International Examiner March 5, 2014

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CELEBRATING 40 YEARS

FREE EST. 1974 —SEATTLE VOLUME 41, NUMBER 5 — MARCH 5, 2014 – MARCH 18, 2014

THE NEWSPAPER OF NORTHWEST ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. FIND YOUR INSPIRASIAN.

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UNDERSTANDING API POVERTY | 5

HOA MAI PRESCHOOL COMING | 13

REMEMBERING JAPAN TSUNAMI | 10

2 — March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

IE OPINION

40 Years With CAPAA: First API state commission gets to work

By Amy Van and Jintana Lityouvong IE Guest Columnists

refugees. Families were placed in the military base of Camp Murray for temporary housing.

Matsudaira helped with the refugee transition process, including arranging delivery of familiar food staples from Uwajimaya to the camp base.

There was an “Asian Pacific American mentality” that Pio DeCano had grown up with, and it shows in his junior high school picture. “If you just look at my junior high school picture, there were [Japanese American] kids that had grown up in the concentration camps. There were Chinese Americans,” he said. “We all had different ethnic groups. There was the same kind of discrimination in the 40s, the 50s, and 60s the earlier generations have suffered through so there was a kind of common bond between us.”

Waves of immigrants and refugees continued to settle in Washington, and by the mid 1980s, Liz Dunbar was appointed as director of the Commission. She had been working at the Asian American Alliance in Tacoma and had goals to better connect with APA communities around the state and support Southeast Asian refugees.

“It was a massive influx and they overwhelmed the service system at the time. There was not enough capacity to respond to all the needs,” Dunbar said. She worked with the Department of Social and Health Services to increase services for and address the needs of refugees.

Martin (Mitch) Matsudaira similarly speaks of this common bond of his own upbringing.

The close proximity of Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino families gave way to interaction and camaraderie. So, when the civil rights movement began, these neighbors took on the fight together as Asian Americans.

This led to DeCano, who worked in Olympia for the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, to chair an ad-hoc committee to negotiate with Governor Dan Evans on the topic of organizing a council for Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) in the state of Washington.

DeCano worked with individuals like Matsudaira on the governor’s Asian Advisory Council. When the Council was formalized into a commission, Matsudaira became the first Director of the Commission on Asian American Affairs. Matsudaira had taken a leave of absence from Boeing to wade the tides of politics. “It was a novelty,” Matsudaira said of the Commission, “There was nothing like it out there.”

Matsudaira is both a strategist and a risk taker.

After leaving the Air Force, he received a degree in economics and went to work for Boeing. At the corporate level, he helped implement and carry out diversity seminars, providing what is now considered cultural competency training, for Boeing’s department managers. Through his work, he realized prevalent ambivalence towards the Asian American history and experience. The Commission was that opportunity to change that.

Through the Commission, Asian Americans were finally present at the decision-making level, and Matsudaira made sure to be on the floor of the chambers when testimonies and lobbying was needed.

As the Commission’s work became more influential in Olympia, other states began

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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.

CAPAA Director Diane Wong (far left) with commissioners and API community leaders. • Courtesy Photo

reaching out to Matsudaira, seeking his assistance in starting up similar avenues. He provided his assistance when possible; however it became clear that the success in Washington was due to the bonds the Asian community had formed growing up together as neighbors.

Diane Wong was a practicing lawyer in the International District/Chinatown when she applied to succeed Matsudaira as director of the Commission. She, too, had grown up in the Seattle area, surrounded by the growing Asian American civil rights movement.

“I really didn’t like confrontation,” Wong said of her legal practice. “When there was this opening at the Commission, I said, well that sounds like it could be more of a way to develop solutions that can involve a win-win situation.”

As the Asian American community grew with each year in terms of number and diversity, the issues emerging from these changes saw their way into the Commission as well.

One of the issues that the Commission tackled was bilingual education. Wong recalled that the issue wasn’t necessarily an opposition for bilingual education; rather, it was a lack of understanding about what bilingual education was and the needs of immigrants. “Immigrants didn’t want to not speak English … they wanted

to be able to maintain cultural roots as well as to learn English,” Wong said.

Wong’s strategy was to bring together naysayers and supporters alike at the legislative and community level for dialogue. The Commission worked around the questions of how to come up with a solution that maintained the depth and the joys of being different and yet being American. It was a way to introduce legislators to different cultures, and similarly, immigrants to the American way of developing laws.

