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CELEBRATING 40 YEARS
FREE EST. 1974 —SEATTLE VOLUME 41, NUMBER 12 — JUNE 18, 2014 – JULY 1, 2014
THE NEWSPAPER OF NORTHWEST ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. FIND YOUR INSPIRASIAN.
FIGHT FOR TARGETED LOCAL HIRE | 4 IMMIGRATION REFORM NOW | 5 MAYOR MEETS API LEADERS | 10
YURI KOCHIYAMA
A Remembrance and Appreciation
2 — June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE OPINION
Correction and Update
UW President to meet with API community at ACRS on July 31 Editor’s Note: In the June 4, 2014 issue, the International Examiner ran an early and incorrect draft of a letter to University of Washington President Dr. Michael Young by the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of Washington State (APIC) and the Asian Pacific Directors Coalition of King County (APDC). The International Examiner regrets the mistake and apologizes to APIC, APDC, and our readers for the error. What follows is the final and correct letter dated June 2 that was sent from APIC and APDC to President Young. The letter thanks President Young for committing to meet with the community on July 31 at Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS). The letter also indicates that APDC has members who helped pave the way for earlier Asian inclusion in the Office of Minority Affairs (not paved the way for the Office of Minority Affairs as was mentioned in the earlier draft of the letter). This final draft of the letter below has 74 signers. Dear Dr. Young,
The Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of Washington State and the Asian Pacific Directors Coalition of King County look forward to meeting with you on July 31, Thursday, 3:30 p.m. at Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) to discuss restoration of the South East Asian student recruiter position in the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity. It is a matter of deep concern in our community. We are joined in this concern by University of Washington faculty such as Dr. Stephen Sumida and Dr. Connie So of American Ethnic Studies, and by state legislators such as Senator Bob Hasegawa, and Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos, who wish to attend the meeting as well. Rogelio Riojas has also been invited and accepted our invitation. The Asian American population is a community of contrasts which is extremely ethnically diverse. While some parts of the community have attained educational and economic success, other parts of the community have alarming educational and economic indicators. The Southeast Asian communities face significant disparities. For example, 37% of the Hmong community, 29% of the Cambodian community, 18% of the Laotian community, and 16% of the Vietnamese community live in poverty. High School dropout rates in these communities are shocking: 40% of Hmong, 38% of Laotian and 35% of Cambodian students drop out of high school. Like other groups which have student recruiters employed by OMAD, these communities clearly experience poverty and all the barriers of the op-
IE STAFF
Established in 1974, the International Examiner is the only non-profit pan-Asian American media organization in the country. Named after the International District in Seattle, the “IE” strives to create awareness within and for our APA communities. 622 South Washington Street, Seattle, WA 98104. (206) 6243925. iexaminer@iexaminer.org.
portunity gap. Like the other groups which have much needed student recruiters, the Southeast Asian communities require the support of a culturally competent student recruiter that comes from the relevant community.
funded education. APDC’s membership includes a former Seattle School District Board President, distinguished and award winning UW alumni, UW activists who helped pave the way for earlier Asian inclusion in the UW Office of Minority Affairs, The Asian Pacific Islander Coalition and others with experience at all levels of (APIC) is a statewide coalition of com- public education. munity and business leaders and members Thank you for committing to meet with with chapters in King, Pierce, Snohomish, us and our community members; we look Thurston, Yakima and Spokane Counties. forward to seeing you soon at this imporAPIC advocates on issues of concern to tant community meeting. our communities, including equal access to Sincerely, education and closing the opportunity gap. APIC mobilizes our communities with civ- Diane Narasaki, King County Asian Paic engagement, voter registration, voter ed- cific Islander Coalition Chair, Asian Counucation, and public policy advocacy. APIC seling and Referral Service Executive Diannually organizes 1,500 to 2,000 commu- rector, UW alumna, Dr. Samuel E. Kelly nity leaders and members in 25 languages Award 2013 spoken by Asians and Pacific Islanders to for attend our Asian Pacific American Legislative Day events in Olympia. Community Lua Pritchard, Pierce County Asian Paand business leaders meet with Governor cific Islander Coalition Chair, Asia Pacific and legislative leadership and community Cultural Center Executive Director members meet with their legislators. These Van Dinh Kuno, Snohomish County Asian events and statewide summits have been Pacific Islander Coalition Chair endorsed by over 100 community organiVang Xiong, Spokane County Asian Pazations, businesses, churches, and labor orcific Islander Coalition Chair ganizations statewide. APIC works closely with the Washington State Commission on Dori Peralta Baker, Yakima County Asian Asian Pacific American Affairs and with Pacific Islander Coalition Chair legislators on educational equity issues. Lin Crowley, South Puget Sound Asian PaThe Asian Pacific Directors Coalition cific Islander Coalition Chair (APDC) is a countywide organization with Mark Okazaki, Asian Pacific Directors over 40 members, with leaders of Asian Coalition Chair, Neighborhood House ExPacific American community based orga- ecutive Director nizations addressing a variety of policy issues, including equitable access to publicly Monica Ng, Asian Coalition for Equality Seattle Chair, UW Alumna
EDITOR IN CHIEF Travis Quezon
IE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gary Iwamoto, Vice President Arlene Oki Andy Yip Jacqueline Wu Steve Kipp
iexaminer@iexaminer.org
ADVISOR Ron Chew
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ryan Catabay
DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Kathy Ho
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PROOFREADER Anna Carriveau CONTRIBUTORS Jill Mangaliman Rich Stolz Janice Deguchi Stan Yogi Sharon Maeda Stanley Shikuma Christina Twu Jessica Davis Yayoi Winfrey
Bob Hasegawa, Washington State Senator, 11th District, UW MPA, Distinguished Alumnus 2013, UW Nikkei Alumni Association Alan Sugiyama, Executive Development Institute (EDI) Executive Director, UW alumnus, President Charles Odegaard Award, UW President’s Minority Community Council former member, UW Multicultural Alumni Partnership Community Service Award, UW EOP Student Leadership Award, UW Asian Student Council former Chair, UW Ethnic Planning Committee former member, UW Asian American Studies Planning Committee former member, Seattle School Board former President
Frank Irigon, UW Alumni Board former Trustee, UW Alumni Association Multicultural Alumni Partnership Club former President and current Board Member, Dr. Samuel E. Kelly Award, UW Alumni Helping Hand Award, first Asian on ASUW Board of Control, first Asian ASUW 2nd Vice President
Britt Yamamoto, iLEAP Executive Director, Ph.D., M.S., UW alumnus, UW Excellence in Teaching Award 2004, Antioch University Core Faculty Tracy Lai, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance Seattle Chapter President, UW Alumni Lifetime Member
Debadutta Dash, Washington State India Trade Relations Committee (WASITRAC) Co-Chair, UW Foster School of Business LETTER: Continued on page 3 . . .
International Examiner 622 S. Washington St. Seattle, WA 98104 Tel: (206) 624-3925 Fax: (206) 624-3046 Website: www.iexaminer.org
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INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014 — 3
IE OPINION . . . LETTER: Continued from page 2
Center for International Education & Research Committee
Business, Advisory
Ay Saechao, Southeast Asian American Access in Education (SEAeD) Coalition Founder and Co-Chair, TRiO Student Support and Retention Services, UW alumnus
Frieda Takamura, Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, Education Chair Khoua Xiong, Spokane Association President Seng Vue, Hmong Washington President
Hmong
Association
of
Sinoun Hem, Cambodian Women Networking Association President Sing Phoxay, Lao Association Snohomish County President
of
Myle Shaffer, Vietnamese Association President of Snohomish County Tuyet Nguyen, Vietnamese Community for Mutual Support of Pierce County President Trong Pham, Greater Seattle Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, President
Narad Dahal, Bhutanese Association of Snohomish County President
Kyaw Thu, Burmese Association of Snohomish County President Maria Batayola, Filipino American Political Action Group of Washington President, UW alumna
Alma Kern, Filipino Community of Seattle President
General Oscar Hillman, Community Alliance President
Filipino
Roman Valisi, Filipino American League President Ron Chew, Organization of Chinese Americans—Greater Seattle Co-President, UW alumnus
Rebecca Chan, Organization of Chinese Americans—Greater Seattle Co-President, UW alumna Toshiko Hasegawa, Japanese Americans Citizens League Seattle Chapter President
Yuko Toth, Tanpoponokai Japanese Women’s Association President Kilioni Prescott, Samoan Seniors of Pierce County President
Gary Lizama, IMAHE Guam Association President Clarence Chun Fook, Hawaii Canoe Association of Washington President
Marissa Vichayapai, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) Seattle Chapter Co-Chair, UW MSW Lisa Chen, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum Seattle Chapter Co-Chair Jeffrey Hattori, Nikkei Concerns Chief Executive Officer Dorothy Wong, CISC Executive Director
Beth Takekawa, The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Executive Director Andrea Akita, Interim Community Development Association Executive Director
High Chief Peter Leota Strickland, Samoan Pacific Organization Executive Director
Siniva Driggers, Samoa Nurses of Washington Executive Director Reueta Doiron, Samoan Family Support Center Executive Director
Sili Savusa, Pacific Islander Resource Coalition; White Center Development Association Executive Director Ira SenGupta, Cross Cultural Alliance Healthcare Program Executive Director
Rich Stolz, OneAmerica Executive Director Lisa Chin, YearUp Executive Director
Pran Wahi, India Association of Western Washington Seniors Program Director Dr. Ulisese Sala, Minister, Tacoma Congregational Christian Church of America Samoa Reverend Suipi Vaielua, Fort Lewis Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa Bernadette Agor Matsuno, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Director, UW MSW
Rosie Rimando—Chareunsup, Ed.D., South Seattle Community College Vice President of Student Services, UW MPA
May Toy Lukens, South Seattle Community College Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions Project Director, UW MPA Tony Lee, Solid Ground Advocacy Director Bev Kashino, YMCA of Greater Seattle Talent Acquisition Director, SPHR
Stella Chao, UW BASW, MSW Cheryl Lee, UW JD 2016
Eunice How, UW Lutheran Campus Ministry Board Member, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum Seattle Chapter member, UW MPHA
Tagoipah Mathno, Cham Community of Seattle member Deborah Sary, UW Khmer Student Association President
Michelle Lee, UW Myanmar Student Association President Johnson Nguyen, UW Vietnamese Student Association President
Taylor Paul Anuhea Ahana-Jamile, ASUW Pacific Islander Student Commission Director Tony Vo, ASUW Asian Student Commission Director, UW Alumnus Yukimi Mizuno, Bellevue College Asian Pacific Islander Student Association (APISA) President
Michael Stewart, Bellevue College Asian Pacific Islander Student Association Marketing and Public Outreach Chair Monica Chan, Seattle University Student Government Multicultural Representative
Camille Debreezeny, Asian Coalition for Equality Surabhi Mahajan, Asian Coalition for Equality
Xengie Doan, Asian Coalition for Equality Carol Li, Asian Coalition for Equality
Tiffany Chan, Asian Coalition for Equality
Letter to the Editor Former clients of attorney Eric Jones sought
Attorney worked with many immigrants, files need to be returned Attention former clients of attorney Eric Jones. My name is Chelan Crutcher and I am a volunteer with the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA). Eric Jones worked as an attorney with many immigrants in Washington, but is no longer practicing law. The WSBA has appointed me as the custodian of the files of attorney Eric Jones. As the custodian, I have all of the client files of Eric Jones and am trying to make contact with his former clients so that the files can be returned to each client. Former clients of Eric Jones may contact me by telephone (206) 535-8773 or by email at chelan@crutcher-herrejon.com to make arrangements to regain possession of their files or to inform me about how they would like to proceed.
