PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 746 Seattle, WA
VOL 40 NO 35 AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021 FREE 39 YEARS YOUR VOICE
CID business owners frustrated after spate of break-ins
Chinese woman beaten on Metro bus, suffered concussion By Becky Chan NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Photo by Assunta Ng
Photo by Becky Chan
Smack! Judy (an alias) felt the sting on her wrist as if she’d been caught misbehaving. The source of her pain came from a fellow female passenger, who had just boarded the bus without a mask and was admonished by the bus driver to wear one. The passenger mumbled as she grabbed the mask and plopped onto a seat near where Judy was standing. She then stood up and began the assault. It was July 21, around 9 a.m., prime rush hour in South Lake Union. The King County Metro (KCM) Route 70 bus crawled along Fairview Avenue, exchanging young tech workers for others heading towards downtown. Judy, a caretaker, was on her way to see an elderly client near Pike Place Market. She stood near the back door.
Richard Chang of Kau Kau points to the new metal plate covering holes from recent break-ins.
By Ruth Bayang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
see METRO BUS on 12 The Stewart and 9th bus stop where a woman suffered a concussion from a beating by a fellow bus rider who refused to wear a mask.
Seattle’s police chief had lunch with Chinatown-International District (CID) business owners on Aug. 24—who are on edge after recent break-ins and burglaries. Adrian Diaz told the Northwest Asian Weekly, “We have been doing community roll calls with a couple squads of our officers in the CID, Little Saigon, and 12th and Jackson, trying to address the people selling a lot of the stolen goods.” Diaz said thieves have been breaking into businesses and selling the merchandise at an “outdoor flea market” on 12th Avenue. The market comes and goes, he said, and now, it appears that it is ramping up. “We’re trying to address that with very strategic operations about where they’re getting goods and trafficking those stolen goods, and coupled with… having a visible presence and we’ve included not only our officers but our Community Service Officers as well.” Mr. Cui, who owns Jian He Hang on 657 South Jackson, said three people broke into his shop last week, stealing or damaging items totalling $20,000. “The thieves were in there for about 15 to 20 minutes. There were people walking
AAPI restaurant owners make tough choices amidst COVID-19 vaccine controversy
Courtesy of Musang restaurant
As the COVID-19 vaccine/antivaccine war rages, some Asian American-owned restaurants have stepped into the fray. Along with approximately 100 other diverse King County restaurants, Watson’s Counter and Musang have decided to require proof of vaccination for dine-in service. “A lot of the decisions that we make are for the safety of our team,” said Melissa Miranda of Musang in North Beacon Hill. Miranda opened Musang as a tribute to the Filipino food of her heritage just three months before COVID-19 hit. What started as popup catering for events turned into a full-service restaurant that operated as a community kitchen throughout the
Courtesy of Spice Waala restaurant
By Kai Curry NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Melissa Miranda of Musang
Spice Waala co-founders Uttam Mukherjee and Aakanksha Sinha
pandemic. Miranda felt concern for her staff as part of a profession that is hard hit. “A lot of the breakthrough cases that have been happening have been other
restaurant workers.” Musang is also allowing a proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test to dine in. see RESTAURANTS on 12
see CRIMES on 11
Why get the COVID vaccine now?
“So we can go out and hang with friends again.” Everyone ages 12 and older is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine is safe, easy, and free - no insurance or appointment needed.
KingCounty.gov/vaccine
audrey, fl ynn, & no va ce n tr al di st ri ct
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412 Maynard Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104 • t. 206.223.5559 • f. 206.223.0626 • editor@nwasianweekly.com • ads@nwasianweekly.com • www.nwasianweekly.com
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asianweekly northwest
39 YEARS
AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
■ NAMES IN THE NEWS Eddie Abellera appointed IDIC officer in-charge
The Board of Directors and Management of the IDIC Filipino Senior and Family Services appointed long-time community and civic leader Eddie Abellera as officer incharge of the organization, pending the official hiring of a new executive director. Abellera has held various positions in IDIC aside from being a two-term president Eddie Abellera and currently treasurer. He retired from King County as a senior accountant in the County’s Finance and Business Operations Division. Prior to his relocation to the United States, Abellera held senior management positions in leading telecommunication, construction, and manufacturing firms in Manila.
New charter school
abundance of natural light, large classrooms, safe entry, and special rooms for enrichment. Impact’s mission is to prepare a diverse community of scholars to succeed in college, and to impact their communities as the next generation of equity-driven leaders.
Lynn Nakamoto retiring
Justice Lynn Nakamoto is retiring from the Oregon Supreme Court at the end of 2021, and Gov. Kate Brown is seeking applicants for the appointment. The current court has five women and two men. Nakamoto, 61, was the first Asian American to serve on the high court. Previously, she served as a judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals. Justice Lynn Nakamoto Before becoming a judge, Nakamoto was a managing shareholder at Markowitz Herbold, a Portland law firm focusing on business litigation. She was also vice chair of the Oregon Board of Bar Examiners in 2001 and chair of the Oregon State Bar Affirmative Action Committee in 2006.
Cheung is CEO of Center for Public Integrity
Local families, scholars, community members, and supporters joined Impact Salish Sea Elementary on Aug. 17 for the unveiling of their brand new building in Othello Square. The brand new, state-of-the-art building—right in the heart of south Seattle—will provide students an
Paul Cheung
Paul Cheung, a veteran journalist, has been named chief executive officer of the Center for Public Integrity—the first Asian American to lead the investigative, nonprofit news organization. Previously, Cheung worked at the Knight
Foundation, where he managed a multi-million dollar investment portfolio to scale AI, improve business sustainability, and mitigate misinformation as the director of journalism and technology innovation. “As an immigrant, I have experienced both the pitfalls and promises of America. I know first-hand the real-life impacts of systems in place that have long created inequity, and I am dedicated to making them more equitable through groundbreaking and innovative investigative journalism,” Cheung said. Cheung holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from New York University and has taught at Columbia University, where he was also a Punch Sulzberger media executive leadership fellow.
Wong elected first Asian CSCJ president
Judge Alvin T. Wong
Judge Alvin T. Wong was named as president of the Council of State Court Judges (CSCJ) in Georgia—the first Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) to serve as president of any judicial council in that state. CSCJ consists of over 147 judges and senior judges across 72 counties in Georgia. State Courts have jurisdiction over misdemeanor criminal cases, including traffic, and all civil cases, except domestic relations, real estate, and equity. In 1998, Wong made history as the first AAPI to run for public office in metro Atlanta and the first to be elected judge in the South.