When DeCano was on the State Board for Community College Education, he worked with different districts to provide bilingual classes and services for English as a Second Language students in schools.

“They just didn’t realize how difficult it was for a non-English speaker to go into, for example, a chemistry class and try to absorb information without knowing the language. They had no feel for that kind of emerging process and what it does with a kid when they’re confronted with a language they don’t know and be expected to take exams and participate in class,” DeCano said.

The Commission responded when the Vietnam War ended, leading to the arrival of Southeast Asian refugees resettling in the United States. In 1975, Governor Evans sponsored 500 Vietnamese

EDITOR IN CHIEF Travis Quezon

IE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gary Iwamoto, Vice President Arlene Oki Andy Yip Jacqueline Wu Steve Kipp

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ADVISOR Ron Chew

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ryan Catabay

DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Kathy Ho

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HERITAGE SPECIALIST Eleanor Boba

BUSINESS MANAGER Ellen Suzuki

VIDEOGRAPHER Tuyen Kim Than

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LOGISTICS COORDINATOR Holly Martinez

INTERN Chelsee Yee EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Vowel Chu PROOFREADER Anna Carriveau CONTRIBUTORS Bob Shimabukuro Nina Huang Janet Brown Atia Musazay James Tabafunda Nancy Russell Rebecca Jennison Roxanne Ray Chizu Omori Christina Twu

Amidst the activities of first generation immigrants, second and third generation Japanese Americans were embarking on an effort of their own: redress of Executive Order 9066, which President Franklin Roosevelt signed on February 19, 1942 authorizing the deportation of Japanese Americans to internment camps.

Matsudaira was part of the leadership that steered the momentum of rescission. Matsudaira had spent three years of his adolescence in an internment camp, along with his entire family.

For him, it was a personal matter as much as it was an attempt to repair the pains of his community.

The Japanese American Citizens League’s large membership in Washington helped create a generous turnout of the community at the local hearing held at Seattle Central Community College auditorium. “The community really came out in force to tell their stories and share very painful episodes that in many cases had never been shared before,” said Dunbar, who attended the hearing.

The hearings helped to generate responses from all levels of government to apologize, and provide long overdue recognition and reparations to a group of people wrongfully convicted.

At its core, the Commission has long relied on the passion of individuals to carry out the needs of a diverse and complex community despite differences in leadership and focuses throughout time.

This series of op-eds are written to celebrate, reminisce, and highlight the Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs 40th Anniversary. The anniversary celebration will take place on May 15, 2014. Please visit http:// www.capaa.wa.gov/about/40.shtml for longer articles and for more information.

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INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014 — 3

IE OPINION

Why do the elite get to decide the fate of people they know nothing about?

By Bob Shimabukuro IE Columnist

About the same time, dad came to me with an old book called 100 Geometric Proofs. It was an old worn copy, so I think he had had it for a long time. I thought they were cool. “Puzzles. Teach you how to solve puzzles.” That’s what he said. I don’t know why. Hegel and Marx and geometric proofs.

My brother Sam was bitten by a scorpion. He was a little over a month old. We lived with a lot of animals. Cockroaches.

Lizards (Gecko). Rats. But this scorpion was really bad, because it was infected, and Sam almost died from lockjaw (a result of tetanus infection). My dad and my uncle took him to the hospital emergency to be treated. The person at the hospital told them, “He’s in real serious condition, but we think we can save him. It’ll be real expensive. Can you afford it?”

My dad had a meltdown. Why did my dad have a meltdown? What should Dad and Uncle do?

A few months ago, I posed this test problem (in the Hawaiian pidgin dialect) to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

I wondered whether he could provide any answers that would demonstrate his critical understanding of situations that far too many Americans face every day. He never answered me, (I think it’s going on two, three months), so I thought I’d give him another chance, this time written in “Standard English.”

However, the story of Sam’s treatment by the medical establishment needs to be finished first, because … well, you’ll have to use your own critical thinking: Why is it that “frontline workers,” like nurses, teachers, and social service workers, the people who actually deal with the families who need help, always get blamed instead for society’s ills, while the selfish cream of the crop feel entitled enough to draft policy affecting people they know nothing about?

