.” Vinas’ positivity came from that feeling of support that she found here in Seattle where she sees that “there’s a lot of support for the LGBTQ community. ... I felt discriminated in other areas.” Her feeling of support and sanctuary in Seattle is important to her because she’s a naturalized citizen, yet Trump’s provocative immigration-focused executive orders worry her. “My family is trying to come to the U.S., trying to find opportunity,” Vinas said. The demonstration arrived at Wells Fargo on Capitol Hill, as the protest had grown slightly, adding families and late-comers to the march. Matt Remle, a Lakota Native and environmental activist, led the protest with the American Indian Movement song. “We ain’t done yet, we’re going to keep after these guys. ... They are not just involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline, but they’re also involved in investments in private prisons, and investment [and creation of] policies [that perpetuate] predatory lending,” Remle said. The predatory lending practices that Remle were referring to were identified as the cause of many individuals in communities of color and low-income communities losing their homes through foreclosures and loss of equity during and after the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. The Trump administration has come under criticism for ignoring the cause of the crisis that Remle was referring to, especially given his recent plans to rollback financial restrictions—with or without Congress. Toward the end of the rally, the main focus was using local movement, legislative and policy means to counter the effects of the change in politics nationally. The scope of this effort remains to be seen.
Year of the Rooster stamp unveiled at Wing Luke Museum “Stamps are often called a nation’s calling the kids to stop for a bathroom break. However, he’d halt the car at every post office they card,” he said. “That’s a vital part of our mission. We issue the stamps to demonstrate our passed to take a photograph. The United States Postal Service unveiled country’s deep regard for multicultural heri“Us kids, we would whine ‘Dad, not again!’ its first commemorative stamp of the year tage.” with a first-day-of-issue ceremony at Wing And then he would jump out and say ‘just a The history of Wing as well as the Interminute, just a minute!’ But it always seemed Luke Museum on January 5. The stamp national District is a meaningful example of to take many minutes because the lens cap unveiling brought in a full audience to the this multicultural heritage. Takekamuseum’s community hall, where a succinct would fall off, and the camera alwa noted it was “not common” and half hour program took place before the ways seemed to jam,” Takekawa special to have the cultural narrative curtains parted to reveal a large version of the recalled. and history of an American immistamp’s artwork. This year’s stamp features a The audience warmly received grant community highlighted in an detailed, vibrantly colored rooster adorning Takekawa’s story. Throughout the institution such as a museum. “So a traditional hongbao, or red envelope. The program, speakers reiterated the this ceremony is about a stamp, but Rooster stamp is the tenth in a series of twelve importance of not only the stamp, it means a lot more than that. Wing stamps celebrating the Lunar New Year. but the commemorative stamp’s Luke Museum is honored to host the The commemorative event began with an importance in acknowledging a ceremony,” said Takekawa. address by the museum’s executive director, multicultural American society The last time a USPS Lunar New Beth Takekawa, who shared the story of her that is vocal and proud of its heriYear stamp was released in Seattle tages. father’s lifelong career with the Postal Service was during the year of the tiger, in 1998. Asafter Japanese incarceration during World War Greg G. Graves, Vice President of Area sunta Ng, founder and publisher of Northwest II. It was hard for Japanese Americans to find Operations for the Western Area for USPS, Asian Weekly and The Seattle Chinese Post, work after the end of WWII, but Takekawa’s served as the event’s dedicating official. Bespoke a few words about why Seattle is a fitfather found a job at USPS. fore the stamp’s unveiling, he emphasized the ting place to release the stamp. Though Seattle Whenever the family took their summer USPS’s commitment to celebrating diversity doesn’t have as sizeable an Asian population and multiculturalism. road trips, Takekawa’s father would not allow as Hawai‘i or New York, she said that “the By Kamna Shastri IE Contributor
Seattle Asian community is very strong in achievement … and we are very strong in collaboration.” The final speaker of the event was the artist and illustrator of this year’s rooster stamp, Kam Mok. Born in Hong Kong and raised in New York’s Chinatown, his aim was to present a nuanced symbol of the Chinese New Year for the USPS stamp’s image; he wanted to go beyond simply picturizing the animal, a rooster, on the stamp. To do this, Mok reached back into his memories as a child and landed on a meaningful object: the hongbao. “The red envelope is one of the joyous [traditions]. It’s one of those things that all the kids, when we give them an envelope, it will give them a big smile. One thing I often [did] that I was always told not to [was] to peek inside the envelope to see how much money [I] got,” Mok said. The stamp features the Rooster upon the red envelope, complete with traditional gold lettering. The stamp is meant to embody all the well wishes of the Lunar New Year; energy, vitality and of course, good luck.
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017 — 7
IE ARTS
Sound and story, music and memory coalesce in ‘Panama Hotel Jazz’ By Kamna Shastri IE Contributor Each note gently rose from Susan Pascal’s vibraphone formed like a droplet and then fell, delicately merging into air. The piece, titled “Poem,” was performed as part of the show “Panama Hotel Jazz” by the Steve Griggs Ensemble. Using five- and sevennote arpeggios to mimic the sound of water dripping in the Sento of the Panama Hotel on East Main Street, the piece emulated the thoughtful, metered nature of Japanese poetry through sound. The Steve Griggs Ensemble has been performing “Panama Hotel Jazz” for the past three years. Performances feature Steve Griggs on tenor saxophone and narration, Susan Pascal on vibraphone, Milo Peterson on guitar, Jay Thomas on trumpet and Phil Sparks on bass. “Panama Hotel Jazz” tells a story that is deeply rooted in Seattle. Griggs was commissioned to create the project around the Panama Hotel and as he delved into the research phase, he grew increasingly interested in the history of racism and social justice. The show features original jazz compositions interwoven with stories narrating the Japanese-American experience, with a heavy focus on World War II. Griggs’ compositions for the production contain a simplicity that still packs a punch. “I was at the Japanese garden and arboretum and I just was noticing how everything was pruned so you could see through the plants
... there’s a transparency to it but also an integrity. I wanted the music to sound at the same time simple and transparent, but also very powerful in its impact. I felt like there is kind of a Japanese design aesthetic where things are very simple but powerful,” said Griggs. In the piece “Desert,” Griggs creates a melancholic landscape through the melody, emoting the first glimpse of a barren desert where Japanese Americans were housed in barracks during the incarceration. “Kimi Ga Yo,” an instrumental rendition of the Japanese national anthem, begins with a simple melody played by the vibraphone and slowly gains layers as other instruments join in. The piece is Griggs’ favorite and he said it often moves audience members. When the ensemble first started playing “Kimi Ga Yo,” audience members would softly hum and sing along to the familiar melody. “Some Japanese Americans came up to me [afterward] and said that they hadn’t heard that song in 40 years and appreciated hearing it,” said Griggs. As part of his research while creating “Panama Jazz Hotel,” Griggs looked through archives, and read many books, such as John Okada’s No-No Boy to compose pieces that told the story of the Panama Hotel and Japanese Americans in Seattle. He also talked to individuals with family backgrounds connected to the time period.
Sometimes, history naturally presented a scene for Griggs to paint with music. At other times, he said that he would have to look harder to find nuanced emotions he could weave into his pieces. For Griggs, Mary Matsuda’s Looking Like the Enemy gave him an especially intimate look at what individuals experienced during the incarceration. “One of the things that stood out for me was that she really described her feelings,” Griggs said. “Many of the memoirs that I had read described a lot of information but didn’t really reveal their feeling, so Mary’s story gave me kind of access to that inner life ... I decided to use a scene from her book and so then I started realizing I needed to coalesce a story around scenes.” The Steve Griggs Ensemble performed “Panama Hotel Jazz” at Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience on February 2. The seamlessness with which Griggs and his ensemble have sewn together history, narrative, and music gives the show depth and the ability to keep the audience engaged. The music isn’t just situated between stories; it carries the story forward, much like a cinematic score, where the music helps create moving pictures in the mind’s eye. Over the years, audience members have come up and shared their personal stories with Griggs. “In August I met a Japanese American man in the audience and he told me, ‘I was the youngest evacuee from Seattle.’ He was
three months old when he was taken to camp and I found his picture in the Seattle Times. People have brought photos, some people told me the stories of how they met their spouse in the camps. Some people brought letters and things that were written by people in camps. ... It’s just been an amazing experience to connect with these stories,” Griggs said. This mélange of music and history highlighting local social justice struggles has become a staple of Griggs’ work. This August he will premier his next show which tells the story of Native American carver John T. Williams, who was killed by a Seattle police officer. All of Griggs’ work is free to the public. He tries to fund his pieces through grants as much as possible. He believes it is important for these performances to be open to the public because of the nature of their content. “The kind of impact this program has had has been beyond my wildest dreams and I invite people, everyone to enjoy the music and hopefully learn something important about the place we live,” said Griggs. The performances are made possible by 4Culture Historic Site Specific Grant, The National Park Service’ Japanese Confinement Sites Grant, and a grant from City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture. Funding for “Panama Hotel Jazz” runs out this month. The last show will play at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center on February 19, on the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066.