Chelan Crutcher Attorney at Law
YOUR OPINION COUNTS Please share your concerns, your solutions, and your voices. Send a letter to the editor to editor@iexaminer.org with the subject line “Letter to the Editor.”
The International Examiner website is now updated daily. Visit iexaminer.org every day for unique, breaking, and evolving online content!
4 — June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE OPINION
Targeted Local Hire: Seattle Community needs living wage green jobs Jill Mangaliman IE Guest Columnist Ray Hall is a licensed journey-level electrician and lifelong Seattle resident. He has lived in the Rainier Beach neighborhood for 18 years. Despite his 14 years of electrical work experience, he is still a disadvantaged worker in his own community, consistently struggling to get jobs in Seattle. When the cityhired contractor began constructing the new Rainier Beach Community Center in 2010, no one from the surrounding, predominantly African American community was offered a job, including Ray. This is in spite of local environmental justice organization, Got Green, offering the contractor a list of nearly 50 qualified local residents who were ready to work. Ray’s experience is not an anomaly. According to a recent study commissioned by the Seattle City Council, only 6 percent of all workers on Seattle city-funded construction projects were Seattle residents, while an overwhelming majority, nearly 70 percent of these workers, lived outside of King County.
The city can address this economic injustice by passing a Targeted Local Hire law, which would require contractors to employ a percentage of skilled and qualified workers from communities in Seattle-King County hardest hit by the recent recession. The use of city
pollution. The pollution resulting from daily commutes in private cars and trucks to Seattle from outside King County also results in increased air pollution making it harmful for our children and elders to breathe.
Last summer, in front of a packed hearing hall, the Seattle City Council unanimously voted to address disparities in City public works construction hiring by forming a committee to recommend policy options including Targeted Local Hire. Six months later this committee is preparing to wrap up its work. Now is the time to ensure that we pass a law that does not support the status quo. To ensure that Ray’s experience does not happen Activists support Targeted Local Hire. From left to right: Vernon Hill, Hien Nguyen, Violet Lavatai, Mo! Avery, again, we must be bold and implement a law for public works that requires that and Tuyet Nhi Vo. • Photo by Sam Smith contractors hired with Seattle taxpayer funds on construction and public works communities employed under a Targeted dollars provide work opportunities to projects should not only improve the Local Hire policy will likely spend their residents of economically struggling community’s infrastructure, but should living wages at local businesses. San neighborhoods in King County. also strengthen our local economy Francisco enacted a similar law in 2011 A Targeted Local Hire policy is good by reducing local unemployment that was supported by a broad coalition, for our environment, our economy, and and supporting local businesses. including the Brightline Defense Project, our communities. Targeted Local Hire is Unemployment and the lack of access to Inner City Youth, and the Chinese for a win-win-win. living wage jobs remain key challenges Affirmative Action (CAA). The San Got Green’s South Seattle Jobs for workers living in economically Francisco law is expected to inject $177 distressed communities. In order to put million into that city’s general fund over committee and the Targeted Hire Coalition leaders met with Seattle these communities back to work, we ten years. Mayor Ed Murray on Monday, June 16, need policies that prioritize lifting local Additionally, Targeted Local Hire to ask for his support. Check back at residents out of poverty by giving them allows people to work where they live. iexaminer.org for an update access to construction careers. This fits in line with Seattle’s desire to Jill Mangaliman is the Executive In turn, this will strengthen the protect the environment and address local economy because local workers climate change. Transportation accounts Director at Got Green and a member of from economically marginalized for 40 percent of Seattle’s climate Pinay sa Seattle—GABRIELA USA.
Announcement 24th Annual Walk for Rice happens Saturday, June 28 at Seward Park IE News Services
Activists demanding Targeted Local Hire hold a petition. From right to left: Vernon Hill, Murphy Stack, and Hien Nguyen. • Photo by Sam Smith
Got Green’s South Seattle Jobs committee and the Targeted Hire Coalition leaders met with Seattle Mayor Ed Murray on Monday, June 16, to ask for his support. • Courtesy Photo
Walk for Rice is a fundraising event featuring a 2.5 mile walk/run. Each year, about 1,000 participants help Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) buy rice and other food for the ACRS Food Bank.
As ACRS’ signature community event, Walk for Rice brings in a diverse crowd of families, church groups, sororities/fraternities, professional associations and more. ACRS is partnering with major businesses and non-profits like Pepsi, Boeing, Microsoft, and the University of Washington.
households. The food bank, located in Seattle’s International District, provides items like rice, tofu, ramen, fish, and fresh produce. ACRS’ goal is to help clients lead healthy lives with nutritious food options. The 24th Annual Walk for Rice event happens Saturday, June 28 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Seward Park, 5902 Lake Washington Blvd S, Seattle, WA. All ages are welcome—so are friendly, leashed dogs.
ACRS offers shuttle service from their building on 3639 MLK Jr. Way S. You can park for free in their lot and catch ACRS’ Food Bank is the one of the bus to Seward Park. Shuttles begin the most visited food banks in King at 8:00 a.m. and continue every 20-30 County, and the only one in the state that minutes until 1:00 p.m. regularly acquires foods to meet Asian Note: Parking is limited in the park. Pacific dietary needs. More than 5,000 Please make arrangements to carpool or people a year rely on the Food Bank and Nutrition Programs to have enough use public transit. Metro Route 50 serves to eat. Most are children under 18 years the Seward Park area; you can also visit old or seniors over 55; most come from Metro Trip Planner for more personallow-income, Asian Pacific American ized routes. For more information, visit walkforrice.kintera.org
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014 — 5
IE OPINION
Crunch time for immigration reform, window of action upon us By Rich Stolz
IE Guest Columnist
On June 27, one full year will have passed since the United States Senate passed an imperfect but comprehensive immigration reform bill.
was unexpected and shocked the DC political world. While anti-immigrant activists attempted to tie Cantor’s loss to his support for a modest proposal to legalize some young immigrants, the evidence doesn’t support that position. Surveys on the night of the election and polls conducted since demonstrated that a majority of those who voted in the election supported action on immigration reform, and those that voted against Cantor did so for more basic reasons—Cantor was viewed as not connected to his own district and too focused on his national ambitions.