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Unity In Voices: Where do we go from here? Bridging the gap between Black and Asian communities LIVE & VIRTUAL PANEL (FREE EVENT) Limit to 50 people with proof of vaccination
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JESSE WINEBERRY Attorney WINA Co-chair
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YOUR VOICE
■ COMMUNITY NEWS
AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
asianweekly northwest
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Chon pleads guilty to Netflix insider trading SEATTLE (AP) — A 50-year-old Bellevue, Washington man who made more than $1.5 million by using inside information to trade in Netflix securities has pleaded guilty in federal court. Junwoo Chon is scheduled to be sentenced on December 3, said Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman. “Insider trading is not a victimless crime,” Gorman
said in a press release. “When someone on one side of the trade has non-public information, they have an advantage over the person on the other side—the person who ultimately loses money on their securities trade. The integrity of our financial markets demands a fair and level playing field.” Junwoo Chon is one of four men charged in a scheme
involving two former Netflix software engineers who illegally provided proprietary subscriber data in advance of Netflix’s earnings announcements. Insider trading is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine.
■ WORLD NEWS
Malaysia’s new PM strikes conciliatory tone in 1st address
Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s new Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob struck a conciliatory tone in his first national address on Aug. 22, saying he would embrace the opposition in an effort to tackle the runaway pandemic and revive a slumping economy. A day after being sworn in, Ismail said the political battles that led to a change of government twice since the 2018 elections had been detrimental to the country and distressed the public.
China allows couples third child amid demographic crisis BEIJING (AP) — China will now allow couples to legally have a third child as it seeks to hold off a demographic crisis that could threaten its hopes of increased prosperity and global influence. On Aug. 20, the ceremonial legislature amended the Population and Family Planning Law as part of a decades-long effort by the ruling Communist Party to dictate the size of families in keeping with political directives. It comes just six years after the last change. From the 1980s, China strictly limited most couples to one child, a policy enforced with threats of fines or loss of jobs, leading to abuses including forced abortions. A preference for sons led parents to kill baby girls, leading to a massive imbalance in the sex ratio. The rules were eased for the first time in 2015 to allow two children as officials acknowledged the looming consequences of the plummeting birth rate. The overwhelming fear is that China will grow old before it becomes wealthy. China long touted its one-child policy as a success in preventing 400 million additional births in the world’s most populous see CHINA on 10
“Let us move forward. Let us stem this grab for political power,” he said, urging all lawmakers to find common ground and work together to help the nation recover. The new prime minister, 61, said he would invite the opposition to be part of the National Recovery Council and the committee combating COVID-19. “Political stability must be swiftly achieved through unity, and this includes cross-party cooperation,” he said. Many view Ismail’s appointment as a
return to the status quo. He was the deputy prime minister under the government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who resigned after less than 18 months in office as infighting in his coalition cost him majority support. Ismail has sought to set himself apart from Muhyiddin’s government, which has been blamed for failing to curb the pandemic despite a seven-month state of emergency and see MALAYSIA on 10
KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON NOTICE TO BIDDERS Sealed bids will be received by the King County Procurement Services Section through the County’s E-Procurement system for the following listed bids. Instructions on how to submit a bid electronically, view any current bid opportunities, express interest, communicate with the Buyer via Message app and/or successfully submit a bid through the E-Procurement system prior, and more are provided on the County’s website: https://kingcounty.gov/procurement/registration King County encourages minority business enterprise participation. King County does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its programs, services, and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. KC000292 OPENS: 09/09/2021 Small Business Accelerator Program - Hazardous Waste Exposure Prevention Outreach & Education
KC000306 OPENS: 09/16/2021 Service Management Modernization Project Pre-Proposal Conference 8/26/2021 at 1:00 p.m. via Microsoft Teams Conference Call: 1-425-653-6586 Conference ID:176130669# KC000300 OPENS: 09/07/2021 Interpreter Listening Devices and Related Items KC000317 OPENS: 09/08/2021 Juror Lunch Meal Services Pre-Proposal Conference 8/30/201 at 1:30pm via Microsoft Teams Conference Call: 1-425-653-6586 Conference ID: 994169323# KC000297 OPENS: 09/07/2021 Community Health Advocate
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asianweekly northwest
AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
39 YEARS
■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR AUG 27 SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM FREE FIRST FRIDAY 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Seattle Asian Art Museum Free admission Advance registration required volunteerparktrust.org
28 ASIA PACIFIC CULTURAL CENTER’S 24TH ANNUAL POLYNESIAN LUAU, IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL EVENT Asia Pacific Cultural Center, Tacoma 3 p.m. asiapacificculturalcenter.org CID FOOD WALK SERIES Hing Hay Park 423 Maynard Ave. S, Seattle 10 a.m.-4 p.m. RALLY FOR VOTERS RIGHTS MLK Jr. Park 2200 MLK Way S., Seattle 5:30 p.m. 206-778-6357
28-29 CELEBRATE LITTLE SAIGON STREET FAIR Friends of Little Saigon, 1227 S. Weller St., Seattle 11 a.m.-6 p.m. flsseattle.org
NOW THROUGH
NOV
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SEATTLE’S NIHONMACHI BOASTS NEW BUSINESSES FOR THE FIFTH ANNUAL “HAI! JAPANTOWN” CELEBRATION Wing Luke Museum, 719 S. King St., Seattle For details, please visit wingluke.org
DOUG BALDWIN AT RENTON ROTARY CLUB 12-1:30 p.m. Fairwood Golf and Country Club, Renton $20 rentonrotarysecretary@gmail.com
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SEPT
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CRAZY WOKE ASIANS, ONE NIGHT ONLY 7:30-10 p.m. Unexpected Productions Improv $25 unexpectedproductions.org
ASIA PACIFIC CULTURAL CENTER’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION 5:30 p.m. Greater Tacoma Convention Center asiapacificculturalcenter.org
8 APDC SEPTEMBER MEETING, FEATURING SHOUAN PAN, GARY LOCK, AND MIA TUAN Via Zoom 8:30-10 a.m. https://bit.ly/3g9Kz6r
24 SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM FREE FIRST FRIDAY 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Seattle Asian Art Museum Free admission Advanced registration required volunteerparktrust.org/event/saamfree-fridays/all/