8 — February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE OPINION
Do not let teachers distort the Incarceration of Japanese Americans in media and schools in the name of ‘balance’ By Joseph Shoji Lachman Special Guest Columnist Promoting critical thinking has long been the goal of our public education system. This often means trying to look at both sides of an issue, no matter how controversial. However, this does not always mean that both sides of a debate are equally valid. When discussing slavery, we do not elevate arguments that slavery was a necessary evil. Neither do we give any validity to positions holding that the Holocaust never happened. We may acknowledge the existence of these stances, but schools don’t lend them credence through their curriculum. There are some events in history that do not warrant this type of debate. The Incarceration of Japanese Americans is one of these. On February 19, the United States will reach the 75th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the incarceration of nearly 120,000 people of Japanese descent in the U.S., for the crime of merely resembling the enemy during a time of war. Two-thirds were American citizens, and a majority were women and children. This is a time for the nation to reflect on its wrongs, but it is particularly important this year in light of the executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries. We should also recall the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, as well as the 1917 and 1924 Immigration Acts that banned immigration from most of Asia, all part of the paranoia that led to the Incarceration. With the apology from the U.S. government during the Reagan administration in 1988, it seemed that as a society we had agreed that the Incarceration was based not on national security concerns, but rather on racism, lies, and wartime hysteria. This is why I was horrified to see that the day after we honored the birthday of
Japanese Americans in front of a poster with incarceration orders. • Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of the Interior
Fred Korematsu, the Tri-City Herald felt it appropriate to publish an opinion piece by Gary Bullert titled, “Was the relocation of West Coast Japanese racist?” I responded quickly with my piece in the Huffington Post, titled, “Yes, actually, the “Relocation” of Japanese Americans was racist.” I identified factual errors and misleading statements that demonstrated the flaws in his thinking. For example, he cited espionage by Takeo Yoshikawa, without mentioning that he was not a Japanese American, but rather a Japanese government official stationed in the United States. The crux of his argument seemed to be that some Japanese Americans appeared to be disloyal, at least partly because of their unwillingness to sign the infamous loyalty oaths. This resulted in many Japanese Americans being deported to a country they’d never known, or transferred to Tule Lake, one of the most brutal of the American concentration camps, with its own prison to isolate and interrogate people the government deemed disloyal. Bullert overlooks the actual content of the oath, which contained trick questions, such
as question 28 for example, which asked if Japanese Americans would “forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor.” Answering “yes” to this suggested that they indeed had been loyal to Japan, while answering “no” would appear traitorous. These are just a few of the errors in his writing that I refuted, but I felt I had dealt with the situation with my response. However, the situation changed when I discovered that the author is a teacher at Columbia Basin College, a public community college. A student provided me with audio of Bullert repeating these claims to his class, supposedly in the name of “balance,” and “stimulating critical thinking.” This included showing his class the 1943 propaganda film meant to convince the public that Japanese Americans all went “cheerfully” into the camps. He did nothing to contextualize this film, but instead repeated falsehoods and distortions to his class. He complained that a presentation mentioned in the Tri-City Herald only showed “one side of the issue,” when he believes we should give equal time and space to both sides. When I contacted the paper, they also defended their decision to publish his error-riddled and offensive op-ed, citing the author’s right to have his own opinion, and the idea that “there are those who would agree with Mr. Bullert,” who simply had “different facts” according to Tri-City Herald publisher Gregg McConnell. The school has not yet taken responsibility for the fact that a teacher at their publicly funded institution is spreading this misinformation. This is “balance” only for balance’s sake in its worst manifestation, where it licenses people to deceive others into thinking that both sides are equally valid. This has nothing to do with Bullert’s right to free speech or “stimulating critical thinking.” This is an issue of maintaining the integrity of journal-
ism and our public education system. Providing your students with misinformation about the Incarceration does not stimulate critical thinking; denying the racism gives students the false impression that the Incarceration was a well-intentioned mistake, or a necessary evil to win the war, a dangerous line of thought. Like Bullert, many people today try to deny any parallels between the experience of Japanese Americans and American Muslims. We cannot allow anyone, above all educators, to push falsehoods about the American Muslim and Japanese American communities, as Bullert did to justify the recent immigration orders to his students. Teachers are entitled to their opinions, but public schools should not permit employees to distort history and push their political beliefs under the guise of “stimulating critical thinking” and “balance.” It is now that these communities must come together to stand in solidarity. I believe we can turn this into a learning opportunity, and dispel myths about the Japanese American Incarceration. Ironically, Bullert called on his students to educate themselves and read literature about this, which I agree with. I hope Bullert himself will start with Personal Justice Denied, the report by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians that acknowledges the hysteria and racism, and confirms that no espionage occurred. It can provide a voice of reason in a time when we must acknowledge our nation’s past wrongs to ensure that they are not repeated. Joseph Shoji Lachman was born and raised in Seattle, and recently finished his B.A. at Yale University in History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health. Joseph also serves as the donor relations specialist for the Council on American Islamic Relations in Seattle, Washington.
This is not a test By Tom Ikeda Densho This essay was written as the world reacted to President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order barring refugees and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries. This essay is republished with permission from Densho. For decades, “Never Again” has been a rallying cry for many Japanese Americans. Invoking these words reminds us of the trauma of our own community’s persecution and unlawful detention. It channels that trauma into action to defend the rights and liberties of other marginalized groups, including our Muslim friends today.
As passionate as we are, we have not been entirely successful in weeding out America’s xenophobic and racist tendencies. Shades of our wartime suffering persist: from the systemic profiling and mass incarceration of African Americans and Latinx men, women, and youth, to the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, to the detention of immigrant families. But Friday [January 27], President Donald Trump took us further down a bigoted path of imagining and fearing enemies within our country. Under the guise of national security, he signed the order “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States” into law. The order suspends entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days,
ecutive Order 9066 and the alien land laws directed at Japanese Americans never mention “Japanese” by name. But the message and the outcome are clearly aimed at those who practice Islam. Just as Japanese Americans were suspected of disloyalty on the basis of race in World War II, so too are Muslims being cast as potential ISIS Two women join the crowds at Westlake Park co-conspirators now. While a Muslim January 29, 2017 to protest Trump’s executive order travel ban is not the same as locking temporarily banning entrance of people from certain up citizens and resident aliens, the countries. • Photo by Chloe Collyer logic behind the two acts is dangerbars Syrian refugees indefinitely, and ously similar. blocks entry into the United States for 90 In the Final Report on the Japanese days for citizens of seven predominantly Evacuation from the West Coast Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, So(1943), then commanding general of malia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It doesn’t explicitly name Muslims as the target of this refugee ban, just as Ex-
NOT A TEST: Continued on page 9 . . .
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017 — 9
IE OPINION
Letter to the Editor
We can’t ignore the atrocities of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII Dear Editor, My name is Kristina West and I’m from Pasco, Washington. I currently reside in Tokyo, Japan. On January 29, The Tri-City Herald published a racist and inaccurate op-ed from a political science professor at Columbia Basin College, a community college in Pasco. The professor, Gary Bullert, said that the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II wasn’t racist. He wrote to the paper in response to an article about an event honoring Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WWII. The event, planned by a local club, The Columbia Basin Badger Club, was canceled due to inclement weather but has been rescheduled for April 28. I was horrified to see this was chosen to be published one day after President Donald Trump signed into effect his Muslim ban. I emailed the newspaper and the college’s president, who assured me Dr. Bullert’s views did not reflect the school’s but said he could not take action against him. I have been honored to work with a small team which has been working to bring national attention to this. George Takei tweeted about the article, and a member of our team, Joseph Shoji Lachman, published an article on February 10 in the Huffington Post, titled, “Don’t let this public school teacher lie about the incarceration of Japanese Americans to his students.” In this article, Mr. Lachman provides proof that the newspaper has been unprofessional and also provides evidence that Dr. Bullert is teaching his racist opinions in his classroom.
. . . NOT A TEST: Continued from page 8
the Western Defense Command John DeWitt wrote:
while mimicking an “Asian” accent. There is not a large Japanese American community in the Tri-Cities. As of the 2010 census, the percentage of Asians living in the 3 cities is 2.65%. Japanese Americans already have a small voice, yet The Tri-City Herald decided to let a white man say whether or not the incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans was racist.