For more than a year, immigration reform advocates have been working hard to persuade the House of Representatives to take action on legislation. Last month, in a meeting with Asian American business and community leaders from across the nation that I had the privilege to attend, President Barack Obama called for a “two month sprint” to pressure the That same night, Sen. Lindsey House to take action in the window of Graham, who was a Republican opportunity remaining in Congress this leader in the Senate campaign to pass year. comprehensive immigration reform The stakes are high. If the House legislation, won his primary election fails to take action, it may be some time handily. And other Republicans, who before Congress will take up action on took a clear and consistent position on immigration reform again. Most pundits immigration reform, like Representative view 2015 and 2016 as unlikely years Renee Elmers in North Carolina, won for reform, given the waning influence their primaries earlier this spring. of the President in the last two years of The lesson politicians should learn his final term, and the growing focus on from these examples is clear. Leaning the 2016 presidential elections. While into the issue and taking a clear and angry partisanship has defined Congress consistent position is a winning strategy. for much of the last decade, the level of Being inconsistent and appearing dysfunction in Congress may get worse to take positions on this issue to still. only garner support from particular The consequences of failure are constituencies—whether business or unacceptable. According to the minority voters—can cost an election, Partnership for a New American if it feeds into underlying perceptions Economy (PNAE), labor shortages in about your integrity. Our own elected the agriculture industry are causing a leaders should learn these same lessons. loss of over $3 billion in GDP and over A large majority of Washington voters $1 billion in farm income. Major high support immigration reform, and the tech businesses have begun to shift their percentage of Republicans supporting operations to other countries to try to reform is well above 60 percent. Now take advantage of friendlier high-skilled isn’t the time to wait and see what the immigration policies; earlier this spring Republican leadership will decide to do. Microsoft announced they would shift The urgency of this moment requires some of their operations to Vancouver, Members of the House, especially British Columbia. Republican Members of Congress, to Every day that Congress fails to demand action on reform from their own act, more than 1,000 immigrants are leadership. deported, tearing apart thousands of This is also true for House Republiimmigrant families and destabilizing can Conference Chairwoman Cathy Mcthe communities, schools, and worksites Morris Rodgers, who represents eastern where they live. Immigrants and Washington, including Spokane and refugees of any status continue to be Walla Walla. And while Congressman detained under inhumane conditions in Hastings and Reichert and Congressour nation’s immigrant detention system, woman Herrera Beutler have all said and the lengthy waits that have burdened they’ve privately reached out to Speaker millions of families seeking to be of the House John Boehner asking for reunited with their loved ones continue action, it’s time for our Representatives to grow. to fully voice the broad-based support Despite growing pressure for reform for immigration reform that exists in from an incredibly diverse group of their districts. constituencies—veterans, conservative Because if Congress fails to act, how will evangelicals, immigrant and refugee they respond to the question: “What did communities, large and small business you do to make it happen?” Their response leaders, and even some conservative Tea must not be, “We couldn’t overcome the Party activists—the window for action dysfunction in our own Party.” on immigration reform is upon us, and For immigrant rights activists in the future remains uncertain. Washington state and across the Adding to the uncertainty, last Tuesday nation, there is a plan B. Even as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor we’ve pressed Congress to take action lost his Republican primary election in on legislation, we’ve also pressed Virginia’s seventh district. Cantor’s loss the Obama Administration to bring
relief to immigrant families through of opportunity, which the President said administrative action. would close at the end of July, then the There is precedent. Though his ad- President must take significant action ministration has deported more than 2 to bring real relief, due process, and million immigrants during his tenure humanity to our broken immigration to date, in 2012 President Obama an- system. By taking major action—for nounced the Deferred Action for Child- example, extending deferred action to hood Arrivals program that granted the spouses and immediate relatives of temporary relief from deportation and citizens, legal permanent residents and work permits to certain eligible young DACA recipients—the President could people. If anything, that decision ap- finally act on his own rhetoric about the peared to galvanize support for the brokenness of the system, and establish President in his re-election campaign, a legacy of moral integrity by ending the despite the President’s terrible record as separation of thousands of families. the so-called ‘deporter in chief.’
With the House of Representatives stuck, the White House has taken smaller actions. For example, last month the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service announced proposed regulatory changes that would allow the spouses of high skilled immigrants who are currently not allowed to work in this country to receive work authorization from the federal government. When finalized, this would be a major victory for immigrant and women advocates, especially high skilled workers in the Asian American and South Asian communities.
But for the moment, attention remains focused in the House, and the clock is ticking toward a national deadline imposed by immigrant groups nationwide: June 28. Congress can either take action on reform, or place the fate of millions of families in the hands of the President, who will be the focus of a growing national movement fighting for our families and communities.
The website goes live on Monday, but here’s a preliminary link to endorsements for the June 28 National Day of Action: www.stopseparatingfamilies.org. Another useful resource: www.webelongtogether.org.
Rich Stolz is the Executive Director of Should the House fail to take action on immigration reform in this window OneAmerica (WeAreOneAmerica.org).
6 — June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE OPINION
Photo by Lisa Merrill
We must seize the opportunity to increase access to quality learning By Janice Deguchi IE Guest Columnist
Our teachers and home visitors win small victories like these daily. Each year, over 400 children in our program gain social skills, and literacy. They learn math, science, and how to persevere at challenging tasks. They learn to brush their teeth, take turns, work in a group, and follow simple directions. In addition, they learn English, and how to solve problems without hitting; essential skills for success in today’s classrooms.
What do Oklahoma, New Jersey, Georgia, and Florida have in common? Universal preschool! Seattle may be next on this list. For the past year, I’ve served on the Seattle Pre-K program’s finance committee alongside early learning providers, policymakers, consultants, parents, and community members and have had an opportunity to design the Seattle Thanks to the commitment to early learnPre-K program. The end result will improve ing by our federal, state, local policy makers, the availability, quality, and duration of preand the voters of Seattle who approved the school for 3,650-4,000 children by 2019. Families and Education Levy, our program is At Denise Louie Education Center free for low income families. (DLEC), we prepare children for success in However, last year, we had to turn away school and life starting with weekly home about 100 eligible children from our provisits for children ages 0–3 and pre-school gram due to lack of space. Without a quality for 3–5 year olds throughout Seattle and in Sea-Tac. I’ve witnessed how children early start, kindergarten teachers may spend transform over the short time they are months helping children learn classroom rules and how to solve problems. enrolled in our programs. Many children that lack access to high A preschooler in one of our classrooms, quality early learning program will start their Ginny, refused to take her coat off or speak first day of kindergarten without speaking a to anyone for several weeks. However, many word of English or having the skills needed months later, she was happy, talking, and to navigate the classroom. fully engaged in the classroom. In our Early Head Start program, two siblings did not speak and we considered referring them to see a speech therapist. After we taught their mother additional tools for interacting with her children, both siblings began to speak frequently and fluently, and are well on their way to developing a deeper love of learning.
There are several initiatives being brought before the Seattle City Council with the goal of giving thousands of children more access to quality early learning. We owe it to our children to seize this opportunity and give them the best start possible. Janice Deguchi is Executive Director of Denise Louie Education Center.
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014 — 7
IE COMMUNITY
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A photo taken by John Stamets graces the cover of Alaskeros, a publication featuring a documentary exhibit on pioneer Filipino Cannery Workers. Stamets’ photo is of Johnny Rolluda, who was born in 1911 in Pangasinan province and arrived in the United States in 1929.
Photographer John Stamets remembered for documenting Filipino migrant workers IE News Services
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University of Washington lecturer and photographer John Stamets passed away earlier this month at the age of 64.
Stamets joined the UW faculty in 1992 and ran the Architecture Photo Lab in the basement of Gould Hall. He designed a photography class for future architects and a “special projects” class where students photographed a single subject in depth.
Stamets also coordinated the Alaskeros exhibit at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian American Experience. The Alaskeros exhibit featured portraits of Filipino American pioneers in the PacifStamets ic Northwest paired with their own words to tell the personal story of struggle and success as they toiled in Alaska canneries.
Stamets specialized in documenting the rise and fall of historic buildings with largeformat photography. In 2011 he covered the UW’s expansion of new buildings on the “Without John Stamets’s initiative, the west side of campus in a blog aptly titled photographic history of the early Filipino “Here Comes the Neighborhood.” migrant laborers who came in the 1920s, He photographed construction of the Seattle ’30s, and ’40s would not have been Central Public Library and the Experience documented,” said activist Ron Chew. Music Project, the rehabilitation of King Street A public celebration of Stamets’ life and Station, and many other building projects. He work happened on June 15 in the courtyard published the book Portrait of a Market in of Gould Hall at UW. 1987 with writer Steve Dunnington.
8 — June18, 2014 – July 1, 2014
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE COMMUNITY
Faith and justice: There will never be another Yuri Kochiyama Sharon Maeda IE Special Guest Contributor The L.A. Times, Washington Post, New York Times, and many other newspapers have eulogized Yuri Kochiyama. In the weeks since her passing, they have chronicled her lifetime of activism for justice, from cradling Malcolm X’s head in her hands as he lay dying, being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, to the books and videos about her, and to her own autobiography, Passing It On.
Unlike what has already been written, this tribute to Yuri is about some of the everyday vignettes I was privileged to witness over the past 35 years.