OCT 1-24 TASVEER SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL Northwest Film Forum tasveer.org
23 NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY’S UNITY IN VOICES EVENT, BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN BLACK AND ASIAN COMMUNITIES 5-7 p.m. Joyale Seafood Restaurant, Seattle (Also a virtual event) Free admission with proof of vaccination nwasianweekly.com
29 SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM FREE FIRST FRIDAY 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Seattle Asian Art Museum Free admission Advanced registration required volunteerparktrust.org/event/saamfree-fridays/all/
VANCOUVER ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL Vancouver, BC, Canada vaff.org
26 SEATTLE ASIAN ART MUSEUM FREE FIRST FRIDAY 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Seattle Asian Art Museum Free admission Advanced registration required volunteerparktrust.org/event/saamfree-fridays/all/
DEC 12 RONNY CHIENG, STAND UP COMEDY 7:30 p.m. The Neptune Theatre, Seattle $28-$33.50 stgpresents.org
View the solution on page 10
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The only weekly English-language newspaper serving Washington’s Asian community. The NW Asian Weekly has one simple goal: “To empower the Asian community.” The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject any advertisement, letter or article. Subscriptions cost $40 for 52 weeks of the NW Asian Weekly and $30 for 52 weeks of the Seattle Chinese Post. The NW Asian Weekly owns the copyright for all its content. All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reprinted without permission. 412 Maynard Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104 • t. 206.223.5559 editor@nwasianweekly.com • ads@nwasianweekly.com • www.nwasianweekly.com
YOUR VOICE
■ HEALTH
AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
asianweekly northwest
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Preventing COVID after being vaccinated Get vaccinated and continue to mask up and social distance, is the guidance from Seattle-area medical professionals. In a recent press briefing, Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, health officer with Public Health– Seattle & King County, said that COVD19 hospitalization cases occur mostly in unvaccinated people. “Vaccines are effective to make it less likely for people to catch COVID-19. Vaccines are the single most important thing to protect yourself and others,” he said. Christina Bradic, spokesperson for Public Health – Seattle & King County echoed that point. She said 94% of cases are among people who are unvaccinated. Vaccinated people have a very high level of protection against COVID19, and some studies have shown that there are 88% protections even against the Delta variant. Washington’s new mask mandate took effect on Aug. 23—residents are required to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Duchin recommended people wear a well-fitting and well-constructed face mask or respirator. In addition to masking up, he also stressed the importance of improving indoor quality, ventilation and filtration to reduce the transfer of COVID-19 indoors. The disease transmits through the air and builds up in spaces. It increases in places where people are singing and shouting, for example. Opening windows to maximize movement of air is encouraged. He also advised folks to upgrade filtration when possible and consider the need for portable HEPA filter units.
Delta variant and symptoms
Duchin said that the Delta variant has thrown the world a nasty curveball and changed the course of the pandemic. “It’s much more contagious than the early variants and the virus is more likely to spread. Delta can cause breakthrough infections in a small proportion of vaccinated people.” He also added that if one is exposed to COVID-19 in King County, it’s likely the Delta variant, and that one would need the complete series of vaccines to be protected. The Delta variant causes some overlapping symptoms with previous variants including a runny nose, fever, sneezing, and congestion. Duchin said he is seeing more of a sore throat with the Delta variant. He also mentioned that there’s no data indicating severity of symptoms in children to be different from earlier variants. “Do vaccines work? Unequivocally yes. If you’re not vaccinated, then you’re at high risk of spreading infections to others.” King County announced on Aug. 24 that it is the first large county in the United States to get at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to at least 70% of all eligible age and racial groups. While a remarkable achievement, Duchin said there are still too many eligible and unprotected.
COVID-19 testing
In addition, he said that COVID-19 testing remains a vital strategy to limit
Photo provided by ICHS
By Nina Huang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
ICHS coordinated a pop-up vaccine clinic at Seattle Goodwill on July 21, vaccinating staff and customers.
the spread. Updated guidance on testing recommends anyone with mild symptoms should get tested as soon as possible, whether you’re vaccinated or not. If one tests positive for COVID-19, they should be isolated from others for 10 days. And even if you test negative and don’t have symptoms, but have been exposed to someone with the virus, it’s best to monitor for 14 days after exposure. With the Alpha variant, symptoms usually appeared about five to six days after exposure, but Duchin said that Delta symptoms seem to show after three to four days. “Patients become contagious more quickly after exposure and can spread more rapidly.” Bradic also wrote that taking Tylenol can help alleviate symptoms, but it won’t fight the virus. Like with any illness, it is important to rest, stay hydrated, and wait it out. If symptoms are severe or you have questions, contact your doctor. Bradic added that no vaccine provides 100% protection against a disease. The best way to prevent COVID-19 is to mask in indoor places and still take precautions. Many positive cases report eating in restaurants or bars, attending large social gatherings, or out of state travel. Dr. Deepa Yerram, physician and interim Chief Medical Officer of International Community Health Services (ICHS), said that 99.9% of all COVID-19-related deaths are among the unvaccinated. 20% of admitted cases are people who have had the vaccines. For vaccinated people who contract COVID-19, they’ll have much milder symptoms. “It will feel like a nasty case of the flu, but nowhere close to ending up in a ventilator in a hospital,” she described.
close to the DNA in your cells. Given all that, you can safely conclude that vaccines will have effects on childbirth and/or pregnancy, not only true for females but also true for males.” Yerram shared that three pregnant healthcare providers at ICHS got the vaccine and went on to give birth to healthy babies. She said that as medical professionals, it’s
important to do as you preach. Nina can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com. This health series is made possible by funding from the Washington Department of Health, which has no editorial input or oversight of this content.
Weekly Specials Prices Valid August 25-31, 2021
Seattle Roll
Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese, Cucumber, Seaweed Wrapped with Seasoned Rice. 8 pc
Pork Belly Rind On
5.99 lb
Fresh!