Sadly, The Tri-City Herald has been neither respectful nor apologetic when responding to complaints. The publisher of the newspaper, Gregg McConnell, said to me in an email on February 10, “There will be no apology forthcoming for allowing the op-ed to run.” The college has also stopped answering our calls and emails. Being from the Tri-Cities, I’m not surprised. The Tri-Cities has a history of anti-Japanese American sentiment. Richland, one of the three cities, is home to the Hanford Site, which during WWII, as a part of the Manhattan Project, created The B-Reactor, the world’s first full-scale plutonium production reactor. The reactor produced plutonium for the atomic bomb, Fat Man, which was dropped on Nagasaki. My hometown takes pride in this. Richland High School, to this day, has a bomb as their mascot and a mushroom cloud as their logo. A few blocks away from the school is The Bombers Drive Thru, where you will find a mushroom burger named, “Meltdown” among other offensive names. Richland also has a pub named The Atomic Ale Brewpub & Eatery. They serve food like the “Atomic Grinder” (a sandwich) and the “B-Reactor Brownie.” In 1988, RHS students voted to keep the bomb/cloud as their official mascot, in front of Tom Brokaw and Japanese delegates. While there has been protest to the school’s mascot and logo, the dissenters’ voices have been silenced by the majority of people who say or think: “Those bombs actually saved Japanese culture.” —Burt
Families of Japanese ancestry arrive at Turlock Assembly Center in Turlock, California. • Photo by Dorothea Lange, Courtesy of NARA
Pierard, Richland High Alumnus Class of 1959. From an interview in Aljazeera America, (July 21, 2015, Sottile). “In a small town in Washington state, pride and shame over atomic legacy.” As a child, I was interested in WWII and in a book, I learned of the horrors of the incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans. Why weren’t we taught the full truth about this black mark on our history? Why do we condemn Germany for their concentration camps but had our own? How could a high school celebrate a bomb that killed thousands? How could we ignore the atrocities we committed against American citizens and Japanese immigrants just because they looked like the enemy?
My roommate, friend, and team member, Clio Tanaka, whose family was incarcerated, including a grandmother who lives in Spokane, says the following about internment: “It left an invisible scar that spans generations and reparations can’t heal. I would never wish any American to suffer the same injustices.”
We must make sure we are teaching While attending Eastern Washington truth and solidarity. Our colleges and University, I worked with Japanese newspapers must be held to a higher exchange students. Sometimes, while standard. out with the students, people would Sincerely, say, “Speak English” or “Go back to Kristina West your country.” I heard racial slurs and saw people pull their eyelids back
leadership,” not sound national security in American airports, denied legal policy. counsel, and subjected to religious tests. But a draft of Trump’s January 27 This is inhumane and unconstitutional. Executive Order (the final text was not Legal action has already been taken to available as of this writing) uses similar contest the ban, but there is little that framing, implying that by virtue of religion can be done to alleviate the immediate and ethnicity, Muslims are not to be trusted: suffering and detention the executive order has motivated. “In order to protect Americans, we In decrying Trump’s ban, some have must ensure that those admitted to this rushed to say, “This is not who we country do not bear hostile attitudes toward our country and its founding are. This is not what America stands principles. We cannot, and should not, for.” I speak out quickly and forcefully admit into our country those who do not because I know too well that this is what support the U.S. Constitution, or those America has stood for. who would place violent religious edicts It was America that enacted the over American law.” Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
“The continued presence of a large, unassimilated, tightly knit and racial group, bound to an enemy nation by strong ties of race, culture, custom and religion along a frontier vulnerable to attack constituted a menace which had to be dealt with. Their loyalties were unknown and time was of the essence. The evident aspirations of the enemy emboldened by his recent successes made it worse than folly to have left any stone unturned in the building up of our defenses. It is better to have had this proJapanese American incarceration tection and not to have needed it than to didn’t happen overnight. It happened have needed it and not to have had it— after decades of vilification, legal meaas we have learned to our sorrow.” sures, and discrimination, much like DeWitt’s justification was invalidat- what Muslim immigrants, refugees, and ed by the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, citizens are now being subjected to. which acknowledged WWII incarceraAs I write this, individuals arriving tion was a result of “racial prejudice, wartime hysteria and a lack of political from the seven countries on Mr. Trump’s ban list are being unlawfully detained
The Tri-Cities doesn’t need any more distortions and historical revisions. I am ashamed that my hometown’s paper and community college give voice to someone who feeds into anti-Japanese American sentiment. I hope, with more attention to this issue, my hometown can learn the truth, and realize that giving a platform to a racist, is also being racist. As the anniversary of Executive Order 9066 approaches and hate crimes against Muslims rise, we must make sure something like this does not happen again.
And it was America that locked my parents and grandparents away during World War II for the sole crime of Japanese American ancestry. And when my uncle gave his life in service to America, my grandparents had to suffer through a somber flag ceremony in the middle of a desolate American concentration camp.
But this is the America of our past, and it’s up to us to create the America of our future. We are at a turning point in our nation’s history and it is up to us to put our values into action. I urge you to pay close attention, tune in to the pain of the most vulnerable, speak out, protest, support refugee It was America that banned legal defenses, use whatever skills immigration from Japan in 1924. you have to fight this fight, and mean It was America that repatriated and it when you say “Never Again.” deported Mexican immigrants and citiThis is not a test. zens en masse. Tom Ikeda is the founding It was America that closed its doors executive director of Densho. to Jewish refugees attempting to flee the bloodshed of the Holocaust.
10 — February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE OPINION
Reflections on the 75th Anniversary of Executive Order 9066 By Mayumi Tsutakawa Seattle Globalist Over the years, I’ve had a troubled relationship with what we Japanese Americans have called “the internment.” Sometimes I have been tired of talking about it. The repeated stories of woe, hardship, lost businesses, lost family members, lost time. We thought what happened to us could never happen again. But now we face an Executive Order banning travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries and anti-Muslim sentiment becoming common in American political discourse. What happened to Japanese Americans in World War II has become even more relevant in 2017. When I was growing up in Seattle in a Japanese American family and community, no one talked about those lost years of World War II—locked up behind barbed wire, living in temporary barracks, not knowing how long it would last. There was embarrassment, shame, depression. Then in the 1970s, taking up the call from the Civil Rights movement, Asian American students, professors, and workers became activists. We were emboldened by our participation in the anti-war movement, the formation of ethnic studies and threats to Seattle’s International District, our historic home. We wanted to know the truth about what happened before our time, so we created community-based media such as the Asian Family Affair and International Examiner newspapers. We pursued oral histories by the first and second generation Japanese Americans who had endured what we called “the camp experience.” We found artwork, poetry and photographs of the 10 concentration camps. We uncovered legal cases. Federal courts finally held that there had been no military necessity for the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. After all, there had not been a single case of espionage or spying for the government of Japan among them.
Building up to the executive order President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, three months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941. Thousands of men, women, and children of Japanese descent who lived on the West Coast were ordered from their homes and incarcerated in camps, limited to one suitcase each. There were no trials, nor
the biggest and most heavily guarded of the 10 camps, with 19,000 residents.
any direct accusations of aiding the country that had attacked the United States.
My mother, the American daughter of immigrants who had been living in Sacramento, was incarcerated there. It’s where she met my father, another American child of immigrants, who was serving in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service teaching the Japanese language.