Back in the 1970s, WNET TV’s Woman Alive asked for names of women to profile in their ground breaking weekly PBS series. I immediately thought of Yuri. My aunt who worked for the World Council of Churches in New York gave me her number. Yuri was glad to hear from Frances Maeda’s niece but would hear none of being filmed. In typical nisei (second generation Japanese American) fashion, she demurred and offered up names of other women. I realized many years later that if I had told her I needed to produce a segment about her to boost my fledgling career at KCT/9, she would gladly have agreed to participate. In 1978, while stranded in a New York snowstorm, I saw a flyer for an event in Chinatown where Yuri was a speaker. There, sitting at a table outside PS 124 in the snow, was Yuri at the registration table. She read my name, and suddenly realized that I was that pesky TV producer from Seattle. She left the table and rushed me into the school to meet many of New York’s activists ... as if I was a long lost friend. That’s the way she was, a consummate organizer in an old school way. Yuri was always anxious to make introductions: young playwrites to someone she knew on Broadway, international students to political injustices here in the United States, activists from New York to activists from L.A., Black Power movement people to faith leaders. In some ways, she was a typical nisei lady—self effacing and looking out for others. As she got older, friends at political events would shove a $10 bill into her pocket so she could take a taxi home. Most times, she would give the money to a homeless person, then take the subway home, even when she needed a walker. (By the way, the Blue Scholars’ song about Yuri mentions the “Free Mumia” bumper sticker on Yuri’s walker!) Home away from home
The Kochiyamas lived in Manhattanville Houses off Broadway on the edge of Harlem, near Columbia University and Riverside Church. With six children, they had a prime four-bedroom unit. As the kids left, Yuri turned their bedrooms into a home
colors of the rainbow bears. It was a bear party. In New York, people sit rather poker faced on the subway, but that day, our bear bags brought smiles all around.
She even thought that presidents would see the light and change U.S. policy. “Oh, maybe he’ll change his mind; he has to,” she would say with the utmost sincerity. She was always a boost to our cynicism. A lifetime of hidden treasures
In 1999, while visiting family— Audee, Eddie, Jimmy, and Tommy (the four remaining Kochiyama kids and the “Grands” as she called her grandchildren)—Yuri had a stroke. She remained in California until her death.
The family and friends cleared out the Harlem apartment. We were literally dumping things we thought of no value—things like volumes of Readers’ Digest condensed. Suddenly, a photo fell out. It was photo of Yuri and Eleanor Roosevelt, arm in arm. So, then, we Sharon Maeda and Yuri Kochiyama at the Kochiyamas’ Harlem apartment in 1995. • Courtesy Photo pulled all the volumes out of the garbage can and shook them upside down to see away from home for activists, artists, and in San Pedro, California, her hometown if there were any other treasures stuck international students. By the time her near L.A. In New York, it wasn’t about between the pages. More photos and husband Bill (she called him “Daddy”) the denomination or even the religion more souvenirs of days past. passed away in 1993, Yuri had a room ... at one point, she was a Muslim. She Yuri single-handedly was a lifeline for filled with filing cabinets, literally a had faith in a higher being and in the historical archives of papers dating goodness of people. She once worked political prisoners. And, she connected from World War II to every political for the Board of Global Ministries of us to them. While in New York on my movement in the United States. When the United Methodist Church. While she way to Kenya, she made me promise to the UCLA Asian American Studies knew it was a progressive institution, she visit former Black Panther Doc Powell department requested her papers, UCLA kept her activism separate from her job, and his wife Sue, who had been in exile there for years. students spent summers in New York which was their loss. to sort and catalog her papers before Yuri was a writer. Long after she no One February, we went to the sending them to L.A. Japanese United Church for a Day of longer wrote position papers on various In her spare time, Yuri, tutored Remembrance event commemorating issues, she wrote to political prisoners. ELL students who wanted to improve the day President Roosevelt sent She had everyone signing petitions or their conversational English. She 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry writing a note to David Wong, a young always invited them to holiday meals. to concentration camps during WWII. Chinese man without papers. After I remember carving a Thanksgiving There I met Yuri’s peers: the artist Miné years in prison, David was released, but turkey on Eddie’s desk while people Okubo, writer Michi Weglyn, and fellow immediately deported back to China. activist Kazu Iijima. What a stunning David never got the chance to thank Yuri kept flooding into the apartment. in person. But, Geronimo Pratt went to In addition to the international group of feisty nisei women! thank her, even before he went home to Sometimes, her family and friends see his family. students, Yuri had randomly invited people and they brought friends. Out worried that Yuri was too trusting. She wrote prolifically, in that unique with the folding chairs stacked on one In the days of FBI agents infiltrating side of the living room, people were progressive groups, we worried that she beautiful handwriting, and was always eating in the kitchen, hallway, and probably housed an agent provocateur or running out of stamps. Rolls of stamps were like gold to Yuri and we often left a couple of the bedrooms. Over the two at the apartment. them as a thank you for her hospitality. years, there were stories about who sat in those folding chairs. Hollywood The ʻcorny sideʼ A group called 18MillionRising.org and Broadway celebrities, international Yuri was also sometimes goofy in a was founded to promote AAPI civic students, extended family and friends naïve way. L.A. writer and filmmaker engagement, influence, and movement interspersed amongst the revolutionary Karen Ishizuka called it “corny.” by leveraging the power of technology leaders of the 20th century. Sometimes Yuri would get all wound and social media. The group started a Yuri kept a bookshelf full of up about the storyline of a TV drama, campaign to create a Yuri Kochiyama handwritten address books. Once I was then ask a question as if the drama postage stamp. How great and fitting is looking for the contact information was happening in the real world. Other that? Join in the online campaign: http:// for Rev. Bernice King, daughter of Dr. times, she would be gleeful about trivia, act.engagementlab.org/sign/18mr_yuri_ Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta like marveling at how plump raisins stamp. Scott King. I knew to call Yuri. Her got if you put them in the pot while the There will never be another Yuri response: “Do you want her home oatmeal was still cooking. Kochiyama. Our best tribute to her is to number, her office number, or the Once, Bill and Yuri were off to a party work for justice in our everyday lives. number at the church?” and asked me to go along to help carry Sharon Maeda is executive director the shopping bags full of her precious Keeping the faith bears ... yes, Hawaiian bears with hula of 21 PROGRESS and a longtime Yuri was also a woman of faith. As a skirts, college bears, Rastafarian bears, contributor to the International young woman, she taught Sunday School and large and small teddy bears all Examiner.
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014 — 9
IE COMMUNITY
Yuri Kochiyama: A remembrance and appreciation By Stan Yogi IE Special Guest Contributor
The following weeks were an education in politics. The Kochiyama apartment served not only as living space, but as an I first spoke with Yuri Kochiyama— organizing hub, community center, and who passed away on June 1 at the age of salon. 93—on a balmy Sunday morning in 1982. On any given night, Bill and Yuri might I was a UCLA student visiting New York be hosting dinner for a group of visiting for a few weeks during my summer break. activists working to rid Japan of U.S. That year I was assisting the producer of an military bases. The following afternoon, Asian American show that aired on a Los some of Bill’s 442nd buddies who had Angeles public radio station, and she had settled in New York might stop by for given me the names and phone numbers beers and to reminisce. On another day, of people in New York to interview for one of Malcolm X’s daughters would drop potential programs. in to say hello. A few days later, a group Yuri was the first person on the list I filled the apartment to organize a coalition called. I introduced myself, explained that to protest the murder of Vincent Chin, I was visiting from Los Angeles and that a young Detroit man killed by two auto our mutual friend had suggested I contact workers who thought Chin was Japanese. her. Thousands of people crossed the “Do you have a place to stay?” she threshold of apartment 3B at 545 W. asked. 125th Street over the many years that the “I’m renting a room at the Westside Y,” Kochiyamas lived there. I explained. An old black phone in the living room sat atop an ironing board unfolded waist“Come stay with us,” she offered enthusiastically. “We have plenty of high. It rang regularly. Yuri or Bill sat on a folding metal chair beside the ironing space.” board and wrote in a spiral notebook the Within minutes, I had checked out of caller’s name, the date and time of the call, the Y and was riding the number 1 subway and the gist of the conversation in case they train to the apartment in Harlem where needed help later remembering. Yuri and her husband Bill had lived for The movement to secure redress for decades. Japanese Americans incarcerated in I was unaware that Yuri was camps during World War II was at its immortalized in a LIFE magazine photo height, so many of the calls and visits to showing the diminutive Nisei mother of the Kochiyama apartment focused on that six cradling the head of a dying Malcolm effort. Yuri and Bill were at the center of X. Nor did I know that Yuri was a titan not that movement in the greater New York only among progressive Asian Americans area. They organized East Coast Japanese but with a host of people throughout the Americans for Redress. Bill testified in New world for her courageous political work. York before the Commission on Wartime Instead, I was amazed by Yuri’s Relocation and Internment of Civilians. extravagant generosity in inviting me, a Yuri testified in Washington, D.C. stranger, to stay at her home. Following that rousing summer with the Yuri and Bill Kochiyama were at once Kochiyamas, Yuri hosted me for several familiar and foreign to me. They were more extended stays over the following 15 a Nisei couple in their 60s and looked years. I slept on the same trundle bed that like the hundreds of Nisei I had known had been her sons’ years earlier, listening to growing up in Gardena and Los Angeles. the clatter of the subway trains a few blocks But when Bill spoke, he had a thick New away. York accent. Yuri wore a T-shirt with the During those visits, Yuri involved me in photos of political prisoners. They were her political work and talked to me with unlike any Nisei I had ever met. vigor and passion about a spectrum of They ushered me into the kitchen. The topics—from the Black Panthers and Puerto table was piled with newspaper clippings, Rican nationalists to Asian American jazz flyers for political rallies, and envelopes artists and the plight of David Wong, a that Yuri had hand-addressed to mail Chinese immigrant wrongfully convicted announcements about an upcoming of murder. demonstration. Conversing with Yuri in her living room Yuri asked me, “Are you related to May filled with photos of her kids, Malcolm X, and other family members inspired me to Yogi?” fight for justice. But I was not the only one “That’s my aunt,” I exclaimed in to feel Yuri’s influence. She touched the surprise. lives of thousands. Yuri explained that she had been my Yuri possessed the rare qualities aunt’s Sunday school teacher at the Jerome of treating people with compassion, Concentration Camp in the Arkansas expressing genuine curiosity about their swamps during World War II. Yuri left the lives and trying to understand who they kitchen for a minute and returned with a are. She also had a keen mind and a worn photo of a gaggle of Nisei teenagers, sophisticated understanding of larger including my aunt. societal and political systems that result I felt immediately at home. in oppression based on race, ethnicity,
political stickers and moving more slowly, but she always warmed me with her smile and the sparkle in her eye. I miss her energy, her passion for justice, and her endless faith that we can make the world better by fighting for what’s right.