The “happy” end of the story is just as important as the beginning:

Dad and Uncle went to see another uncle who did have resources, who agreed to cover the hospital expenses. My parents were told that the doctors could release Sam to go home a week earlier than they usually allowed, but he would need to have a 24-hours/day nurse who would live with the family. They said it would greatly lower the medical bill, so my parents agreed. After a week, the nurse told my mom, “He’s going to be fine. You’ll be fine. It’s time for me to leave.”

“How much do I owe you?” Mom asked.

“You don’t owe me anything,” the nurse replied. “Use the money to buy some milk for the baby.” And she walked out the door.

Dad was competitive. He would challenge me and lord it over to me if he got done before me. The Richard Sherman of his time. If he didn’t, he’d count how many steps I took and say, “I did it in much less steps.”

“Yeah, but you’ve done this before,” I’d say.

Mom said that she kept the name of the nurse and tried to find her when she thought she had enough to pay her. “But,” Mom said, “she seemed to have just disappeared.”

There, he had a math teacher who was very impressed with Dad and thought Dad could go to college. He was also the teacher that introduced Dad to Marxism.

* * *

Unfortunately, Dad was expelled from the school in his junior year after knocking down a luna of the school’s work program during a dispute about how the luna was treating Dad and others.

I was speechless. Then I almost laughed.

“Why are you telling him all this stuff?”

I overheard Mom ask.

That got my attention. But I didn’t want to push the question.

I was in the third or fourth grade when I overheard that. I listened to a lot of Hegel and Marx stuff from dad when I was a kid.

And I didn’t understand any of it. But I thought, “Well, I have until when I grow up to understand.” So I just put the stuff out of my mind.

“You’re going to major in what? Philosophy? What kind of work can you do with that?” my mom asked when I called to tell her I was switching my major from math to philosophy. “Public relations?”

But she continued, “That’s not what Dad was thinking.”

My dad had always told me, “You weak, you sick all the time. Cannot do manual labor. You have to use your brains.”

After graduating from college, I picked up some cabinetmaking skills and worked at my own shop trying to prove my dad wrong. I also did some (volunteer) community organizing work in Portland.

* * *

“Well, he doesn’t understand me now, but he will when he grows up,” Dad answered.

“You think you’re better than me?

We’ll do 5 proofs. See who can do 5 better,” he’d respond.

And we would “play” some more.

But I didn’t care. It was fun. I didn’t care about being timed or how many steps it took. Sometimes, he could do these proofs in half the time and half the steps and would get furious, because he was an impatient man, at how long I was taking. But I refused his requests to help me. I wanted to do it myself. And in most cases I did.

Once when we reached the end of the book, he asked, “How did you like that?”

“Good fun,” I answered.

“Good,” he said. “Help you solve problems with your head. That’s what you need to do. Not good trying to solve problems with body.”

When Mom was visiting me, I asked her, “What was Dad thinking, Mom?”

She replied, “He wanted you to be a great social reformer. He thought maybe a lawyer would be good for that.” A lawyer?

I had to laugh then. * * *

After immigrating to Hawai‘i (the Big Island) from Okinawa, Dad enrolled in Hilo Boarding School to learn English (and to have a place to live I assume). He moved to Maui and continued his studies at Lahainaluna School, another boarding school, with a high school work-study program.

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.”

Greg Della, center, Susan Robb (left), and Mike Kozu (right) are arrested during a protest of the Marcos regime in the Philippines. The group, representing the Anti-Martial Law Coalition, briefly occupied the offices of the Philippine Consul General, Mariano Landicho, in downtown Seattle in 1978. Della presented the demands of the group to Landicho, including the immediate lifting of martial law in the Philippines, but, in his words, “He just passed it off and kept saying he had to go to lunch.” (International Examiner, May 1978 issue.) • Photo by John Stamets, April 13, 1978

4 — March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

IE OPINION

Snapshots in Time: 40 years of Asian American history revealed

By Eleanor Boba IE Heritage Specialist The English-language pan-Asian newspaper International Examiner has provided a unique perspective on issues affecting Asian Pacific Americans in the Seattle area and beyond since its founding in 1974. Hundreds of the images taken on behalf of the paper have been gathering dust in files, some for decades.

Images of protests and celebration, crime, and tragedy, as well as daily life, document the APA pursuit of both shared and distinctive identities.