But the executive order against Japanese immigrants and their American-born offspring did not come from out of the blue. Japanese newcomers had been arriving in Pacific Northwest port cities and building lively communities for about 50 years. They first came to the United States to work on lumber and railroads, and then branched out to fishing and agriculture. Many settled in the surrounding areas of King, Pierce, and Kitsap Counties. Japanese farmers worked hard to establish farms in Yakima, Toppenish, Wapato. Japantown in Seattle’s International District featured grocery stores, cafes, and services in the home language, as well as labor, music, and prefectural clubs. Trading companies imported Japanese dry goods. The taste of home was found in Japanese restaurants serving the familiar sukiyaki and miso soup. Excellent florists were supplied by Japanese greenhouses. The best strawberries came from Japanese farms in Bellevue, Bainbridge, Kent Valley. The community supported several Japanese-language newspapers and the English-language Japanese American Courier. Buddhist, Catholic, and other Christian churches provided spiritual guidance in Japanese and more chances for social solidarity. The Japanese School kept up the old language. Japanese enriched their cultural life through traditional drama, dance and music performances. In 1900, there were six Japaneseowned hotels. By 1925, there were 127 Japanese-owned or managed hotels, mainly in the downtown area. Even after the Depression decimated businesses all over Seattle, the Japanese entrepreneurs survived. By 1940, when Japanese were 2 percent of Seattle’s population, they owned 63 percent of produce greenhouses, 63 percent of hotels and apartments, 15 percent of restaurants, 23 percent of dry-cleaning shops, and 17 percent of groceries in Seattle. They were very successful but not accepted by all. Politicians, journalists, and lobbying groups had become wary of this group of immigrants who spoke a strange language, tended to stick together and prayed in temples wearing robes. The immigrants’ hard work began to compete with local businesses and farmers. And they seemed to want to live permanently in America. In 1921, Washington State enacted the Alien Land Law, wherein noncitizens of
Many Nisei (second-generation) soldiers joined the U.S. Army. Some served in the highly decorated 442nd and 100th battalions, which served in European battle zones and suffered high casualties. At the same time, a brave few Japanese Americans sat in jail for resisting the forced-evacuation order. Gordon Hirabayashi, a University of Washington student, spent time in jail for resisting being sent to the camps. While he was jailed in King County, hundreds of UW students marched in protest. Mayumi Tsutakawa’s mother Ayame Kyotani (at right) and student performing classical dance in Tule Lake Internment Camp, circa 1943. • Photo credit: Jcallegacy.com
Japanese ancestry could not own land. Some purchased real estate in the name of their American-born children. The Immigration Act of 1924 cut the flow of newcomers from Japan, saying that “aliens ineligible for citizenship” should not be allowed to move to this country or become citizens. Furthermore, real estate red-lining meant that Japanese immigrants could not buy or rent in any neighborhood they chose. Thus, they were kept to Japantown, the International District, and in the Central Area. This lack of freedom of movement— long before the incarceration order— contributed to the notion that Japanese were clannish, secretive, and not English-speaking. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought anti-Japanese hysteria and the Japanese on the West Coast were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Only a few politicians, such as the mayors of Tacoma and Wapato, opposed the incarceration. A respected journalist in Bainbridge, Walt Woodard, wrote against the incarceration. In April 1942, over several days, 7,000 Seattle Japanese—the majority of them American citizens—were sent by train to Camp Harmony, hastily built from horse stalls at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. After a few months, they were sent to Camp Minidoka in the barren desert of southern Idaho. Others were sent to the Tule Lake camp in northern California. It became
Hirabayashi finally was vindicated more than 40 years later, by the Ninth Court of Appeals. The court found that there had been no military necessity for the evacuation because there had been no proof that Japanese committed spying or espionage. The camps closed by the fall of 1945, after the nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing about 200,000. My mother’s older brother died in the Hiroshima blast. But the oppression didn’t end with the official close of the camps. Many Japanese had no home to come back to. Often their old neighborhoods and former places of employment were hostile to their return, with graffiti stating “No Japs Wanted” scrawled on their old homes. Few Japanese farmers returned to their former homesteads. Employers refused to rehire Japanese, fearing open rebellion from their other workers or customers. Reparations for Japanese Americans who were sent to the camps came in 1988, after 43 years of activism, political advocacy, negotiation, and legislation. An act of Congress authorized a payment of $20,000 for each person who had been imprisoned in camp. American concentration camps can, and did, happen. Both citizens and noncitizens were imprisoned with no due process of law. Today, we are left with these questions: How does an immigrant community face racist and religious hatred? What responsibility do we all have to prevent another mass incarceration of a single ethnic group with no due process under our Constitution? And if it does happen, what recourse is there for redress?
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017 — 11
IE COMMUNITY
Day of Remembrance: 75th Anniversary events IE News Services
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial February 19, 2017 marks the 75th 4192 Eagle Harbor Dr. NE anniversary of the signing of Executive Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 Order 9066. The order, signed by President Free Franklin Roosevelt in 1942, allowed The Bainbridge Island Japanese the incarceration of approximately American Exclusion Memorial is hosting 120,000 Japanese Americans. The first a day of service to commemorate the 75th Day of Remembrance was held in 1979 Anniversary of the signing of Executive at the Washington State Fair Grounds Order 9066. Inspired by the unique legacy in Puyallup, according to an essay by of a community that welcomed their Jennifer Ott on Historylink.org. The day Japanese American friends and neighbors is officially recognized by Washington home after World War II, the Memorial state as a day to remember civil liberties. asks for volunteers to offer landscaping This year numerous organizations will be maintenance and improvements to the holding events to recognize and remember National Historic Site for the March the signing. Below is a calendar of events 30 commemoration of the first forced happening in and around the Seattle area. removal of Japanese Americans on the West Coast during WWII. Please wear Wing Luke Museum of the Asian appropriate work clothing, gloves and Pacific Experience bring your own gardening tools. “Year of Remembrance: Glimpses of a Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Forever Foreigner” Thursday, February 16, 2017 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 719 South King Street, Seattle, WA This exhibit features poetry by Lawrence Matsuda and art by Roger Shimomura. They explore historic and contemporary issues of racism, discrimination and human rights. Free, RSVPs encouraged to rsvp@wingluke. org.
University of Washington The Holocaust and Japanese American Connections: How Could Concentration Camps Happen? Saturday February 18 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. University of Washington Kane Hall, Room 120 The lecturers will discuss the conditions in Europe and America which led to the creation of concentration camps. The lecture features Dee Simon, the Baral Family Executive Director at the Holocaust Center for Humanity, Professor Lorraine Bannai from the Seattle University School of Law, and Dr. Tetsu Kashima of the University of Washington. The lecture is the first of a series of events connecting the Holocaust to Japanese American Incarceration. The event was created through partnerships between the Holocaust Center for Humanity, the Nisei Veterans Committee, the Consulate General of Japan, and the Department of American Ethnic Studies of the University of Washington. This event, which honors the Day of Remembrance, is co-sponsored by the Seattle Japanese American Citizens League. A reception will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the Walker-Ames Room on the second floor of Kane Hall following the Day of Remembrance event.
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Service and Community Day February 19, 2017 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
remarks. The Elliott Bay Book Co. will be selling books at the event. Admission is free, but seating is limited. Reserved seating for Japanese Americans who were incarcerated or who served during World War II and their families is available. Email info@densho.org to let them know you’re attending so that we can reserve space for you. If you can’t attend in person, a live streaming of the event is available at https://www.facebook.com/denshoproject/ beginning at 2:00 p.m. EST on February 19.
Day of Remembrance Vigil Sunday, February 19 4:30 p.m. to 5:00p.m. Japanese American Remembrance Garden
Seattle University 901 12th Ave Seattle, WA 98122 Free and open to the public As a collaborative effort between many Japanese American organizations, a candlelight vigil will be held at Seattle University following the end of the Minidoka Pilgrimage’s Taiko Fundraiser. This candlelight vigil will be to show that as a community, Japanese Americans stand in solidarity with Muslim Americans and all those facing discrimination and targeting by our administration. Speakers will include Seattle JACL President Sarah Baker as well as representatives from Nisei Veterans Committee, religious leaders, and Seattle University Ministry. EVENTS: Continued on page 13 . . .
Committee
Day of Remembrance Taiko Concert Sunday, February 19 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Concert begins at 1:00 p.m. Seattle University—Pigott Auditorium, 901 12th Avenue Seattle, WA 98122 Ticket Price: $20 General Admission. $10 for students with identification. The Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee and Seattle University are holding their annual taiko concert to benefit youth and elder scholarships for the 15th annual Minidoka Pilgrimage to the Minidoka Incarceration Camp in Idaho. Tickets are available online at http://dor2017.eventbrite.com, at the International Student Center of Seattle University in the James C. Pigott Pavilion, and day-of at the Paccar Atrium. Parking is complimentary at Seattle University’s Broadway Garage. For more information, visit http://www.minidokapilgrimage.org.
Seattle Public Library Never Again Sunday, February 19 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Fisher Pavilion 305 Harrison Street Seattle,WA 98109 Free to the public, seating is limited The Seattle Public Library will host a dialogue between Tom Ikeda, executive director of Densho, and Arsalan Bukhari, executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)Washington State. Ikeda and Bukhari will discuss the connections between the incarceration of Japanese Americans and American Muslims as well as provide resources to prevent discrimination and harassment of American Muslims. The event is hosted in partnership with Densho, CAIR-Washington State, and the ACLU of Washington State. Rep. Pramila Jayapal will be attending and making brief
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. Through mural type sculptures mounted to the wall, visitors follow the story of a community who’s strength and perseverance—both those exiled and their island neighbors—brings awareness of the powerful capacity of human beings and a nation to heal, forgive and care for one another. • NPS Photo/ W Bressle
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial wall winds solemnly down to the historic Eagledale ferry dock landing site, where the first of more than 120,000 Japanese—two-thirds of whom were American citizens—were banished from their West Coast homes and placed in concentration camps during World War II. The memorial is a reminder—“Nidoto Nai Yoni” (Let it Not Happen Again)—of what happened on March 30, 1942. Built of old-growth red cedar, granite and basalt, the wall honors the names of all 276 Japanese Americans who were exiled from Bainbridge Island by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 and Civilian
Exclusion Order No. 1. It also celebrates this island community, which defended its Japanese-American friends and neighbors, supported them while they were away, and welcomed them home. The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial in Washington State is a non-fee park, and is accessible via a short ferry ride from Seattle. The memorial is located at Pritchard Park—4192 Eagle Harbor Drive, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. The park is open year round during daylight hours. The memorial is staffed by a Park Ranger each weekend during the summer months. For more information, visit http:// bijaema.org.