In mourning Yuri’s passing but also in celebrating her extraordinary life, I’m reminded of words from Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker:
“People say, what is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spear in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, words, and deeds is Artistic rendering of an iconic image of Yuri Kochiyama like that. No one has the right to sit down and feel helpless. There’s too much work gender, sexual orientation, and class. That to do.” combination contributed to her impact. At Thank you, dear Yuri, for generating one moment, she would talk with fervor about the Sandinistas and then a few minutes waves, not ripples, for justice, equity, later ask a visitor to pose for a picture with and freedom. I am grateful that you were always hopeful and stood up for your two Care Bears that admirers had sent her. beliefs without hesitation. You did more But at her core she was committed to than your fair share of work to heal the battling injustice in its many manifestations. world. And you inspired countless others Bill passed away in 1993, and several years to do the same. later Yuri moved to Oakland to be closer to Thank you for showing us how to her children. I saw her at anti-war rallies and live a life of meaning, compassion, and performances by Asian American artists. By commitment. then, she was using a walker plastered with
10 — June18, 2014 – July 1, 2014
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE NEWS
Mayor speaks with API leaders about diversity, violence, and education By Travis Quezon IE Editor in Chief
executive director, asked the mayor how new Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole will be responsive to needs and concerns of the On Wednesday, June 11, Seattle Mayor API community. Ed Murray spoke with the Asian Pacific Murray responded: “I chose Kathleen Directors Coalition about current API O’Toole because I believe she had had the concerns. Three recurring topics were deepest experience as far as working not weaved throughout the discussion: just with the API community, but with the diversity, recent violence in the city, and African American community. Not just with education. The mayor and API leaders building a police department, but having spoke about ways diversity is essential in worked in New Jersey, Connecticut, and the city’s future and how universal Pre K both Northern Ireland and the Republic of education can help to curb gang violence Ireland. ... [She is someone who] understands and raise communities out of poverty. the issue of constitutional policing, who The mayor opened the discussion understands the issue that we have a problem by talking about the city’s strategy in at times with bias policing, the huge issue in addressing equity. regards to accountability, the huge issue in “If we grow as a city, and as we’re regards to use of force.” successful as a city, [we must] remain a Okazaki also asked the mayor how he city that is diverse racially and diverse would ensure that the health and human economically,” Murray said. “These are services and education for the API key factors if we don’t want to become community are met. Okazaki described a city [in which] only the very wealthy how resources from the Seattle Families and live in the city and those who clean our Education Levy were not reaching APIs. office buildings at night or serve us food Murray said the city must carefully plan at restaurants go home somewhere outside its midcourse correction on the levy to the city. That I think that’s one of the address disparities. biggest challenges Seattle faces. It’s one of “We need to figure out how we actually the biggest challenges the API community faces.” assist emerging communities who may Mark Okazaki, Asian Pacific Directors not have the same infrastructure and Coalition chair and Neighborhood House capacity as a large non-profit,” Murray
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said. “Catholic Community Services has great capacity. A new emerging nonprofit particularly out of immigrant communities probably doesn’t have that same capacity.”
To illustrate the need for a Targeted Local Hire policy, OCA Greater Seattle Chapter’s Doug Chin described the results of a study commissioned by the Seattle City Council. The study, released in February, found that just 6 percent of workers in Seattle construction projects were Seattle residents. The study also found that Asians made up only 2 percent of the workers, while Pacific Islanders made up 1 percent. “People are working on public works jobs in Seattle and taking our jobs and taking their money outside the city,” Chin said. “San Francisco, L.A. have ordinances and resolutions to improve that and I hope that you will push it.”
against another group of people who have experienced discrimination.”
(The mayor would go on to say after the meeting that he appreciated Chin’s directness.) Alan Sugiyama, executive director of Executive Development Institute, was able to lift tensions by asking the mayor: “Were you surprised you didn’t win the hum bow eating contest [at the API Heritage Month Celebration in May]?”
“I didn’t want to win,” Murray joked. “Can you imagine what the blogs would have said?” Sugiyama quickly moved the conversation on to the issue of gang violence.
“On a more serious note, we have gang problems,” Sugiyama said. “We have a problem of violence. It’s just kind of erupting. We also know that the trends have always been where you see a lot of African Murray said the city is pushing for American gangs in violence, that it always Targeted Local Hire and that a proposal gets copycatted with Asian gangs. Every 10 years this has happened, and now it’s right is in the works. on schedule again.” On the neighborhood level, Chin Seattle Police Officer Alex Chapackdee talked about the need for more parking regulations at Jefferson Park. He said that gang violence has changed in the described a situation where construction last decade and that the causes for violence crews working at the VA Puget Sound are harder to pinpoint. Health Care System were taking up the “It’s not just Seattle gang members, folks park’s limited parking spaces. that are outside of the city are committing “People who use that facility, Jefferson crimes in the city,” Chapackdee said. “It’s Park, can’t get access to it,” Chin said. not just race related, it’s not turf related or “There should be a two-hour parking territorial. It’s different now than it was 10 limit. To ask for money to improve the or 15 years ago. And that’s the reason why park system and community centers and we have a day gang unit and we have two then we don’t have access to it, that’s a units in our night gang squad as well. It’s an issue that’s certainly a concern for us in our contradiction.” communities.” Murray said that parking issues were Murray acknowledged the multiple one of the tensions the city is experiencing overall and that he is currently looking unrelated shootings that took place in Seattle in the weeks prior. He said that while there into the problem. have been conversations regarding police The meeting took an emotional turn reform, there have not been enough efforts when Chin told the mayor that he was taken by the city on the community levels and “irritated” that Murray had once said ensuring that there is programing that allows that not too long ago, there were signs young people a place to go. that read, “Irish need not apply.” “Short term, we have a series of things Chin, who has written extensively on the we’re going to talk about over the next couhistory of Chinese Americans in Seattle, ple of weeks,” Murray said. “Long term we said to the mayor: “It irritated me because, have some structural issues that we need in fact, it was the Irish who led the anti- to get at. Part of that actually goes back to Chinese movement, who drove the Chinese universal Pre K. Kids who get that at three out of Seattle, Tacoma, and so forth.” and four actually graduate at a much higher Murray responded: “I did mention rate than kids that don’t get that. The differthat because the actual experience of ence is dramatic, and it doesn’t matter what discrimination that my grandparents race or economic place you are, you get experienced when they came to this there early and the outcome is dramatic.” country in 1950, their experience of Murray took a strong stance on universal discrimination was real. Their experience Pre K and said it was the key in raising up of going through the 1960 election and communities currently living in poverty. the questions around the heritage and “The universal Pre K I think is the most religion of the Democratic candidate for president was real. My experience important thing that I will work on in the growing up in West Seattle and walking next four years and probably in my entire to Holy Rosary Elementary School and political career that will have a long term being called names because I was going effect on this city,” Murray said. “We can to a Catholic school and was a Roman make a huge difference in what happens Catholic was real. I just don’t think we with gangs. We can make a huge difference win when we pit one group of people with what happens with graduation who have experienced discrimination rates. Universal Pre K is an incredible opportunity.”
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014 — 11
IE COMMUNITY
Happiness for employees: A value that more than 300 companies around the world can chew on By Christina Twu IE Contributor
Niu: They were like, “Why would you do that? You have your own company that’s doing really well. And why would you want to take this big risk?”
When years of burnout and job dissatisfaction are swallowing ambitious professionals, a real “Careercation” might be the way out. Just ask Seattle entrepreneur David Niu, author of the book of the same name, who coined the term to describe the counterintuitive: an extended vacation from work to enrich your career and life for the long term. After more than a decade spent co-founding and building new media companies BuddyTV and NetConversions to remain competitive in a fast-changing technology industry (the latter was sold to aQuantive in 2004), Niu moved at the same break-neck speed to hit a wall at high velocity many years later. Though he was successful by many external measures, he needed something more to sustain him internally: experiences that enrich, challenge, and spawn personal growth. He also wanted to pursue a happiness that he could share with his wife and young daughter. Six months abroad across the Pacific Islands was the answer.
It hearkened back to when I was in college. I decided that I was gonna study abroad in China (in 1994), which freaked them out. They said, “Why don’t you just study abroad in Taiwan where we have relatives? It’s safer there, we know people there, and if you get in trouble and you need help, we can do that, and you know, it’s a good school.”