Two years ago, IE staff and board members launched a digital archives project with financial help from King County 4Culture. For the first time, an effort was begun to catalog and preserve the photographs in the paper’s possession. A year ago, a second grant from the City of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods allowed the project to move toward creation of a curated online gallery of images available to the public.

This spring—just in time for the IE’s 40th anniversary in May—we were able to unveil the results of the project: a catalog of nearly 2,000 images, organized, indexed, and stored in appropriate archival materials, as well as a searchable, online gallery via

Flickr, containing 200+ of the best and most informative images. All images have been tagged and captioned with information relating them to specific historical events, as well as to larger themes.

A work in progress, the gallery continues to grow. View it at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ examinerarchives/ We have worked with the photographers (when we could find them), to provide as accurate information as possible. There is always room for improvement, however. On Flickr, viewers can weigh in with comments or corrections.

We have been ably assisted in relating the APA experience by community advisors and photographers.

We are grateful to King County 4Culture and the Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods for making this endeavor possible.

The IE Digital Archives Project team consisted of Project Managers Eleanor Boba, Stephen Jeong, and Tuyen Kim Than, Archivist Ben Abraham, and interns Paige Minister, Debbie Wu, and Chelsee Yee, working with IE staff Kathy Ho, Travis Quezon, and Christina Twu. Boba also served as Heritage Specialist. The complete collection can be viewed by appointment at the offices of the International Examiner. Please, contact Kathy Ho at Kathy.ho@ IExaminer.org to make an appointment.

Candles light a Seattle vigil commemorating the tenth anniversary of the murder of Vincent Chin, a young ChineseAmerican beaten to death in Detroit in 1982 in a case with overtones of racial hatred and lenient sentencing of the men responsible. The case led to a public outcry around the country. Hing Hay Park, June 23, 1992. • Photo

by Dean Wong

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INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014 — 5

IE NEWS

Asian American Pacific Islanders among fastest growing poor

By Nina Huang IE Contributor

ited English proficiency, National CAPACD also recommended more culturally and linguistically appropriate solutions.

Contrary to the misconceptions perpetuated by the “model minority” stereotype, Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities are among the fastest growing poverty populations, according to data compiled by the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD). From 2007 to 2012, the AAPI poor population grew by over 600,000 to almost 2.1 million.

Mindy Au and Michael Yee are a part of the National CAPACD’s Community in the Capital fellows for 2013-2014. Along with nine other individuals around the country, Au and Yee examined growing poverty in AAPI communities. Au is the Asset Development and Grants Manager of Interim Community Development Association. Yee is the former Director of Community Development at the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority.

Last November, the group convened in Washington, D.C., to talk about National CAPACD’s report, Spotlight on Asian American and Pacific Islander Poverty: A Demographic Profile. The fellows worked to figure out the gaps and to determine the narrative. After the event, Au and Yee returned to Seattle to figure out the next steps to take locally.

poverty shift for AAPIs. Decreased funding to services may be a factor.

“Broadly, the poverty population is also affected by the decreasing support in our social systems,” Au said.

Finding these solutions are made more difficult by the complexities of poverty. Au said that there is a spectrum of poverty that needs to be addressed. Local From the National CAPACD website social service organizations like the Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) in Seattle are working along that spectrum to make a difference, Au said.

The AAPI population itself is also very diverse. The largest population groups in poverty are non-Taiwanese Chinese at approximately 450,000 people, Asian Indian at about 250,000 people, and Vietnamese with about 230,000 people. In addition, the Hmong, Bangladeshi, and Tongan communities had the highest poverty rates.

The report also indicated that the AAPI poverty population is increasingly native born. AAPIs in poverty are more concentrated in a limited number of metro areas than any other racial/ethnic poverty population. New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are home to over 30 percent of the AAPI poverty population. These areas, and Honolulu, Au described a strong need to enact a Yee said it is surprising to people who hear Hawai‘i, also have the priciest housing markets livable minimum wage to meet the rising and the extent of the growing AAPI poor population in the United States with almost half of AAPI uncapped cost of housing in the Seattle area, because of the Pew Research Center’s 2012 poor living in those markets. as well as other basic needs. She also pointed report, The Rise of Asian Americans, which The highest populations of AAPI poor to other underlying issues that needed to described Asians as a relatively economically are concentrated in the Western United be addressed, including the protection of successful population. National CAPACD’s States, which consists of California, Hawai‘i, undocumented workers and victims of report is aimed at focusing the attention back on Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. wage theft. However, collecting data on AAPIs in need and to broaden the conversation these individuals is difficult, Au explained, National CAPACD recommended an in- because they may not receive government about what it means to be AAPI collectively. crease in resources for social services, coorAu said that while the image of the “model dinated efforts, and housing-based strategies benefits. minority” is changing, there isn’t enough data to address this fast-growing issue. Because In addition, Yee said that there are both short right now to figure out what is causing the AAPIs have high rates of households with lim- and long-term issues affecting poverty. He

mentioned that the debt settlement legislation can help alleviate the issues.