12 — February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
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INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017 — 13
IE COMMUNITY . . . EVENTS: Continued from page 11
Steve Griggs Music Panama Hotel Jazz
Read Thin Wood Walls, then discuss the book with its author. Sample a Japanese treat and tour the mansion’s newly restored Japanese Bathhouse.
Sunday, February 19 Please bring a copy of the book. 7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Registration open at https://kcls. Japanese Community Cultural Center bibliocommons.com/events/5877fbb007d of Washington ae421000c7470. 1414 S Weller St Seattle, WA 98144 Ninth Circuit Civics Contest Free “Not to Be Forgotten: Legal Lessons of The Steve Griggs Ensemble will be the Japanese Internment” performing free jazz, this time at the Deadline: April 16, 2017 Japanese Community Cultural Center of Washington, to remember the signing of Open to high school students in Executive Order 9066. This is a series Western states and Pacific Islands; essay of performances commissioned by a or video formats. Cash prizes: $2,000, 4Culture Historic Site Specific grant $1,000 and $500. More information and funded in part by the National Park available at: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ Service Japanese American Confinement civicscontest/ Sites grant and the Earshot Jazz Society of *** Seattle. This is the last of the performances after over two and a half years under the Below is a calendar media airing to current funding. recognize the signing of Executive Order The Steve Griggs Ensemble includes 9066. saxophonist Steve Griggs, trumpeter KING5 TV: “Prisoners in Their Own Jay Thomas, vibraphonist Susan Pascal, Land” guitarist Milo Petersen, and bassist Phil Monday-Friday, February 13-17, 2016 Sparks. For the February 19 performance, 6:30 p.m. trombonist Chris Amemiya is substituting Each night this week, anchor, Lori for Jay Thomas. Matsukawa interviews local Japanese Americans who were incarcerated 75 Densho years ago. “Why were Japanese Americans Incarcerated during World War II and George Takei’s Allegiance: The Broadway Musical On The Big Screen Why Does it Matter Today?” National Movie Screening on February 19. A number of theaters will host screenings of Allegiance, a musical about the Japanese American Incarceration. This in an encore screening for the film as a commemoration for the Day of Remembrance. More information Tom Ikeda, executive director of including screening locations and tickes is Densho, speaks about Executive Order available at http://allegiancemusical.com/ 9066 and its implications for today’s article/allegiance-film-encore. presidential executive orders and antiMuslim policies. More information KUOW 94.9 FM: “Reflections on Japanese Internment, 75 Years Later” available at https://goo.gl/YYaLw2. Bill Radke talks with writer and Neely Mansion and King County Humanities Washington speaker Mayumi Tsutakawa, including her own personal Library System connection to EO 9066 and how it can Bookmarks and Landmarks help educate about modern prejudices. Saturday, March 18 Visit https://goo.gl/aWmM7L. 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Bill Radke speaks with author Frank Neely Mansion Abe about his documentary film, 12303 SE Auburn-Black Diamond Road Conscience and the Constitution. Visit Auburn, WA 98092 https://goo.gl/WZGe6J. Free, Registration required Monday, February 20, 2017 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Wheelock Student Center Rasmussen Rotunda University of Puget Sound, Tacoma Free, Bring your own lunch.
Announcements El Centro & EPA Beacon Hill Air and Noise Health Impact Project El Centro is collaborating with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reach out, educate, and empower Beacon Hill residents on air and noise health impacts. Seattle’s Beacon Hill community neighborhood is adversely affected by air and noise pollution from mobile vehicles such as cars, trucks, trains, airplanes and ships. It is surrounded by Interstate 5 and 90 on its west and north borders, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Rainier Avenue on its east border, and the Port of Seattle and three airports on its west and south borders.
The project is guided by a Steering Committee that includes Asian Counseling & Referral Services, Got Green, Interim Community Development Association, International Community Health Services, Puget Sound SAGE, and Quieter Skies Seattle.
Masao: A Nisei Soldier’s Secret and Heroic Role in World War II
On Saturday, February 25, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. the Nisei Veterans Committee Memorial Hall (1212 So. King St Seattle) will be hosting author Sandra Vea’s book titled, Masao: A Nisei Soldier’s Secret and Heroic Role in World War II, an unknown true story at their monthly Speakers Series. Alan Abe and Michael Abe, the sons of Masao, The health data from the Seattle/ along with the author, Sandra Vea, will be King County Public Health, the speaking about Masao’s complicated and Seattle City Comprehensive Plan, and heroic life. Puget Sound Clean Air Agency show For 30 years, Masao Abe couldn’t that Beacon Hill residents have high speak of his secret and heroic role in the environmental health risks for cancer, U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service stroke, diabetes and asthma. It has (M.I.S.) during World War II as he fought the highest infant mortality in King County and has cancer risks for toxic on the front lines in the South Pacific. air pollutants in the same range as the Vea interviewed Masao for three years and after his death on August 6, 2013, Duwamish industrial area. she continued researching the M.I.S. for The Project will offer English and the next two years. This book chronicles bilingual training classes on air and Mr. Abe’s life from the time he was noise health impacts to Beacon Hill born in San Bernardino, California in residents from late spring through 1916. Masao was sent to Japan at the age September. Class representatives will of 7 and finished high school in Japan. then gather at a conference in October Shortly after graduation he was sent to identify and prioritize projects back to the United States to work at his that can address air and noise health uncle’s grocery store but was drafted into impacts for implementation in 2018. the U.S. Army just three months before Since Beacon Hill’s population is Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. extremely diverse with 44% immigrant On the island of Pelelieu, Masao was and refugees, and 80% people of color on patrol to flush out Japanese soldiers (50% Asian Pacific Islander, 22% but was shot by a Japanese sniper. This African Americans, and 8% Latino/ combat injury would earn him a Purple Hispanic), El Centro is hiring English Heart and later, he was awarded three and bilingual multicultural talent Bronze Stars for his involvement in fluent in Chinese-Taishanese, Somali, combat battles and for meritorious service Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. The while on three islands in the South application period for six Community Pacific. Decades after the war ended, Organizers, 10 Trainers, five Translators, Masao received the nation’s highest 18 Project Assistants and Graphics/Web civilian honor for his service in the U.S. Designer closes on February 28, 2017. Army Military Intelligence Service—the For job details, please visit http://www. Congressional Gold Medal. elcentrodelaraza.org/job-openings-atel-centro-de-la-raza.