And I’m like, “You know, I don’t want to do that. I think I need to push myself to be a little different. … Now my parents admit that it was a great decision for me to do that. Niu with family at Gyeongbokgung Pal- IE: And do you think of (going on your ace in Seoul Korea. • Photo courtesy of “careercation”) as a Western concept TINYpulse (www.tinypulse.com) necessarily?
based human resources startup helping employers get an accurate read or “pulse” on their employees by designing a simple TINYpulse survey gauging how the work environment and management are doing. Within two years, TINY’s client base has grown to more than 300. And by popular demand, TINYhr has expanded their survey tool to gauge the satisfaction of employers’ clients.
“When I was trying to convince my wife to get on board with this [trip] and with our newborn, she was in nesting mode and very protective, Niu said. “She was like, ‘Man, are you sure?’ Near the end of our Niu’s growing client base is also ‘careercation,’ [my wife] was like, ‘When diversifying: from a small construction are we going to the next one?’” company in New Zealand, to a growing Niu embarked on his journey in 2011 to NGO in Haiti, to Seattle’s Experience give his family something they would never Music Project (EMP) Museum to rising forget: the sights, sounds, wonders and e-commerce agencies such as Airbnb. majesty of New Zealand, Australia, Korea, Inside his own Seattle office, Niu China, and Vietnam. In these countries, he practices what he preaches. He and his also met with business leaders to gather team actively practice positive company wisdom and best practices to fight toxic values to resist a toxic culture that can grow work culture: the growing beast, when fed, would eat away at employee satisfaction all too fast to plague companies, employers, and retention, creating a seemingly and employees for generations. intractable problem for executives and But take it from Niu himself. In a recent mutual unhappiness and burnout for both interview with the International Examiner, management and their employees. Niu explains how embracing happiness can According to a recent survey mentioned be critical to sustaining a company’s longin Careercation and documented by term success. palliative care specialist and author Bronnie International Examiner: You mention Ware, not being true to oneself to meet at the beginning of your book that you others’ expectations, not allowing oneself were raised by a “Tiger Mom.” Did to be happy, working too hard, not staying your family readily embrace the idea of in touch with friends and not having the happiness when you were growing up? courage to share what one is really feeling What was their definition of it? are the top five regrets people have on their David Niu: If you do well, that’s just the deathbeds. interpretation of happiness. So it’s not like, Niu connected this study pointing to “Oh, you had fun at the park,” it’s like, happiness with work culture—the kind that “Oh, you got straight ‘A’s. That’s good.” breeds job dissatisfaction. Many reputable So that was more of the lens that my mom companies struggle with employee retention would define happiness. My mom defined as a result, often wasting resources that happiness as, “Oh, you’re achieving. I’m attract employees who are incompatible happy, therefore, you should be happy.” with organizational values. From this, a business idea emerged; one he incubated IE: Everyone thought you were crazy quickly from zygote to birth of a startup. when you decided to embark on your Shortly after his return to Seattle in “careercation.” What specifically was 2012, Niu incorporated TINYhr, a Seattle- your parents’ reaction when you told them you were doing this?
Niu: I think it is a little more Western. I think I got influenced by other people who have done something similar, who basically were like, “Hey, I don’t want to wait till I’m in my 60s and I’m retired to go on vacation when I have a little bit of wealth, but declining health. Why don’t I just chunk up my retirement throughout my life and take these career vacations?”
And then at the end of the day, I know that I don’t need a lot of money to be happy, so why am I accumulating all this when I don’t need a lot of money to be happy? Why am I accumulating this when my health is going to be going down? … So I do think it’s a lot more Westernized versus kind of stereotypically what my parents would want: “Hey, you have this great job. You keep plugging along because that’s what society expects.” But I want to model for my child what I want to do to be happy, regardless of what society expects.
IE: Is “careercation” something that you encourage in your employees now? Niu: For folks internally [at TINYhr], we don’t have a PTO (Paid Time Off) schedule. We don’t have like vacation or sick days. [One of our] values is, “Hold yourself accountable: big freedom equals big accountability.” So we have someone going down to the World Cup. [So I say], “Hey I hope you don’t take your laptop with you and you can really unplug.” But for him, he really wants to take it. IE: That kind of accountability, huh? That runs counter to what I think of when I hear the word “accountability.”
Niu: It’s just that I think he’s so accountable here, [I tell him], “Hey you should take time off. You should trust that you did your job right, and the team here has got your back.” This interview was edited for clarity and length.
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12 — June18, 2014 – July 1, 2014
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE ARTS
It could happen to you: The internment of Japanese Americans and how it ripples through history I remember shortly after 9/11 reading in the paper about the disillusionment of a young Filipino American man. He had written that he had always felt he was American until the day he was taken off a plane in the new post 9/11 reality and questioned by authorities because he had been mistaken as an Muslim militant simply because of the color of his skin. The experience shook him to the core and made him question things as he had never questioned before. Being American was no longer a comfortable given. I was reminded of this incident recently when I read yet another story in the paper. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia surprised people when he bluntly told law students at the University of Hawai‘i that internment camps to detain Americans could eventually return. Although he admitted that the Supreme Court approval of internment camps for Japanese Americans was wrong, he followed up by telling the crowd that “you are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again.” Citing a Latin expression he quoted an expression attributed to Cicero: “In times of war, the laws fall silent.” I cite these two examples to people who might wonder why we continue to cover a historical incident that happened years ago and only affected one portion of the American population. The truth of the matter is that it could happen to you. If we are not vigilant, the rights we hold as American citizens could be taken away from us in a heartbeat. Which brings us to our short feature on the internment of Japanese Americans. Stanley Shikuma looks at two major books on Minidoka, the internment camp that many Japanese Americans in the Northwest were taken. Chizu Omori looks at several new books on internment history and briefly covers a recent art installation in California dealing with the topic. Locally, there are the annual pilgrimages to Minidoka and Tule Lake internment camps (all these events can be found listed online in my “Arts Etc.” at www. iexaminer.org), a performance at ACT Theatre in Seattle of a play on Gordon Hirabayashi, and a traveling Smithsonian exhibition entitled “The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942 - 1946” at Bellevue Arts Museum from July 3 to October 12. There is also the mounting of a major traveling exhibition by Seattle artist Roger Shimomura that takes on the Asian stereotype opening in the fall at the Museum of Art, Washington State University, and eventually surfacing at Tacoma Art Museum later next year. As the old adage goes, if we don’t remember lessons from our history, we are doomed to repeat it. Enjoy your summer! —Alan Chong Lau, IE Arts Editor
Minidoka: Memory and survival captured in literary works By Stan Shikuma IE Contributor
In 1942, almost 13,000 people of Japanese ancestry, many of whom were American citizens, were removed from their homes and sent to a desolate incarceration camp near Twin Falls, Idaho. Japanese Americans spent nearly three years incarcerated at Minidoka and other camps during World War II. Today, the Minidoka site continues to hold a mixture of memories and strong Minidoka War Relocation Center, Idaho, USA. Inside emotions—feelings of denial, distrust, the coop store of block 30, 1943. • Photo by U.S. Department of the Interior shame, and joy. —Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Teresa Tamura and the other is a comCommittee pilation of essays edited by historians The memories won’t die and the legacy lives on in generations that never lived inside the barbed wire of Minidoka. This is due in large part to the work of groups like the Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee and Friends of Minidoka who continue to raise consciousness around the Japanese American concentration camp experience and the designation of Minidoka as a National Historic Site. Credit is also due to the work of many authors, scholars, filmmakers, photographers and journalists who continue to research and write about the incarceration and removal, finding new details, new stories, and new connections that help keep the story alive and relevant to the present. Two such works were recently published. One is a book by photojournalist
reveals several little known facts and provides a clear historic context. The author’s intro and a special essay by Mitsuye Yamada make fascinating reading, but the heart of the book lies in the black and white photographs taken by the author.
Tamura includes many voices in her book, providing us with the photos and perspectives of those who lived or worked in the camp; those who left Minidoka for school, work, the army or prison; those who were actually born in camp; and those who worked to keep the memories alive through organizing, teaching, speaking, writing, art, literature, and poetry. She gives a voice, a name, a face, and a historical backdrop Russell M. Tremayne and Todd Shallat. to each portrait. Minidoka: Surviving Minidoka: The Legacy An American Concentration Camp of WWII Japanese American By Teresa Tamura Incarceration Caxton Press, 2013 Russell M. Tremayne & Todd Shallat, editors Tamura’s Minidoka chronicles the Boise State University, 2013 author’s own journey from a passive state of ignorance and embarrassment In Surviving Minidoka, editors about Minidoka to a passionate desire Tremayne and Shallat preserve 10 to unearth and illuminate the history “essays and insights from the College of of the people and the place. As a Southern Idaho’s annual Minidoka Civil photojournalist, she achieves this largely Liberties Symposium. Contributors, in through the photos she takes of people, pictures and words, honor the enduring sites, and artifacts associated with spirit of nidoto nai yoni: “let it not Minidoka and the explanatory captions happen again.” (Tremayne, from An supplied. American Tragedy.) Through her research, well documented The pieces range from historical in footnotes and bibliography, Tamura scholarly works like that of Professor
Greg Robinson on Mixing the Races, to personal remembrances from artist Roger Shimomura and the late Frank Kitamoto, to reflections on specific topics or personalities like Anna Hosticka Tamura’s piece on Minidoka Gardens or Russell M. Tremayne’s piece on Nakashima woodworker. Interspersed throughout are poems and excerpts from the writings of Lawrence Matsuda, Mitsuye Yamada, Lawson Fusao Inada, and others. Like any collection of writings by several authors, the leap from one essay to the next is sometimes wide, both in style and content. Taken as a whole, however, the 10 essays, punctuated with numerous ancillary photos and writings, create a nuanced picture of Minidoka concentration camp and of the social milieu in which it was created: early 20th century America.