Shanghai Baby Bok Choy 2.88 lb
6.99
White Prawns
Shirakiku
26/30 Count. Ideal Size for Seafood Stir Fry. Previously Frozen
Calrose Rice
Medium Grain. 15 lb
6.99 lb
14.99
Vaccines and fertility
Yerram said that the Center for Disease Control put out a notice quelling common myths and vaccines and infertility was one of them. “There is currently no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause pregnancy problems including the development of placenta, because we have that info, MRNA vaccines don’t go into DNA, and don’t modify DNA. It doesn’t go anywhere
CJ Brand
Duruduru Pork Potstickers 500 g
2.99
Shaka Tea
Tea Drinks
Hilo
Pickled Radish
Assorted Flavors. 14 oz
Assorted Variety. 12 oz
5.49
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asianweekly
AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
■ AT THE MOVIES Review: A pastobsessed, underwater world in ‘Reminiscence’ By JAKE COYLE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Just as surely as climate change is scarring the land and warming the seas, it is also flooding our movies. The planet’s imperiled future has been in the DNA of disaster movies like “The Day After Tomorrow” for years, of course. But lately, climate has taken a more leading role in films proliferating as quickly as ice caps are melting. This summer has seen the parched, Australian thriller “The Dry” (good movie, by the way) and “The Tomorrow War,” a timetraveling war movie that leads to an apocalyptic threat unlocked by thawing permafrost. In Lisa Joy’s “Reminiscence,” the Asian American’s feature directorial debut released in theaters and on HBO Max on Aug. 20, the first thing we see is water. The movie is set in a mostly submerged Miami in the near future, with canals flowing through high-rises in some sections. In other areas braced by an ocean wall, there are perpetual puddles. To escape the daytime heat, the city has also turned nocturnal. Or, at least, more so. What would it be like living in such a world? It’s reasonable, maybe even responsible to consider it. Joy, who wrote and directed the movie, has sensibly concluded we would probably spend a lot of time remembering better days. In “Reminiscence,” she has fashioned a shadowy, future-set film noir, with all the genre trappings of a hardboiled narrator, a slinky femme fatale, Venetian blinds and, most relevantly, a sense of the past’s irrevocable hold over our lives—and our planet’s. That makes “Reminiscence” both kind of terrifyingly ominous to watch and a little comforting. Who knew that environmental disaster could be so stylish? The seas may be encroaching, but at least you can still get a stiff drink at a seedy nightclub and tersely muse on the past like private eyes of earlier times. In “Reminiscence,” everyone is hooked on nostalgia, which makes Nick Bannister’s memory-weaving machine, in which people lie down in a shallow tank and are transported to any time from their past, something more like a drug den. “Nothing is more addictive than the past,” narrates Bannister (Hugh Jackman). With soothing direction, he guides customers to cherished memories—a tryst with a lost love, playing fetch with a beloved dog—which are illuminated on a round stage draped in translucent strings. (The production
design by Howard Cummings is consistently terrific throughout.) It’s a fallen world, rampant in lawlessness, corruption and ennui. Bannister is a veteran of the wars that came when the waters rose. But Jackman, whose range extends from song-and-dance musicals (“The Greatest Showman”) to suburban scandal (“Bad Education”), exudes little of the trauma of anyone who’s been through war. Jackman is a more reassuring presence. He doesn’t slide into noir with the weariness of, say, Harrison Ford, or the disillusionment of Humphrey Bogart. But, then again, “Reminiscence” gradually grows more in the direction of melodrama than its dark premise might suggest. “Reminiscence” properly starts with an old-fashioned kind of encounter: an alluring lady looking for her keys. Just after closing time, in walks Mae (Rebecca Ferguson), in a handsome red dress. There’s an immediate chemistry between her and Bannister, which his colleague, Watts (a typically very good Thandiwe Newton) eyes skeptically. She’s a singer at a club in a dark, neonlit offshore district. Their first night out ends with Bannister taking her home, in a dingy by daylight. As you might imagine, “Reminiscence” begins to play with what’s real and what’s memory, blurring the lines in between. When Mae disappears, Bannister begins pouring over their time together, searching for clues—some of which begin cropping up in other cases, including one involving a New Orleans drug kingpin (Daniel Wu). To a remarkable degree—complete with a mysterious, disfigured bad guy (Cliff Curtis)—Joy’s film is peopled by the dependable types of the genre. The story is never quite as impactful as the risingseas set-up. “Reminiscence” is Joy’s featurefilm debut, but as the creator of the HBO series “Westworld,” she has already proven her considerable talent in fashioning vivid, intelligent sci-fi worlds out of contemporary anxieties. “Reminiscence” may turn too sentimental and mutter a bit too much about “the past.” Like its characters, it’s drunk on what came before, relying too heavily on noir tropes. But its smart, thought-provoking concept isn’t so easy to shake off. The images of a half-submerged Miami are too eerily realistic. As Bannister sloshes around in shallows and dives deeper into the depths, “Reminiscence” will leave you soaked with unease.
39 YEARS
Photo provided by IW Group
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northwest
From left: Daniel Wu, Lisa Joy (director), and Thandiwe Newton at the Aug. 7 premiere for Reminiscence at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.
YOUR VOICE
■ COMMUNITY NEWS
AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
asianweekly northwest
7
STEVIE SHAO
is Seattle’s breakout muralist
Under the watchful eye of a blazing sun and a steady stream of onlookers at Hing Hay Park, Seattle artist Stevie Shao plunges a thick brush into a bucket of syrupy black paint. She approaches a large piece of plywood propped up on 12-foot-long easel, and shapes a vinelike tree in between two animals she has already painted against a scarlet background: a pinkwinged phoenix engulfed in yellow flames and a yellow tiger flashing rows of sharp white teeth toward its own flaming tail. Later, she will fill out every inch of the mural with ornate details: flowers, dots, tears and sparkles in Barbie pink, kohl black and marine blue. Somehow, she manages to keep her white painter’s pants pristine in the process. Blank surfaces usually don’t stay that way for very long when Shao is around. From plywood on closed-up businesses to sprawling restaurant walls, flanks of city buildings and food trucks: In the past year and a half, Shao has covered them all with her vivid, flattened take on flora and fauna, both earthly and mythical. Her style has grown into a recognizable signature—and Shao, at 23 years old, has become one of Seattle’s most recognized and in-demand muralists and illustrators. “It’s crazy,” she said during a recent interview, as if she were still processing it herself. “I mean, it’s really, really crazy.” It’s particularly remarkable because until COVID-19 reared its head last spring, she had never painted a mural. It started with a last-minute assignment from the Ballard Alliance, for which Shao had done some creative work in 2019, during her interior design studies at Seattle Pacific University. It was April 2020, when COVID was soaring, businesses were boarding up and residents were sheltering in place. The murals had to go up quickly, so Shao opted for simplicity: a black cityscape on a white background. On top, she added swoopy pink letters spelling out “It’s gonna be ok.” The image immediately struck a chord on Instagram and in the minds of anxious Seattleites. It also turned out to be a bit of a premonition for Shao: Since then, her career has been more than OK. As the pandemic ushered in an explosion of public art Seattle hadn’t seen in years, catapulting new artists into the public eye, Shao’s murals became a recognizable part of the urban landscape. In the past 12 months, to name a few projects, she has covered the popular Phở Bắc Sup Shop restaurant in Seattle’s Rainier Valley with a warm-toned mural featuring a firebird see SHAO on 9
Photo from Stevie Shao’s Instagram page
By Margo Vansynghel CROSSCUT.COM Reprinted with permission
Stevie Shao (right) painting in the Seattle Chinatown-International District in August.