14 — February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE ARTS
Tabaimo: Utsutsushi Utsushi is one artist’s attempt at living everything By Rumi Tsuchihashi IE Contributor “And the point is, to live everything” extolled poet Rilke. “Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” The Asian Art Museum’s current special exhibit, Utsutsushi Utsushi, is one artist’s attempt at living everything—past and present, illusion and reality—in the here and now. A solo exhibit by acclaimed Japanese video artist Tabaimo, the work is a mix of new and existing video installations. Evoking the refinement of 17th-century woodblock prints in a series of technically sophisticated, multi-screen animations, Utsutsushi Utsushi takes viewers through a fresh, unprecedented and sometimes disturbing sensory journey “connecting the past and the future to the present.” The exhibit title is a phrase playfully invented by the 41-year old curator and creator. Utsutsushi is a word play on utstsu—meaning things that exist in the world—and the artistic concept of utsushi, which translates literally to copying, an artistic discipline of paying homage to past masters that Tabaimo learned from her ceramicist mother, Tabata Shion. Stipulating that utsushi isn’t quite the same as reproducing, Tabaimo initially makes what utsushi is relatable, even seemingly self-evident to the newly arrived viewer. The Obscuring Moon, on display in the first gallery, transfers to video imagery she derived from Moon Cape, Utagawa Hiroshige’s ukiyo-e print. Projected onto screens placed at a 90-degree angle, The Obscuring Moon features gently openingand-closing shoji screens, and the darkly humorous arrival and departure of various critters. While in the Hiroshige print the mysterious female figure is all but hidden, Tabaimo infuses her with intriguing presence, her movements injecting her with life. And yet, a couple of galleries later, just when you thought you got the hang of what utsushi is all about, Tabaimo invites the viewers to challenge their thinking. Completely. Haunted House is a work inspired by large format folding screens and handscrolls. In this form of traditional Japanese art, the viewer sees a series of vignettes, and the eye travels in long, horizontal sweeps. That kinesthetic
public conVENience, 2006, Tabaimo, video installation experience is meticulously transferred into video form in Haunted House. This installation includes an accompanying soundtrack, an upbeat sound is reminiscent of vintage game shows. The saccharine tune feels congruent with the illustration of a modern day apartment complex, filled with ordinary people doing ordinary things. But before long, that music begins to feel false and creepy, as viewers realize the video is presented through the lens of a slowly-moving peephole. Eventually, their eyes travel from a woman hanging laundry to dry, to a hanging corpse just one unit over. Reality, utsutsu, is not what it seems; and neither, apparently, is utsushi. In the next three galleries, the work becomes more complex, the narrative structure no longer held together by a linear past-meets-present sequence. This further distances viewers from the easy knowing of what utsushi is from just a few galleries ago. Chirping, hanging in the second to last gallery, is a newly created work inspired by pair of 19th century hanging silk scrolls. Depicting butterflies and dragonflies, the historical work hangs on either side of the similarly shaped and sized pair of projection screens. The insects dance
onto the blank screen with flourish, then take their places. Out of all the works in Utsutsushi Utsushi, the “finished” image on screen presents most strikingly as a cutand-paste replica of the original. As the video progresses further, the insects begin to bleed in pretty colors onto the screen, as if they’ve flown into a windshield. “When people are able to form connections across time and space,” Tabaimo asserts, “they are able to do things they couldn’t achieve on their own.” As if they’re metaphors for such people, the dead-looking butterflies in Chirping defy the space-time continuum, and, their apparent demise. Unlike the ones solidly affixed to the silk scrolls, these butterflies leap. And disappear. Throughout the 8-gallery exhibit, Tabaimo consistently demonstrates her indebtedness to past Japanese artists. This is most evident her impeccable transference of form: colors, shapes, proportions. While she doesn’t veer from this display of humility in her execution, choosing Crow as her final installation is still subversive. Crow takes inspiration from the Asian Art Museum’s most beloved pair of gold, 6-panel screens, and re-imagines the crows
living in the shadow of the night. “Crows are associated with untidiness because they look for garbage and create litter,” says Tabaimo. Crow symbolizes the artist’s direct wish not to tidy up as Japanese custom dictates at the end of events. She will go against tradition to leave a mess of thoughts in the viewers mind. In the final act of her immersive journey, Tabaimo reveals that she had intended all along not to answer what utsushi is. Rather, she meant to draw viewers into joining her in living the question “what is utsushi?” now. Uncomfortable as that ambiguity is, viewers realize that somewhere along the way, they’d given consent to joining her there without noticing it. Perhaps each viewer will leave this exhibit with an enhanced ability to “live everything” themselves, connecting past to future to the present, and as Rilke predicted a century ago, “live along some distant day into the answer.” ‘Utsutsushi Utsushi’ is open at Asian Art Museum, Tuesday through Sunday until February 26, 2017 at SAM’s Asian Art Museum (1400 E Prospect St, Seattle, WA 98112). For more information, visit seattleartmuseum.org.
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017 — 15
IE NEWS
King County funding supports API community programs By Kamna Shastri IE Contributor Last November, the King County Council approved a budget of $11.4 billion to fund public safety, homelessness, and transportation programs. King County said in a statement that the adopted budget continues to reaffirm its commitment to equality and inclusion. The budget will support programs that work to decrease racial inequity in many fields, including the criminal justice system. Many of the programs awarded funds serve and support Asian and Pacific Islander communities and other communities of color. Funding for many of these organizations, namely ACLF Northwest, International Community Health Services (ICHS), and Wilderness Inner-City Leadership Development (WILD) Program was made possible by King County Council Vice-Chair Rod Dembowski’s office through the Youth Sports Facilities Grants Program. In past years, the program was funded by a 1 percent tax on car rentals, with 75 percent of car rental taxes financing Kingdome bonds. This year, as the Kingdome bonds retire, all funds will go to the Sports Facilities Grants Program, according to Kristina Logsdon, the chief of staff to Dembowski. “With the retirement of the Kingdome bonds, it is only fitting that organizations in the Chinatown International District benefit from our expanded Youth Sports Facilities Grant Program,” Dembowski said.
The Austin Foundation The Austin foundation, named after Willie Austin, is dedicated to promoting health, wellness, and nutritional programing to underserved communities that might not otherwise have the means to afford going to the gym or having a fitness coach. King County has awarded the Austin Foundation $100,000 to develop more programming and expand outreach to communities. “We want to get a small personal training studio again soon, so local coaches/trainers can come bring either youth or clients from underserved
nizing activities in local parks. WILD ing identifiable information, unless the plans to collaborate with other organi- clients belong to a few protected groups. zations, such as Latino Outdoors, on “We’ve raised our concerns with the these activities. County around just feeling like it’s a “We believe that having access to the coercive policy and be[ing] able to protect outdoors can have significant healing our private information, especially at a effects as youth develop a sense of place time when federally there is talk about a and connection to spaces that are often registry,” Alcantara said. Austin was a football player at the not accessible for cultural and financial API Chaya provides counseling, legal University of Washington and a world reasons for many of our youth,” Koyama advocacy, housing services, support class athlete. Following his athletic said. groups, and referrals that support career, he opened a nonprofit that survivors of domestic violence and worked to bring health and wellness International Community Health human trafficking and their families, training to young people from Services (ICHS) regardless of gender. They also organize underserved communities. Austin ICHS was awarded $50,000, which prevention programs and community provided programs in schools, parks awareness workshops with culturally and community centers and opened a helped to set up a new pharmacy at its specific attention to the needs of various dual office and fitness space. In 2013, Shoreline branch clinic. ICHS provides API communities. he passed away suddenly and many of culturally appropriate health and wellness Austin’s facilities and services were services to API and other communities ACLF Northwest and The Filipino of color throughout Seattle and King discontinued. Community Center County. The Austin Foundation will “With the uncertainty of the future of The Asian Pacific Islander Community celebrate “Willie Austin Day” on the organization’s 20th anniversary in the Affordable Care Act, supporting our Leadership Foundation received $5,000 community health clinics is now more to support their community leadership April. important than ever,” Dembowski said. development program. Program fellows InterIm WILD program The Shoreline pharmacy opened gain experience with nonprofits who impact the API community and participate InterIm CDA, an affordable housing on February 6, and takes almost all in bi-weekly sessions with local commuand community development non-prof- major insurance providers. It will also nity leaders and businesses. it in the CID, received funding for its offer medicine and prescriptions for ACLF Northwest’s mission is to youth program, WILD, which serves to low-income individuals who qualify. The construction of the pharmacy is train Asian Pacific Islander community empower high school aged youth with leadership training, environmental edu- significant—the ICHS Shoreline Medical members in civil engagement and cation, and civic engagement. Accord- and Dental Clinic is the first and only community development strategies, ing to WILD’s website many WILD nonprofit community health center in supporting strong leaders who can be youth are from immigrant and refugee Shoreline that offers affordable medical movers and shakers around API issues. families and non-English speaking or and dental care. The Filipino Community Center, English learning backgrounds. The prolocated on Martin Luther King Jr. Way gram takes a youth-centered approach API Chaya also received $50,000 to construct a where students choose and implement API Chaya received a $150,000 contract brand-new playground and to support projects that engage with local and for 2017 from King County’s Best Starts summer programming for children. global environmental problems. for Kids homelessness prevention initiaWILD received $12,000 through tive. Executive Director Joanne Alcantara King County’s Youth and Amateur said the funding, targeted at children, is Sports Fund. These funds are from re- about keeping children and families off tired Kingdome bonds that will be used the street. to finance youth sports and recreation When low-income, immigrant surviactivities this year. Some of the funds vors of domestic violence and human trafwill help finance outdoor excursions to ficking make the decision to flee or turn national parks and other spaces where their lives around, they are often at risk students will learn about leadership, for homelessness. Alcantara also said conservation, environment, and civic that API Chaya’s client database is curengagement. WILD program director rently under negotiation. The contract Alisa Koyama said the funds will also requires all clients receiving services be used to get CID elders and young to be entered into a database containchildren out into the fresh air by orgacommunities, that normally can’t pay for personal training. Our goal is to get personal training fully funded, almost like a scholarship, so it can be available for everyone that needs it. This grant will be a huge step in that direction,” said Renato Foz, director of the Austin Foundation.
16 — February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE NEWS
The Philippines hosts 65th Miss Universe Pageant By Jefferson Mendoza IE Contributor
not be closed, street dwellers should not be hidden to portray a false image of the country, and lastly, all levels of government agencies were to provide their “full support” leading up to the event but not to use public funds.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES (International Examiner)—A wave of roaring sounds was heard inside and outside of the Philippines’ SM Mall of Asia Arena throughout the three-hour live telecast of the 65th Miss Universe pageant.
In an interview that was broadcast on January, 27 2017 on Reaksyon, a late night news magazine and public affairs show on TV5, Philippine Secretary of Tourism Wanda Tulfo-Teo said the windfall of the Miss Universe plays a major role in the country’s tourism.