Viewed side by side, Minidoka and Surviving Minidoka offer a stark contrast: one in muted black and white with a single narrative and author, the other a busy full-color volume with multiple viewpoints and far-ranging topics. Both, however, are artistically attractive, both apt to kindle some emotional response, each with a unique take on one of America’s ten concentration camps of WWII: Minidoka. The 2014 Minidoka Pilgrimage takes place from June 19 to 22. For more information, visit www. minidokapilgrimage.org.
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014 — 13
IE ARTS
The Japanese American Cases: The Rule of Law in Time of War reexamines incarceration history By Chizu Omori IE Contributor
Daniels readily admits that there are still many unanswered questions regarding these wartime cases, but as he says, “The inability to answer certain kinds of questions is one of the factors that makes history, in the words of the great Dutch historian Pieter Geyl, ‘a debate without end.’”
By Chizu Omori IE Contributor University of Hawai‘i professor Eileen Tamura has undertaken in this book, In Defense of Justice: Joseph Kurihara and the Japanese American Struggle for Equality, a biography of Joseph Kurihara whose history highlights the deep injustices of America’s persecution of Japanese Americans during World War II. Kurihara, American born and educated and also an army veteran who served during World War I, was a staunch advocate and defender of “The American way of life,” of the grandeur of the theoretical underpinnings of the ideals of democracy, of equality before the law and liberty and justice for all.
Why another book about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II? We already have a vast library of literature addressing many different facets of this history, almost more than any one person can adequately cover. Nevertheless, Roger Daniels’ new book, The Japanese American Cases: The Rule of Law in Time of War deserves a prominent place in the literature because of its scope and depth of scholarly research. Prof. Daniels is perhaps the foremost historian dealing with matters of the incarceration story and he continues to study, reexamine and monitor all relevant developments.
Asked by the editors of the University of Kansas Press of the series, Landmark Law Cases, and American Society to write about Hirabayashi and the other cases that made it to the Supreme Court in 1944, Daniels gives them top priority in this book and then expands into a reexamination of the whole history up to the present. This is an admirable compilation of the many strands and layers of this complex history. What sets this book apart is his tone of understanding and looking at things from the point of view of us, the victims of government policy, admirably illustrated by passages like this: “For the West Coast Japanese Americans the 11 months following Pearl Harbor were an extended waking nightmare as their illusions about their place in wartime American society were inexorably destroyed.”
Book relives debilitating affect of camps on Nikkei population
The Japanese American Cases: The Rule of Law in Time of War Landmark Law Cases and American Society By Roger Daniels University Press of Kansas, 2013 As these cases wend their way up the judicial ladder, each judge, each lawyer makes his moves and renders his opinions, and the impression is that there is much foot dragging and delaying tactics to slow the process. By the time Endo reaches the Supreme Court, it is the end of 1944, a full years after the initial roundup and incarceration. The justices of the Supreme Court whose decisions had such a tremendous impact on our lives seem so distant from us. The dry parsing of legal matters while we were languishing in the concentration camps takes on a surreal edge since we had not been convicted of wrongdoing. I wonder how the justices would have felt if they had come to see the camps, to meet the thousands being held in them. But, it turns out that they decided that it was okay to keep us locked up for years because the military said it was necessary.
One area that Daniels covers in great New evidence does turn up, and a detail is the segregation camp, Tule reexamination, especially about the Lake. The story of the camp that held incarceration is due. the designated “disloyals” has never been Though the emphasis is on the major given proper attention. The separation of cases brought to the Supreme Court, these individuals from the other camps, (Hirabayashi, Yasui, Korematsu and the turmoil, clashes, renunciation and Endo), this is no dry scholarly volume. its subsequent problems are well told What is particularly gratifying is his here. Lawyer Wayne Collins emerges as forthright, plain English approach. For a real hero and champion of Japanese example, he characterizes the actions of Americans in his fight to restore wartime ACLU during this period under citizenship for the renunciants. the leadership of Roger Baldwin, as Postwar years, the struggle for redress, feeble and confused. the move to preserve and create national As for Roosevelt’s role in creating the monuments of former campsites, the policies, Daniels has this to say: “It seems National Japanese American Memorial to me likely that the president’s fear of on the Capitol mall, all these are the political consequences of not taking mentioned in the end, bringing the book steps against the West Coast Japanese up to date. It is quite a history, our history. was more significant than any fears he Prof. Daniels is to be thanked for telling might have had of invasion or sabotage.” it so well.
leadership role in the revolt on December 5, 1942 when a JACL leader, Fred Tayama, was beaten and hospitalized. In the turmoil that overtook the camp, he inflamed the crowds by declaring the JACL leader as an informer, a betrayer. Speaking before a crowd, he intemperately shouted, “Let’s kill him! Let’s kill him and feed him to the roving coyotes!” In the ensuing turmoil, two young men were shot and killed by the Army, which horrified Kurihara.
Here, Tamura takes the time to sorting out some of the basic divisions roiling the community. The JACL’s version of Americanism was compliance and cooperation with the authorities. Kurihara, though just as much a believer in America, thought that the citizen’s role was to protest injustice. He said that what happened at Manzanar was a “damnably disA self-starter, he went to Catholic graceful and irreparable action against the schools in Hawai‘i and continued his very principal(s) of democracy.” education in San Francisco at St. IgnaThen, there were inmates who were symtius School where rigorous academic pathetic in varying degrees to Japan, others standards insured Kurihara’s grounding who were just plain angry and humiliated in ethics and ideals. His goal was to beby their incarceration, and many who were come a doctor and he particularly took to frightened and confused. heart the school’s intent to develop Chris“Manzanar was a powder keg and the tian manhood with strong moral character. He also studied elocution, acquiring Tayama incident ignited the whole barrel,” said Togo Tanaka. “[Resistance] did allow skills in writing and speaking. As Tamura says, “What St. Ignatius them to assert themselves in a way that gave Kurihara [was] a nurturing of no- expressed their individual sense of dignity tions of justice for ordinary people, and and their collective sense of pride in their an appreciation of the power of oration in ethnoracial identity.” persuading them to defend their rights.” These ideas were to remain with him for the rest of his life, though, as we find, they brought him to the breaking point during his incarceration in concentration camps during WWII.
The Japanese American community exhibited resistance in many ways and it is only now that the camp experience is being reexamined in a much broader and deeper way, creating a much different image of the group than that which had prevailed for many years, that of cooperation and resigned patience, of volunteering to serve in the army to prove their loyalty. The tragedy of our incarceration is that government policies drove these divisions within the community, bestowing untold suffering and damage on the population. Patriots like Kurihara just gave up and ended up in Tule Lake, the segregation center. He renounced his citizenship, was sent to Japan, a land he had never visited. He remained there until his death.
He did not become a doctor, but at the war’s beginning, he was working as a navigator on a tuna fishing boat, earning a good living and enjoying a seagoing life. During slack time, Kurihara honed his writing by contributing to the Kashu Mainichi and the Rafu Shimpo, writing essays like, “Go East, Young Man, Go East,” advising Nisei to go farming in eastern parts of the United States. The war put an end to the large Nikkei participation in West Coast fisheries and KuriThe ordeal of the camps has obviously hara could not find employment when all had a debilitating affect on the Nikkei popuNikkei were taken off the boats. When it was becoming apparent that lation and it took many years before an orthe government was formulating plans to ganized effort was mounted to demand an incarcerate the Japanese American pop- apology and some redress. As we learn more ulation in the West Coast, Kurihara ap- about what happened to individuals like proached Togo Tanaka, editor of the Eng- Kurihara, we see the tremendous sense of lish language section of the Rafu Shimpo betrayal and disappointment that the incarif he could speak on behalf of the Nisei cerated inmates felt, that their plight forced against the forced removal. He was ap- choices which altered their lives forever.
Tamura has done a great job of research and examination of this individual and of the history of the Japanese American community during WWII. And as we come to an appreciation of the destructive effect of the incarceration, we have In the Caiifornia concentration camp to shake our heads. What a tremendous Manzanar, Kurihara jumped to assume a waste it all was. palled and sickened by the Japanese American Citizens League (a group of young Nikkei) leadership’s acquiescence to the orders, calling them “a bunch of spineless Americans” and he vowed to fight and crush them.
14 — June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
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INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014 — 15
IE ARTS
Filmmakers reflect on API films screened at SIFF By Jessica Davis IE Contributor
Dende Collective, and Yellow Earth Theatre to develop his skills as a writer. Originally written as a stage play over a decade ago, he noted that Lilting was very much influenced by his own family.
Several filmmakers took the time to speak with the International Examiner about their films presented at the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival.
Big in Japan
Local filmmaker John Jeffcoat’s third feature film, Big in Japan, loosely based on true events, captures the often humorous adventures of real-life Seattle surf-rock band, Tennis Pro (David Drury, Sean Lowry, and Phillip Peterson). Jeffcoat originally encountered the band while working on Lynn Shelton’s MTV series, “$5 Cover.”