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asianweekly northwest
AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
39 YEARS
■ COMMENTARY
JACL statement on Afghan refugee crisis The scenes that have come out of Afghanistan in the last few days are all too familiar to many within the Asian American community, with many people noting the eerie similarity to images from the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Then, just as now, the United States has a duty to help those scared and vulnerable civilians who are attempting to evacuate in order to protect themselves and their families. The time for debate about the war and its impacts will continue to happen, but now the priority must be to protect those who are at risk and give them refuge. When the United States left Vietnam in 1975, over 130,000 civilians and refugees were evacuated as part of the
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withdrawal process, albeit by supposed “rogue” civilian and military personnel. Currently, under a special visa program for Afghan citizens, less than 2,000, of 20,000 who applied, have been evacuated. Many more still have not had the chance to apply and are still searching for a way out. The top priority for evacuation should be given to those most at-risk members of Afghan society such as women and girls who are targeted by the Taliban, the LGBTQ community, the disabled community, interpreters, and others who supported the United States in Afghanistan. The JACL has long supported the immigration of refugees seeking asylum
in the United States. Four different administrations have been in power during the war in Afghanistan, and now it is on the current administration and Congress to ensure that our Afghan allies that have stood by us throughout the conflict are not abandoned. We call on the Biden administration and Congress to accept as many refugees as possible; through expanding the resettlement limit, increasing the number of Special Immigrant Visas and Priority 2 status refugees, as well as designating Afghanistan as Temporary Protected Status. It should also ensure that there are sufficient transportation sites for refugees seeking to leave the country.
The U.S. should ensure that there is adequate assistance in areas such as housing, healthcare, and other basic necessities and that these immigrant communities are not targeted for deportation in the same fashion that many other post-war immigrant communities were treated. We are still seeing the struggle of Vietnamese, Hmong, and Cambodian refugees who came in the wake of the Vietnam War and who are now at risk of being deported and are incarcerated at higher rates than many other Asian American communities. We cannot allow any incoming refugees to suffer this same fate in the future.
YOUR VOICE SHAO from 7 and flowers (based on a Vietnamese folktale the owners told her); painted a large mural featuring a bull, horse and crane for Re:Public bar and restaurant in South Lake Union; shrouded Pioneer Square’s Metropole building in Northwest marine mammals, fish and birds; collaborated with street art nonprofit Urban ArtWorks and Starbucks; and painted a mobile food pantry for Family Works in a bright, veggie-green pattern. You can’t miss Shao’s artwork, says Devin Reynolds of the Ballard Alliance, the neighborhood business group that hired Shao to paint that first COVID mural (and two others) last spring. “Her art is colorful, it’s vibrant. It commands your attention because of the boldness,” he says. “It’s not artwork that’s going to get lost in the public realm—it stands out.” Shao has also ramped up her illustration and graphic design work. She’s designed posters for Chong the Nomad’s sold-out Barboza reopening concert this summer, tide-pool-inspired tote bags for music label Sub Pop, a jacquard blanket for local company Throw & Co., and T-shirts and tote bags for a Seattle Artist Relief fund benefit. Her reach is also growing beyond Seattle. After discovering her on Instagram, acclaimed American fashion designer Anna Sui used some of Shao’s designs—a pink moon, a white-lettered “Take Care”—for T-shirts, totes and pouches in her spring/summer 2021 collection. A French beer company asked her recently to draw up labels for a few of its sours. She came up with another dynamic duo for the “Monsta Passionista” sour: a deer with pink lightning bolt wings and a yellowpolka-dotted wild boar traipsing around a forest of abstracted, white, blue and yellow foliage against a lipstick red sky. During a recent visit to her studio, a narrow, two-story building tucked away behind her parents’ Magnolia house, Shao’s trademark bright hues were mostly absent. A few white, primed plywood boards, awaiting coats of flashy paint, leaned against the studio’s white exterior walls. Shao painted the boards ahead of the Seattle Design Fest as part of a two-day art show called “Limelight,” alongside
AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021 local Nikita Ares, Colleen Louise Barry and Mary Anne Carter at Lake Union Park. In the next few weeks, she’s doing more murals for local businesses, including a new Greenwood brewery. “It’s mural season,” Shao says, in a laid-back manner that belies how swamped her schedule is these days. She’s also working on a project with her sister, Tori Shao, designing way-finding signs and painting murals in the City Centre building in downtown Seattle. That last project will be a bit of a return: Shao used to work in the building as an interior designer at a local architecture firm (while freelancing as an illustrator and graphic designer for local brands and musiciansm including Parisalexa) until she was laid off last summer because of COVID. Now, she’s a full-time artist. This new occupation wasn’t something she previously thought possible. As a kid, she excelled in painting intricate scenes in watercolors and acrylics (which she still makes), but the artist-as-career path never seemed viable. But then she took a life-changing illustration course at Seattle Pacific University, where she also studied interior design. The enthusiastic encouragement from her professor, Seattle illustrator Rachell Sumpter, helped her see a career for herself. “She’s the reason why I started developing my style, to a point where it would make sense for a mural or something like that,” Shao says. Sumpter still remembers how much of a pro and a hard worker Shao already was back then as one of the few students working on a freelance career while still in school. She also struck her as someone who knew how to make an impact. “She became the art director of this little poetry magazine called Lingua,” Sumpter told me during a recent phone call, referring to the quarterly publication of the student-run art and literary organization at SPU. “To promote it, typically the students will make these little posters, you know, 11 by 17 [inches], that you can create on the photocopier. What she did: she blew hers up—it was like 11 by 14 feet. She blew it up ... and did it over the whole wall of the art center. It was like: Yes! This is it, this is her!” Sumpter says.