And for each roar, a young woman’s dream came closer. Miss France Iris Mittenaere, 24, beat out 85 other contestants for the coveted title. Dressed in a lilac colored outfit, Filipino-American Myrna Boxell flew in all the way from Federal Way, Washington to watch the much anticipated event. She along with her niece arrived at the venue at A young fan dressed as Philippines’ Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach. • Photo by Jefferson Mendoza 5:45 a.m. and was greeted with long lines as ticket holders moved at a snail-like pace The last time France won the title was in and security asked for the flag to be taken before entering the security-tight venue. 1953. Mittenaere is the second to earn the off the wooden stick. I was told if the flag was on a plastic stick it was acceptable but “It’s very fun. I’m very happy because title. not a wooden stick.” people here are very supportive. No matter Extensive Security Measures who the country is, they support them. Even hours before the doors were opened, While I was watching, some sitting beside To ensure safety for both contestants local and international fans arrived dressed me prefer Haiti. Others prefer Colombia or and the audience, 672 uniformed and in various array of attires from gowns to the the Philippines,” Boxell said. armed personnel were deployed outside vibrant colors representing their favorite This is her second time attending the Miss the parameters of the venue while 353 candidate’s country. Universe coronation event. Her first was in unarmed personnel along with two snipers SM Mall of Asia Arena holds a capacity 1994 where the Philippines also hosted the and two observers were stationed inside the of 15,000 spectators. Yet Commander international event. Asked about the major venue, according to Oscar D. Albayalde, Albayalde said that more chairs had to be differences, “the set-up is better, it’s more Commander and Task Force in-charge of added on the floor. modern, and they’re well-organized,” she Miss Universe. No threats were reported at the start of the said. “It’s much better if you watch it live “We try to avoid anything whether it’s a competition except for an anticipated street because it’s even more exciting.” threat or not because [this] is the pride of protest by Gabriela Women’s Party after the Miss France’s team chanted, “On a our country. ... And we also need to calm pageant. gagné! On a gagné! [We have won! We and give assurance to our VIPs and guests In a statement on their website, the group have won!] upon existing the doors of the all over the world,” said Commander described the 65th Miss Universe pageant Albayalde. venue—an euphoric moment. as an “unglamorous and exploited state.” National director of the Miss Iceland But no mention of the post-pageant protest “Iris [Miss France] was determined to get the crown. And she brought us up until the Universe, Jorge Esteban had watched the was mentioned on their website and on their end. And we’re even more proud than her,” pageant three blocks away from the SM twitter account @GabrielaWomenPL. said William Cerf, hairstylist and makeup Mall of Asia Arena. Esteban, who is also president of PageantSmart, a pageant Hosting the Miss Universe Pageant: The artist for Mittenaere, after the win. interview consulting firm, describes the Miss France’s boyfriend Matthieu level of security: Pride of the Country Declercq was also part of the contingent Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s “We had to go through metal detectors, team. Dressed in a black suit and a administration issued several decrees bright colored red tie, “the atmosphere is dispose of any liquids, and any items that regarding the international event on could be used as a weapon,” he said. “I had incredible,” he said. a national Icelandic flag on a wooden stick December 28, 2016—namely roads were
Oscar D. Albayalde, Commander and Task Force in-charge of Miss Universe on January 30, 2017. • Photo by Jefferson Mendoza
But critics argue that they have yet to see the numbers post-Miss Universe. This year, Miss Universe candidates visited seven cities in the country. And six of them—Vigan City, Baguio City, Boracay Island, National Capital Region (NCR), Nasugbu City, Lapu Lapu City, and Davao City—are top tourist destinations based on the 2015 Department of Tourism data. Even with the recent death of Korean businessman Jeon Jun Seo, tragedy as such doesn’t hamper the arrival of tourists. According to Secretary Tulfo-Teo, a high number of tourists visiting the Philippines continue to come especially from Korea, Japan, and China. “Even the candidates of [Miss Universe], they said after the contest, they will return because the Philippines is beautiful,” said Tulfo-Teo. For Estaban, it’s his first time visiting the Philippines. While he and his team only stayed in Manila, it was the Filipino attributes that impressed him the most. “We were treated with respect and love wherever we went by the Filipino people.” Cerf couldn’t agree more. “It’s instantly the second most beautiful country in the world,” he said. The 65th Miss Universe pageant was hosted by Steve Harvey with Ashley Graham as the backstage host. American rapper Flo Rida kicked off the event while singing group Boys II Men serenaded the final three contestants before the big win.
Miss Universe 1969 Gloria Diaz is interviewed by the press in the Philippines. • Photo by Jefferson Mendoza
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017 — 17
IE ARTS
Films: Asian features at 40th Portland International Film Festival By Yayoi L. Winfrey IE Contributor This year, Seattle’s neighbor to the south is celebrating the 40th International Portland Film Festival with several outstanding Asian features. If you like long drives and big screen excitement, then grab some wheels, head down to Portland and check out what’s on the movie menu. Celebrated director Yamada Yoji often tackles poignant stories about Japanese citizens enduring hardships during and after World War II. Famous for his massively popular Tora-san series, Yamada is even honored with a Tokyo-area museum in his name. Now, in his 80s, Yamada boasts a string of award-winning films like The Twilight Samurai (2002) about a samurai accountant who adores his daughters during a time when girls were scorned; Love and Honor (2006) about a samurai food taster who ends up eating poison; and, Kabei (2008) about a student who falls in love with the wife of his teacher imprisoned for speaking out against Japan’s imperialism. Continuing his examination of the aftermath of WWII, Yamada’s latest narrative is Nagasaki: Memories of Our Son. Because of the enormous casualties Hiroshima suffered, it’s well known as the city hit by an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. But the much smaller Nagasaki lost about half as many people when it was bombed on August 9, so remains lesser known. It’s in this seaport that Yamada sets his tragic story. Koji (Kazunari Ninomiya) is a medical student who loves cracking jokes and bring-
ing joy to his mother Nobuko (Sayuri Yoshinaga) who’s suffered the loss of her husband to tuberculosis early in their marriage. On an ordinary day, Koji rushes to school nearly missing his train. Sitting in his classroom, he’s attentive and engaged. But within seconds, a blinding flash lights up the sky and Koji’s ordinary day becomes extraordinary, inflicting more heartache on his mother when she learns of his death. With the aid of Koji’s fiancee, Machiko (Haru Kuroki), Nobuko struggles through another devastating loss. And she continues to work as a midwife, ironically bringing new lives into the world while besieged by the deaths of her loved ones. Hovering around Nobuko, Machiko is much-needed solace, but Nobuko worries that Machiko will miss her chance to marry because of her utter devotion to Koji’s memory. So, on the third anniversary of Koji’s death, Nobuko tells Machiko they both must let go— which brings Koji straight back to his mother in the form of a ghost. But only Nobuko (and random children) is able to see him. Certainly, Nobuko is greatly comforted to be in communication with her son again. Interestingly, her family and community are Catholics. Nagasaki, Japan’s oldest port city, was heavily converted thanks to Portuguese Jesuits who arrived in 1549. However, by 1587, regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi fearing the political power of Christian daimyos (warlords) outlawed the religion. Lighting candles and praying to her lord, Nobuko is satisfied that Koji will stay in her life this time, although he’s a spiritual entity.
But like everything else in life, change is inevitable. *** From Hong Kong comes the controversial Ten Years, a collection of five short films each envisioning a future scenario as the country approaches two decades under Communist rule. For these five filmmakers, Hong Kong 10 years from 2015 (when the movie was made) is definitely dystopian in landscape. The first film, Extras, is shot in stark black and white by director Kwok Zune. Taking place at an International Labor Day celebration and political rally where two parties— the TMD and the Fortune Party—are vying for leadership, it features two struggling men hoping to become important gangsters in the Triad. Ordered to shoot one of the party leaders in order to create controlled chaos so the government can enact the National Security Law, the chosen shooter (an Indian immigrant) is wary and unsure if he can pull it off. The other man challenges him, begging for the opportunity to be the shooter. They even flip coins, but sadly, it turns out that they’re nothing more than puppets in a show bigger than themselves. In another colorless short, Wang Feipang’s Season of the End, a curating couple save specimens of destroyed Hong Kong culture in order to prove their world once existed. Meticulously, they catalogue and preserve it all, including themselves. Jevons Au Man-kit directs Dialect with precision and angst. A taxi driver with a young son is confused about new instructions blaring from his radio instructing all cabbies
to speak only Putonghua (Mandarin), the new official language of Hong Kong. Grappling with his Putonghua-language GPS, and struggling with pronunciations, the cabbie not only loses customers who can’t understand his Cantonese, but his wife nags him to stop talking to his son in “dialect” as Cantonese has been re-labeled. In Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai’s Self-Immolator, the angry activism of mostly youthful protesters are captured in documentary-like scenes fighting secret police and People’s Liberation Army soldiers. When an unidentified person sets themselves on fire in front of the British consulate, the government demands to know their identification. That self-sacrifice follows the hunger-strike death of an opposition leader and, soon, the revolution is on. Local Egg is director Ng Ka-leung’s chilling account of the state turning children against their parents. A grocer is warned that labeling his eggs “local” is in violation of the censor list. Concerned that his son spends too much time with the Youth Guard spying on merchants to ensure they follow rules, he takes him to his friend’s farm—the last location selling fresh eggs that will soon be shuttered by the government. Meanwhile, the Youth Guard throw eggs at the store. But the man’s son has been reading banned books and is not as naive as he feigns. These powerful films and more await you, southbound on I-5. The International Portland Film Festival happens at Northwest Film Center through February 25. For more information, visit nwfilm.org/festivals/piff40.
