Developer demolishing Keiro gives short shrift to area’s history

VOL 39 NO 3 JANUARY 18 – JANUARY 24, 2020 FREE 38 YEARS YOUR VOICE

By Mahlon Meyer NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

A leading scholar of Seattle’s “white supremacist” history of housing discrimination said it was important for the property developer that is demolishing Keiro and building an apartment complex in its place, to be sensitive to the history of the Central Area.

James Gregory, director of the University of Washington (UW) Seattle Civil Rights and Labor Project, questioned a narrative that implied that an influx of Blacks into the Central Area had displaced Japanese Americans.

Shelter Holdings, LLC, which held a meeting for the Keiro community on Jan. 9, presented the narrative through a

signboard that appeared to present two events as happening simultaneously in the year 1942.

Just below 1942, in capital letters, appeared the statement: “WWII JAPANESE ARE EVACUATED TO INTERNMENT CAMPS.”

Immediately below that read, “African Americans move into Central Area.”

The Northwest Asian Weekly later asked Gregory about the apparent conflation of historical events.

“It is true that Nihonmachi was destroyed by internment and that war workers, including African Americans, moved into the neighborhood,” he said.

“But how one tells that story is

see KEIRO on 15

Community members study plans for the new building.

New Asian mayor, deputy mayor

From left: Eleanor Wong, Leeching Tran Wong, wife Terry Mark, Benson Wong, Wesley Wong, and Trevor Wong. Photo by Ross Freeman

By Staff NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Peter Kwon and Benson Wong were recently named deputy mayor of SeaTac and mayor of Mercer Island, respectively. On Jan. 7, Benson Wong was appointed as mayor of Mercer Island for 2020-2021 in a 4-3 vote.

From left: Senayet Negusse, Peter Kwon Takele Gobena, and Erin Sitterley.

Photo provided by Peter Kwon

“As the first person of color to serve as mayor of Mercer Island, I am humbled by that fact and appreciative of this community’s welcoming of diversity and inclusion,” said Wong. “The mayor is but one of seven councilmembers and collectively I know that we look forward

see MAYORS on 3

McDonald’s offers scholarship to API high school students

By Mahlon Meyer NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Inside the electronic geofence that registers the arrival of a car pulling up to pick up food, past the posters showing chocolatedipped donut sticks, around the electronic kiosks taking orders automatically, past the smiling face of the franchise owner, behind counters that are ubiquitous around the world— sits a surprise.

Not everyone gets to walk into the kitchen of a neighborhood McDonald’s and observe the cheese slices laid out for burgers, the stacks of buns in the back,

see MCDONALD’S on 12

William Cho bags an order at the first franchise he opened in Federal Way

Vietnam War POW meets widow of pilot who shot his plane down

By Max Garland COMMERCIAL APPEAL

“I don’t like the word ‘bucket list’ because it makes it feel like you’re getting ready to die,” said the North Memphis native and Vietnam War veteran. “I call it my ‘living list.’” Williams completed a significant

piece of that list in November, when he and other veterans returned to Hanoi, Vietnam, to gain closure from their time at war.