“She’s not afraid.” Since then, Shao has leaned into this pack-a-punch style. In her work, negative space has shrunk to the point of horror vacui, and decorative florals have grown into main characters, along with beasts and birds. She’s also less and less afraid of using vibrant colors. “When I started freelancing, I was making a lot of monochromatic work. Mostly black, white and gray and doing comics and stuff,” Shao says in her studio. She gestures toward a can of PeptoBismol pink paint resting near the primed plywood. “When I was younger, as a girl, it wasn’t cool to paint … pink or purple,” she says. At the same time, she has simplified her style by flattening three dimensions into one plane, similar to the folk art, Chinese ceramics and traditional American tattoos (think: mermaids, anchors, panthers) that inform her artistic approach. Often, she’ll find inspiration on the flash sheets in tattoo shops or on Instagram accounts that catalog traditional textiles from different regions of the world. “The way they’re simplified, that’s a sensibility that goes back to graphic design and illustration, and finding different ways to put the information into these little capsules,” she says. Shao also pulls from research about ecosystems and animal species, as well as Chinese folklore and morality tales (Shao is Chinese American) to inform the creatures she chooses to paint and pair up. Take the tiger and phoenix from Hing Hay Park. “It alludes to a supernatural world. It’s heaven and earth,” she says. “That’s a big theme in Chinese mythology.” For a recent mural at Cal Anderson Park, she zoomed in on the relationship of deer
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and rabbits. “The idea with this piece was to tell a story about these two species and their working (and playing) relationship,” she says. “Rabbits and deer live and feed in many of the same areas and have mutualistic feeding and alarm systems, where they rely on one another for cues over danger and food. This relationship applied to the idea of ‘stronger together,’ that there’s much we can learn from the natural world.” Plus, she adds, “Something I wanted to add to my process is this ‘world building’ aspect, where characters and symbols make repeated appearances in different combinations to tell different stories.” Currently on the horizon: T-shirts, tote bags and sweatshirts for local businesses, including Monorail Espresso; a group show of art on coasters; welcome back banners for Downtown Seattle; a mural for the Showbox in SoDo this winter. “I’m also working on a special jersey for an unnamed Seattle team that will be released sometime in March or April that I’m really stoked for,” Shao adds. But just as Shao’s new works are popping up all over, some of her early work on plywood covering closed businesses has come down. She’s not sure what happened to many of those COVID murals. But, she says, it’s been a year of both artistic and personal growth. She has learned to accept that some things serve a certain purpose at a certain time—and that’s true for murals, too. “It doesn’t have to continue to live on in any form—it could just be gone; be thrown away. And that should be fine,” she says. “They served that purpose. They brought a bunch of color to the street. That should be enough.”
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Hiring Cook Chinese restaurant in Marysville (exit 200) part or full time. Call (360) 659-0879 Assistant/Associate Planner PSRC is seeking an Assistant/ Associate Planner for the Data Department. Please see our job announcement at https://www. psrc.org/about/careers. PSRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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The King County Housing Authority (KCHA) announces the availability of its draft 2022 Moving to Work (MTW) Plan. Moving to Work is a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) demonstration program that allows housing authorities to locally adapt programs and policies in order to (1) increase the housing choices of low-income families, (2) help residents achieve economic independence, and (3) increase the cost-effectiveness of federal housing programs. As an MTW participant, KCHA develops and shares an annual plan that outlines and identifies proposed changes to policies and programs KCHA may undertake in 2022. KCHA will hold a Public Hearing to review the plan and receive comments on Monday, September 13, 2021 at 5:00 P.M. on the virtual meeting platform, Zoom. Attendees may connect to the meeting at the following web address: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87323281264. Instructions on additional listening options are available at www.kcha.org. A copy of the draft plan will be available for review beginning August 25, 2021 at www.kcha.org or upon request by contacting Andrew Calkins at (206) 574-1106. Written comments can be submitted by mail to the following address: KCHA MTW Plan, Attn: Andrew Calkins, 600 Andover Park W., Seattle, WA, 98188. All comments should be received by September 28, 2021.
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CHINA from 3 country, thus saving resources and helping drive economic growth. However, China’s birth rate, paralleling trends in South Korea, Thailand and other Asian economies, already was falling before the one-child rule. The average number of children per mother tumbled from above six in the 1960s to below three by 1980, according to the World Bank. Meanwhile, the number of working-age people in China has fallen over the past decade and the population has barely grown, adding to strains in an aging society. A once-a-decade government census found the population rose to 1.411 billion people last year, up 72 million from 2010. Statistics show 12 million babies were born last year,
MALAYSIA from 3 a lockdown since June. Ismail obtained the backing of 114 lawmakers for a slender majority— one that also brought Muhyiddin’s alliance back to power and returned the premiership to Ismail’s United Malays National Organization. The party led Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 but was ousted in 2018 elections amid a multibillion-dollar financial scandal.
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which would be down 18% from 2019’s 14.6 million. Chinese over 60, who number 264 million, accounted for 18.7% of the country’s total population in 2020, 5.44 percentage points higher than in 2010. At the same time, the working-age population fell to 63.3% of the total from 70.1% a decade ago. The shift to the two-child rule led to a temporary bump in the numbers of births but its effects soon wore off and total births continued to fall because many women continued to decide against starting families. Japan, Germany and some other wealthy countries face the same challenge of having fewer workers to support aging populations. However, they can draw on investments in factories, technology and foreign assets, while China is a middle-income country with laborintensive farming and manufacturing. At its session on Aug. 20, the Standing Committee of
Ismail said the government will purchase an additional six million doses of coronavirus vaccines, which will arrive next month to boost vaccination efforts. He did not provide further details. He said he believes that once the nation achieves herd immunity, the virus will no longer pose a serious threat. More than half of Malaysia’s adult population is fully vaccinated. Daily new infections have more than doubled since June to hit a record 23,564 on Friday, bringing the country’s total
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accustomed to. I pledge to work with the people,“ he said. Muhyiddin pulled his party out of the reformist alliance that won the 2018 elections, and formed a new government in March 2020 with UMNO and several other parties. But UMNO was unhappy at playing second fiddle to Muhyiddin’s smaller party. In the end, 15 UMNO lawmakers pulled support for Muhyiddin, causing his government to collapse.
SOLUTION from SUDOKU on page 4.
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the National People’s Congress canceled the leveling of fines for breaking the earlier restrictions and called for additional parental leave and childcare resources. New measures in finance, taxation, schooling, housing and employment should be introduced to “to ease the burden on families,” the amendment said. It also seeks to address longstanding discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers in the workplace that is considered one of the chief disincentives to having additional children, along with high costs and cramped housing. While female representation in the labor force is high, women, especially those with children, are severely underrepresented at the higher levels, holding just 8.4% of leadership positions at the central and provincial levels. Among the young party leaders who will take the reins in the coming decades, only 11% are women.
to over 1.5 million cases. Deaths have surged to above 13,000. The central bank cut its estimated growth forecast this year to between 3% and 4% due to the lockdown. Ismail said he understands the public is suffering, as thousands have lost their livelihoods. He said his government will introduce new policies to raise purchasing power and bolster the private sector. “Let us together, as one big Malaysian family, work to return Malaysia to its level of prosperity we were all once
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AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
YOUR VOICE
■ ASTROLOGY
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Predictions and advice for the week of August 28–September 3, 2021 By Sun Lee Chang Rat—Grand gestures can be impressive, but don’t underestimate the power of small acts that add up.
Dragon—Are you holding on to something that simply doesn’t work anymore? It might be time to move on.
Monkey—Although you desire a certain outcome, too much interference could have an undesirable effect.
Ox—If there is a better way to get the job done, consider switching to the more efficient method.
Snake—You are not shy about speaking your mind, but there are instances where it is best to exercise discretion.
Rooster—There is a lightness in your step today. It would be a good day to just go with the flow.