18 — February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017
Arts & Culture Asia Pacific Cultural Center 4851 So. Tacoma Way Tacoma, WA 98409 Ph: 253-383-3900 Fx: 253-292-1551 faalua@comcast.net www.asiapacificculturalcenter.org Bridging communities and generations through arts, culture, education and business.
Friends of Asian Art Association (FA3) P.O. Box 15404 Seattle, WA 98115 206-522-5438 friendsofasianart2@gmail.com www.friendsofasianart.org To advance understanding, appreciation and support for Asian arts and cultures, the Friends of Asian Art Association provides and supports programs, activities and materials that reflect the arts and cultures of countries that make up the broad and diverse spectrum of Asia.
Civil Rights & Advocacy Organization of Chinese Americans Asian Pacific American Advocates Greater Seattle Chapter P.O. Box 14141 Seattle, WA 98114
COMMUNITY RESOURCE DIRECTORY
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Homeownership Services
Professional & Leadership Development
HomeSight 5117 Rainier Ave S Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-723-4355 fx: 206-760-4210 www.homesightwa.org NMLS#49289 HomeSight creates homeownership opportunities through first mortgage lending, down payment assistance, real estate development, homebuyer education, and counseling.
Housing Services
Executive Development Institute 310 – 120th Ave NE. Suite A102 Bellevue, WA Ph: 425-467-9365 edi@ediorg.org • www.ediorg.org EDI offers culturally relevant leadership development programs.
WE MAKE LEADERS InterIm Community Development Association 310 Maynard Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104 Ph: 206-624-1802 Services: 601 S King St, Ph: 206-623-5132 Interimicda.org Multilingual community building: housing & parking, housing/asset counseling, projects, teen leadership and gardening programs. Kawabe Memorial House 221 18th Ave S Seattle, WA 98144 ph: 206-322-4550 connie.devaney@gmail.com We provide affordable, safe, culturally sensitive housing and support services to people aged 62 and older.
Fostering future leaders through education, networking and community NAAAP Seattle services for Asian American Queen Anne Station professionals and entreP.O. Box 19888 preneurs. Seattle, WA 98109 Facebook: NAAAP-Seattle info@naaapseattle.org Twitter: twitter.com/naaapwww.naaapseattle.org seattle
Senior Services
www.ocaseattle.org
OCA—Greater Seattle Chapter was formed in 1995 and since that time it has been serving the Greater Seattle Chinese and Asian Pacific American community as well as other communities in the Pacific Northwest. It is recognized in the local community for its advocacy of civil and voting rights as well as its sponsorship of community activities and events.
Education Denise Louie Education Center 206-767-8223 info@deniselouie.org www.deniselouie.org
Offering home visiting services for children birth to 3 and full & part-day multicultural preschool education for ages 3 to 5 in the International District, Beacon Hill and Rainier Beach.
Seattle Chinatown/International District Preservation and Development Authority ph: 206-624-8929 fx: 206-467-6376 info@scidpda.org Housing, property management and community development.
The Kin On Team is ready to serve YOU! www.kinon.org
Immigration Services
Homelessness Services YouthCare 2500 NE 54th Street Seattle, WA 98105 206-694-4500 info@youthcare.org www.youthcare.org
Working to prevent and end youth homelessness with services including meals, shelter, housing, job training, education, and more.
Southeast Seattle Senior Center 4655 S. Holly St., Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-722-0317 fax: 206-722-2768 kateh@seniorservices.org www.sessc.org Daytime activities center providing activities social services, trips, and community for seniors and South Seattle neighbors. We have weaving, Tai Chi, indoor beach-ball, yoga, dance, senior-oriented computer classes, trips to the casino, and serve scratch cooked lunch. Open Monday through Friday, 8:30-4. Our thrift store next door is open Mon-Fri 10-2, Sat 10-4. This sweet center has services and fun for the health and well-being of boomers and beyond. Check us out on Facebook or our website.
Social & Health Services Asian Counseling & Referral Service 3639 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S Seattle, WA 98144 ph: 206-695-7600 fx: 206-695-7606 events@acrs.org www.acrs.org ACRS offers multilingual, behavioral health and social services to Asian Pacific Americans and other low-income people in King County.
APICAT 601 S King St. Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-682-1668 www.apicat.org Addressing tobacco, marijuana prevention and control and other health disparities in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.
Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs GA Bldg., 210 11th Ave SW, Suite 301A Olympia, WA 98504 ph: (360) 725-5667 www.facebook.com/wacapaa capaa@capaa.wa.gov www.capaa.wa.gov Statewide liaison between government and APA communities. Monitors and informs the public about legislative issues.
Fearless Asians for Immigration Reforms (FAIR!) 206-578-1255 Info@ItShouldBeFair.com www.ItShouldBeFair.com
Free and confidential support for undocumented Asians and Pacific Islanders. Workshops, financial assistance, legal help, scholarships, DACA renewals, and consultations for service providers. Benefits include: community support, and opportunities for work permits, $$ for school, and protection from deportation.
Grammar Captive 409B Maynard Ave. South Seattle, WA 98104 206-291-8468 tutor@grammarcaptive.com www.grammarcaptive.com Speak better. Write better. Live better. Improve your English language skills with a professional language consultant at a price you can afford. Learn to write effective business and government correspondence. Improve your reading, conversation, academic writing, and IT skills.
Senior Services
Cathay Post #186 of The American Legion Supporting veterans for over 70 years Accepting new members—contact us today to learn more! (206) 355-4422 P.O. Box 3281 Seattle, WA 98144-3281 cathaypost@hotmail.com
Washington New Americans Program OneAmerica 1225 S. Weller St., Suite 430 Seattle, WA 98144 Are you a lawful permanent resident? The Washington New Americans program can help you complete your application for U.S. citizenship. Low-cost and free services available – please call our hotline or visit www.wanewamericans.org. Phone: 1-877-926-3924 Email: wna@weareoneamerica.org Website: www.wanewamericans.org
Keiro Northwest 1601 E Yesler Way, Seattle, WA 98122 ph: 206-323-7100 www.keironorthwest.org rehabilitation care | skilled nursing | assisted living | home care | senior day care | meal delivery | transportation | continuing education | catering services
Legacy House
803 South Lane Street Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-292-5184 fx: 206-838-3057 info@legacyhouse.org www.scidpda.org/programs/legacyhouse. aspx Services offered: Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, meal programs for low-income seniors.
Chinese Information & Service Center 611 S Lane St, Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-624-5633 fax: 206-624-5634 info@cisc-seattle.org www.cisc-seattle.org Creating opportunities for Asian immigrants and their families to succeed by helping them make the transition to a new life while keeping later generations in touch with their rich heritage.
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Since 1935
Tai Tung Restaurant International District Medical & Dental Clinic 720 8th Avenue S, Seattle, WA 98114 ph: 206-788-3700 email: info@ichs.com website: www.ichs.com
Banquet Facilities - Catering - Delivery
Bellevue Medical & Dental Clinic 1050 140th Avenue NE, Bellevue, WA 98005 ph: 425-373-3000 Shoreline Medical & Dental Clinic 16549 Aurora Avenue N, Shoreline, WA 98133 ph: 206-533-2600 Holly Park Medical & Dental Clinic 3815 S Othello St, Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-788-3500 ICHS is a non-profit medical and dental center that provides health care to low income Asian, Pacific Islanders, immigrants and refugees in Washington State. 7301 Beacon Ave S Seattle, WA 98108 ph: 206-587-3735 fax: 206-748-0282 www.idicseniorcenter.org info@idicseniorcenter.org IDIC is a nonprofit human services organization that offers wellness and social service programs to Filipinos and API communities.
Parking & Transportation Services 206-624-3426 transia@aol.com Merchants Parking provides convenient and affordable community parking. Transia provides community transportation: para-transportation services, shuttle services, and field trips in and out of Chinatown/International District, and King County.
Come Enjoy the Oldest Chinese Restaurant in Town!
655 S King St, Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 622-7372 Mon-Thurs 11am-10:30pm Fri-Sat 11am-12am Sun 11am-10pm
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Answers to this puzzle are on Wednesday, March 1.
February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017 — 19
20 — February 15, 2017 – February 28, 2017
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