The band members play semifictionalized characters of themselves traveling through Tokyo, on barely any money, in an effort to gain fans in Seattle. Some of the film is scripted by Jeffcoat and some of it is improvised, but much of it is based on real events that happened while shooting in Japan. “It was like sketching out a coloring book,” Jeffcoat said.
Most of the crew only knew English when they arrived in Japan. Jeffcoat said that a lot of the communication they made was through body language, as most of the people they encountered in Tokyo only spoke Japanese.
“What’s in the film is incredibly personal,” he said. “It’s always stronger when you write from what you know.”
A scene from Lilting, the first feature film directed by Hong Khaou.
in the fall in addition to possibly Pei-Pei Cheng), a first-generation having online distribution. immigrant mother who speaks “The main thing that I take away little English and lives in a London from this whole experience is that nursing home. She grieves over the if you have an idea that everyone death of her son, Kai (played by thinks is crazy, you need to go for Andrew Leung in visions and flashit,” Peterson said. “You have to backs). After Kai’s death, she is follow your dreams or you’re going visited by Vann (played by Naomi to spend your life wishing you’d Christie), an interpreter, and Richard (played by Ben Whishaw), her followed your dreams.” son’s roommate and “best friend.” For more information about Big The script also has moments of huin Japan, visit www.bijthemovie. mor, as Junn strikes up a romance com. For more information about with Alan (played by Peter Bowles), Tennis Pro, visit www.tennispro- a co-resident at the nursing home who only speaks English. band.com. With a BA in Film and Video at Surrey Institute of Art of Design, Khaou worked in theatres, such as The Royal Court, Polka Theatre,
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
In Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, office worker Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi), is convinced that she will uncover the buried treasure shown in the movie, Fargo. An outcast, she plots to escape her day-to-day life in “It was intriguing to me Tokyo and head to Minnesota. to throw people into a new Austin-based filmmaker David environment and see what Zellner has made numerous awardhappens,” he said. winning shorts and feature films over The cast and crew the past decade with his brother, Naencountered an eclectic mix of than Zellner, but this was their first in bands—some were naked on Japan. They started writing the film stage, others were dressed like over a decade ago, and in addition Michael Jackson. to shooting in Minnesota, they spent “What we found was this over six weeks shooting in Japan. really warm acceptance,” “It was amazing. I loved it. I love Jeffcoat said. “Everyone was Japan,” said David Zellner. “I loved just psyched to see live music.” it and can’t wait to shoot something “Tokyo was very over- else there.” stimulating and exciting in a For more information about good way,” added Peterson, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, visit noting that the band’s first trip www.kumikothetreasurehunter.com. there was in 2010. “Experiencing Lilting it is of course nothing you can really prepare for.” A film about communication and Jeffcoat said he’s looking loss, Hong Khaou’s first feature to premiere the film in Tokyo film, Lilting, follows Junn (played by
Born in Cambodia, Khaou grew up in Vietnam and has lived in London (where the film was made) for over 30 years. His mother, also a first-generation immigrant, does not speak English. Khaou said he thought of her when writing the script.
The film had two weeks of rehearsal time and was shot in 17 days. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Khaou’s two short films, Summer (2007), and Spring (2011), were also selected for Berlinale and Sundance film festivals. Khaou is currently in the process of writing the screenplay for a new film set in present-day Vietnam. He noted that identity, the human condition, and culture are a big part of his scripts. “These themes are very dear to me,” said Khaou. Lilting is expected to return for a wider release in the fall.
For more information about Lilting, visit www.facebook.com/ liltingmovie.
Check back for Sudoku in the IE every issue! Answers to this puzzle are in the next issue on Wednesday, July 2.
16 — June 18, 2014 – July 1, 2014
INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER
IE ARTS
South Asian International Documentary Festival: Hope in a time of despair By Yayoi L. Winfrey IE Contributor
In Beyond Bollywood, the film industry is examined through the yearning eyes of four hopefuls. Pooja left home for Mumbai determined to dance in Bollywood, but deals with a jealous boyfriend. Harry, an Australian, finds work as the foreign entity in commercials and the white guy centerpiece in features. Prem Singh Thakur advocates for union members while Ojas, a makeup artist, is far more dramatic than any of the actors he styles.
The 2nd South Asian International Documentary Festival (SAID) presented by Tasveer is brimming with films that explore substantive topics. From Bollywood to outsourced workers and— the most prevalent—women’s rights in repressive societies, the narratives reflect hope even in a time of despair.
Consider the liberated ladies of Gulabi Gang. If you caught Pink Saris a few years ago, you may recall Sampat Pal Devi as the outspoken activist of Uttar Pradesh India who, in 2006, organized rural women to fight against the abuses of men, and sometimes other women. When Sampat appears on the scene, men tremble. Summoned to a village where a woman has been burned to death, she’s told by the victim’s husband and in-laws that the cooking fire is to blame. But like a television CSI detective, Sampat immediately notes the body lying in a room where there is no stove. Not to be taken lightly; Sampat admonishes, she insults, she lets the men know that she knows they’re lying. Then, she marches straight to police headquarters, haranguing authorities until a murder investigation is opened.
miscarriages including a third trimester fetus that was literally beaten from her body. While moving between the safe house, her family home and court, she dons a burqa lest she be identified by Taliban members. Meanwhile, Sabere’s stepfather laments his lack of a son because living with four women (his wife, his mother and two daughters) makes life difficult even though they wait on him with freshly pumped glasses of water and Shouting and waving their bamboo homemade meals. sticks called lathi, the women of Gulabi Denied education, traded for land and Gang confront men who are reported for livestock, subjugated and suffering at the beating and sometimes killing women. hands of brutal men, Sabere nonetheless But in addition to their vigilante stance, remains dignified. the feminists are also civically involved. “All of our problems stem from Following Sampat’s lead, they make illiteracy,” she declares. their votes count and actively campaign Raising her voice in punctuation, Sabere for candidates who support their agenda, even installing their own members displays a glint in her eyes reflecting the into office. Gulabi Gang women are hope she feels for her future. empowered, never losing hope even Women aren’t the only ones standing while facing adversity. And, in one up for women. In The Menstrual Man, joyous scene in a display of global unity, Muruganantham is appalled upon learning they’re joined in song and dance by about the high infection rate among rural women traveling from Fiji. Indian women because of the rags they Another documentary about use during their periods. Washing them, oppressed females, I Was Worth 50 they hang them out to dry only briefly Sheep, unravels in Afghanistan where because of the shame associated with 10 year-old Farzaneh has been sold to a bleeding. Thus, bacteria are encouraged 60 year-old man in exchange for some to cultivate on the rags that are then farm animals and land. Fortunately, she’s reused. Obsessed with creating the perfect been purchased on an installment plan sanitary pad, Muruganantham avidly and has six years before she’s to report researches to the mortification of his wife, for marriage. Meanwhile, her older half- then his mother—losing both when they sister Sabere has just escaped a six years- decide he’s crazy. But when he builds a long abusive marriage and returned machine that village women can operate home—at 16. After escaping to a safe to manufacture sanitary pads, a cottage house, she solicits legal help in divorcing industry is born. Brilliant, yet not formally her abuser, by whom she suffered several educated, Muruganantham is dedicated,
Finally, there’s more dancing in Remembering Kumari when Nepalese culture is showcased in a goddess dance honoring a teacher.
A documentary is also being screened at the Northwest Film Forum. Shot in Nepal, Manakamana is 158 minutes of intimacy shared with worshippers riding a cable car Gulabi Gang to the temple of goddess Manakamana. driven, modest and munificent—never Crowded inside a windowed box, high in the sky overlooking jungles, mountains and seeking a profit. villages, the travelers talk displaying a mix Men can be oppressed, too, in ways that of awe and fear. aren’t always evident. In Mardistan, four Among the passengers are an old man and New Dehli Sikh men are profiled about boy who never exchange a word of dialogue, their societal roles and their views of three young musicians fussing with their women. Amandeep is an author; Tarun, a hair while snapping selfies, a rooster, kitten, virginal college student; Gurpreet, a man several bleating goats, and more. With its passionate about his twin daughters; and, gentle message of traditional versus modern Dhananjay, a homosexual who opted for life, this film promotes hope through a marriage and children over coming out as couple seen departing earlier that returns gay. looking happier than when they left. Three Sad Tigers also makes a case for demoralized men, those who are 2nd SAID (South Asian International outsourced. Three Bangladeshi men go Documentary) Festival takes place June to Dubai for jobs that won’t even cover 28 and 29 at the Wing Luke Museum of the the debts they’ve incurred, including Asian Pacific American Experience, 719 S. contractor fees they paid to secure those King St. in the Chinatown/ID neighborhood. positions. For more information, call (206) 623-5124 For lighter fare, there’s An American in Madras, the story of Ellis R. Dungan who went to India in 1935 on a lark, but stayed and made films in Tamil even though he never spoke the language. The black and white scenes, and glorious music, featured from his movies are extraordinary.
or visit www.tasveer.org.
Manakamana shows at the Northwest Film Forum from June 20 to 26. Northwest Film Forum is located on Capitol Hill at 1515 12th Ave. For more information, call (206) 329-2629 or visit nwfilmforum.org.
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