Tiger—As curious as you are to find out what is going on, some things are better left a mystery.
Horse—A suggestion for improvement could prove quite valuable, provided that you take it to heart.
Rabbit —Your persistence is about to pay dividends. What had been a struggle before will soon be much less so.
Goat—Hold off on celebrating until the deal is done. Right now, you want to stay focused and avoid unnecessary distractions.
Dog—Are you dropping hints right and left to no avail? It might be time to use a more direct approach.
Pig—Keep a sense of humor about what happens today. It will help you to maintain a good perspective.
WHAT’S YOUR ANIMAL SIGN? RAT 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 OX 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009 TIGER 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010 RABBIT 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 DRAGON 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012 SNAKE 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 HORSE 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014 GOAT 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 MONKEY 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016 ROOSTER 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017 DOG 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018 PIG 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019
*The year ends on the first new moon of the following year. For those born in January and February, please take care when determining your sign.
All photos by Assunta Ng
CRIMES from 1
Broken lock at Jian He Hang
around and a bus stop outside the shop, but nobody cares,” Cui told the Northwest Asian Weekly. He was tipped off to the break-in when his alarm went off. “The alarm company called the police and nothing happened so I have no choice but to come down to Chinatown to protect my property.” Cui rushed to his store from his home and caught the thieves inside red-handed. Armed with a stick, he chased the suspects out of his store until one of them fired a shot in the air—stopping Cui as he feared for his safety. The Seattle Police Department (SPD)
New locks at Jian He Hang
confirmed to the Northwest Asian Weekly that the man who fired the shot was arrested the following morning at a homeless encampment at 8th and King—it’s unknown if the man lived at the encampment. The man was identified through surveillance video captured on Ciu’s system. It was the second time that day that Cui’s store was targeted. Cui has since repaired his locks, and installed a lock at
a security gate would prevent further break-ins and damage. But to add insult to injury, a contractor who was supposed to install that security gate ran off with $3,000 that Chang had given as a deposit. Chang has retained an attorney to sue the contractor. Citing crime data for the CID from the beginning of 2021 through July, Diaz said Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz and Victoria Beach, SPD African American community advisory council chair that while crime is lower, there has been a noticeable increase his cash register. in aggravated assault (includes shots fired, Seattle Vision Clinic, on the same or shootings, as well as motor vehicle block, has been the target of a number of theft). There is a decline in burglary but break-ins this year. Diaz said it could be due to victims not Mr. Wong, the owner of Asia Bar-Breporting. He stressed the importance of Que, on 655 South Jackson, said a man ran reporting every incident. into his shop this week and stole the tip jar. Diaz said SPD officers have also been “I also chased the thief,” Wong told the doing crime prevention type work, Northwest Asian Weekly. “Although there meeting with businesses and addressing wasn’t a lot of money in the jar, that’s not issues like lighting and video cameras. right.” “I wish I had the ability to have a lot On the other side of the block, Richard more officers on the streets,” Diaz said. Chang, said his restaurant, Kau Kau “We lost 300 officers over the last year… BBQ, has experienced two break-ins and that’s the equivalent of 600,000 hours of numerous unsuccessful attempts since the patrol officer hours.” pandemic put a stop to indoor dining in March 2020. From broken windows, to cash drawers Ruth can be reached at ransacked—Chang hoped that installing editor@nwasianweekly.com.
KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON NOTICE TO PROPOSERS Sealed bids will be received for KC000319, Eastrail North Segment Tie Removal and Interim Trail Phase 2 by the King County Procurement and Payables Section, via the E-Procurement system until 1:30:59 PM on 09/16/2021. Late bids will not be accepted. The public bid opening will only be conducted on-line following the Bid Close Date and Time; see Invitation to Bid for details. There is a 15% minimum Apprentice Utilization Requirement on this contract. There is a Voluntary Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Goal: 10% of the Contract Price.
There is a Voluntary Women Business Enterprise (WBE) Goal: 6% of the Contract Price. This project provides for the improvement of a section of the King County Parks’ Eastrail Main Segment from Kirkland to RedmondWoodinville Rd NE, and a section of the Eastrail Spur Segment from NE 124th St to NE 175th St. We will be removing timber ties, installing and compacting crushed gravel material, and other associated work, all in accordance with the attached Plans, Special Provisions, Standard Specifications, the KCRDCS, and the APWA/
WSDOT Standard Plans for Road, Bridge, and Municipal Construction.) Estimated contract price: $1,280,212.00 Pre-Bid Meetings: None Planned Prospective bidders can view more details at: https://kingcounty.gov/procurement/solicitations Complete Invitation to Bid Documents, including all project details, specifications, and contact information are available on our web page at: https://kingcounty.gov/procurement/ supplierportal
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39 YEARS
AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021
RESTAURANTS from 1 James Lim, owner of Watson’s Counter in Ballard, fell into the restaurant business by way of coffee and a science degree. He describes Watson’s as “a specialty coffee café…that has a great food program, but…also a great brunch spot that has the best coffee program.” They are famous for their Cereal French Toast and their dishes are inspired by Lim’s days spent eating American and Korean food. Lim has been taking a hard line on the pandemic since last year. “We weren’t in a rush to open [for dine in],” he said. “Fifteen months being in pandemic mode, doing everything we can to keep each other safe, and then we’re going to throw that all out the window?” The response to restaurants deciding to require proof of vaccination was swift and furious. Trolls took to Google and Yelp to post bad reviews to all the restaurants they could find with this policy; and swarmed social media to harass the accounts of these restaurants and their owners. The claims these disgruntled citizens have made run the gamut from “these restaurants are antipatriotic” to “they are discriminatory.” “The harsh ones are the ones that come in and claim racism,” Lim said. “It must be some Fox News…talking point, because they all say almost the exact same thing verbatim, ‘70% of Black people aren’t vaccinated. Why do you hate Black people?’—things like that.” According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), about 62% of all adults in the United States are fully vaccinated. Of those whose race and ethnicity could be identified, Blacks/Non-Hispanics account for 9.2%, which amounts to about 24% of the total Black/ Non-Hispanic population. While there have been conversations that this low number points to racism in our system, it is a red herring in the dine-in drama because the decision to require proof of vaccination is not a racist decision for Musang or Watson’s. The owners say it is offensive since they have been on the side of people of color throughout the pandemic, and throughout their lives, who are allies with Black Lives Matter, and put their money where their beliefs are by raising funds, marching, and asking others to do the same. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, in June 2020, Watson’s, as part of a greater Asians4BlackLives movement, raised funds for Black Lives Matter by selling t-shirts. On June 12, 2020, they closed in observance of the March of Silence. This January, Watson’s welcomed the New Year by stating, “2021 will be different, but it’s also kind of the same. Black Lives still Matter,
METRO BUS from 1 “I think she was angry about having to wear a mask and saw that I was Asian,” said Judy in rapid, heavily accented Cantonese. “She first hit my wrist, then hurled her bagful of cans and metal at me. I almost fell over, if it weren’t for this couple who propped me up with their hands.” Fearing for her safety, Judy jumped off the bus when it stopped at Stewart and Ninth, losing a shoe, her hat, and leaving behind a bag of clothing she’d planned to donate. The assailant, a Black woman who was about 40, 5’7”, and 140 pounds, chased after Judy, 59, 5 feet tall, and 115 pounds. She pelted Judy with her fists and swung her bag at Judy’s head. Judy cowered in terror behind a man at the bus stop. The man spread his arms out like a cross, protecting Judy. Still, the attack continued. Only when the man said something did the attacker stop. She then sauntered off. Judy got back on the same bus. “Are you okay?” the bus driver asked. Dizzy, shocked, and not fluent in English, Judy couldn’t respond. She called her daughter Elaine (an alias), then broke down in sobs. A fellow Asian female passenger comforted Judy in Mandarin and asked Elaine on the phone, “Do you need 9-1-1?” It’s unclear who called 9-1-1. The bus driver could have called on the radio. Each KCM bus is also equipped with an emergency button that the driver
Watson’s Counter has been thankful on social media for the support they have received for their proof of vaccination policy. Image with permission of James Lim.
COVID-19 is still real…We’ll do what we do and bring you some delicious new treats, but you keep doing what you do and be a beautiful, compassionate, and loving human.” Lim knows through his own connections that some— claiming the proof of vaccination policy is racist against Blacks—are white. To him, their appropriation of this important cause doesn’t blow it up and make it more important, like these attackers seem to wish—but trivializes it. “These people who are pretending to be Black…it’s so disrespectful to the plight that minorities have to go through…That’s the one that hits me the hardest because [they] don’t understand how difficult it is to be Black, you and I don’t understand how difficult it is to be Black. We understand that it’s not as easy as being white and there’s a lot of baggage to just use that and appropriate it just to make your point, which is a false point anyway. It’s disgusting.”
can activate with a foot to alert the main terminal surreptitiously. Drivers are trained neither to intervene directly nor touch anyone during a dispute. However, he or she can encourage the disrupting parties to get off the bus and open the doors to allow other passengers wishing to alight. After the phone call, Elaine ran a few blocks from their apartment to the Stewart Street stop. Two King County deputies were at the scene. They couldn’t communicate with Judy before Elaine arrived, so they spoke with the bus driver. By then, the Mandarin-speaking good Samaritan had disappeared. Before she got on the ambulance with her mom, Elaine recalled, “One of the [deputies] told me, ‘Things like this happen all the time. We just had a similar case this morning. There’s not much we can do.’” At the hospital, Judy was diagnosed with a concussion. “I really don’t understand why this happened to my mom. She is hardworking, kind, and generous,” said Elaine. “Even when we were at our poorest, she still managed to donate to those in need. We’re Christians!” In 2008, Judy immigrated to the U.S. with her then-husband and two young daughters from Guangdong, China, to be close to her sister living in Seattle. Because of the language challenge, Judy worked in various restaurants before becoming a caregiver to Chinese clients. In China, she worked in human resources, finance, and accounting. In 2007, before her move
Difficult decisions such as whether to require proof of vaccination are what the pandemic has been like for businesses. They are serious decisions that impact the bottom line. Some, like Spice Waala, an Indian street food restaurant in Seattle, have determined not to require vaccine proof. Co-founder Aakanksha Sinha stated, “We recognize the public health implications for the pandemic and are taking all measures to ensure that our employees and customers are safe… not all people can get vaccinated because of medical reasons, as well as because of accessibility issues.” Sinha and her staff are resolved to follow CDC and local guidelines. Others are reluctant to walk a hard line simply because they need the customers; or if an Asianowned restaurant, they might fear racism will come at them if they make a controversial decision. Lim believes safety is the most important. “If we were to be lax on COVID protocols and we find out someone gets sick and dies, it is not worth the potential extra money we could be making with it.” To Lim, it is imperative to follow his moral compass. He admits his willingness to engage with those that disagree might have something to do with the flack Watson’s keeps getting, but he will only go so far before he breaks off the conversation. “We’re not trying to get anybody upset…we want to be here for good food, good coffee, and good times. If you’re not enjoying who we are as a personality, that’s ok…we want people to be happy, safe, and have fun.” “We know that it’s such a divisive time and that there are folks in the community, too, that haven’t made the decision to get vaxxed yet,” Miranda said. “These are decisions that we’ve had to make on the fly the whole year for us to take care of our team, family, and our restaurant family…A lot of folks don’t get to see the behind the scenes or understand how difficult it is for people. By no means is this for us to be divisive. It’s just based on what we…feel is right.” The feedback hasn’t been all negative. Many customers are thrilled by the policy. “So many people have come in and said, ‘Thank you for doing this,’ ‘We appreciate you guys asking for proof of vaccination,’ ‘We don’t feel comfortable going to most places,’” Lim told the Weekly. “Some of them come in like, ‘I’ve been waiting for so long for someone to ask me for my proof of vaccination. I’ve been carrying this everywhere and nobody asks for it!’” Kai can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.
to the U.S., Judy was in a car accident that left her weak. She also suffers from depression due to her divorce, according to Elaine. The assault exacerbated Judy’s condition. She now has headaches, dizziness, and soreness on her head and most of her left side. She suffers from insomnia and hallucinates often that someone is approaching her. She fears for her safety. The day after the incident, Judy wanted to check on a 96-year-old client, the only one she retained while recovering. Elaine had to accompany her. “My mom likes to care for others. Now she can’t even care for herself,” said Elaine. Elaine worries about leaving her mom alone. She attends college out of state and will return to school soon for her last year. She hopes for a future in tech upon graduation. “My sister lives in Renton and is pregnant, and I’m going to be gone. We can’t be here to protect her every day. It’s hard for us to trust that the police will take action to protect her in the future given what happened,” said Elaine. With a rise in Asian hate crimes following the COVID-19 pandemic, Elaine, using her mom’s case as a catalyst, pleads for Seattle’s politicians to help voice the Asian community’s concern and enact preventive measures to protect the safety of Asian Americans. King County Sheriff’s Office has assigned Detective Joshua Lamothe to
investigate Judy’s case. Should there be probable cause that warrants further action, it will be presented to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for consideration. Judy and Elaine have retained an attorney from the Herrmann Law Group to represent them. Becky can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.
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