“The Washington Asset Building Coalition has a legislative agenda that includes the achievement gap, education issues, retirement savings to debt settlement,” Yee said.

The government is trying to restrict debt settlement places and regulate payday loans so they can’t take advantage of people living in poverty by charging absurdly high interest rates, Yee explained.

Yee also pointed to Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santo’s House Bill 1173, which expands the role of the Financial Education Public-Private Partnership, a committee that brings together individuals from both the public and private sector in an effort to provide quality financial education for students in Washington’s public school system.

“[House Bill 1173] should pass this year,” Yee said. “From that standpoint, that’s a great thing to educate people on how to be smart with money.”

One optimistic piece of data to come out of the National CAPACD report is that AAPIs are moving to mixed cultural neighborhoods, which, Au said, is ultimately a good thing.

For people to have rich, cultural interactions means population-based strategies can emerge to help a community move forward, much like it has in Seattle’s International District, Au explained.

“There are a lot of job creation initiatives and Washington does have a great community college system, and this enables people to use these opportunities to grow,” Au said.

While AAPI poverty is an ongoing issue with no quick-fix solution, becoming more educated about the issue can increase awareness of the problem, and eventually the community will start to see a difference, Au said.

With the recent attention to Asians in the United States as a relatively economically successful population, it is easy to overlook the nearly two million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs collectively—AAs for the category of Asian Americans and NHPIs for the subcategory of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders) who live in poverty. The National CAPACD report is an attempt to focus attention on people in need and to broaden the conversation about what it means to be AAPI in America. To read the full report, visit http://nationalcapacd.org.

• AAPI poor are one of the fastest growing poverty populations in the wake of the Recession. From 2007 to 2011, the number of AAPI poor increased by more than half a million, representing an increase of 38% (37% increase for AAs in poverty and a 60% increase for NHOPIs in poverty). The general poverty population grew by 27%. The only other racial/ ethnic group with a larger percentage increase was Hispanic, with a 42% increase.

• Dramatic increases in AAPI poverty have not been reflected in the poverty rate. Despite an increase of over 50% in the number of AAPIs living in poverty from 2000, the AAPI poverty rate has changed little from 2000 (12.8% in 2000, 13.1% in 2011). Large increases in the numbers of AAPI poor have been accompanied by large increases in the overall AAPI population base, including large numbers of highly skilled, highly educated immigrants.

• The AAPI poverty population is increasingly native born. Almost 60% of the net increase in AAPI poverty was in the native born segment of the population. The proportion of native born poverty is higher for NHPIs than for AAs; however, for both populations, the rate of increase and the net numeric increase was higher for native born poor than for immigrant poor. This is in contrast to the AAPI non-poor population—particularly for AA non-poor— where immigration accounts for the majority of net population growth.

• AAPI poor are concentrated in the Western United States. Over 40% of all poor AAs and over 75% of all poor NHPIs are in the Western Region (regions as defined by the US Census), with the highest populations in the Pacific subregion (consists of California, Hawai‘i, Washington, Oregon and Alaska). AAs have a secondary concentration in the Northeast (almost 25% of the AA poor population). NHPIs have a secondary concentration in the South (over 15% of the NHPI poor population).

6 — March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

IE COMMUNITY If anything, the last few years of unusual weather has shown us that global warming is here to stay and this is no aberration but a new norm. No one knows this better than local photographer/journalist/activist Subhankar Banerjee who has spent years working in the field since his initial forays documenting the terrain for the Smithsonian. In this special feature, our writer Janet Brown talks to Banerjee about the future of the Arctic, the planet, and what can be done about it. Brown also reviews an important new book of essays on the subject and covers a revealing show entitled “Vanishing Ice” at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham.

—Alan Chong Lau, IE Arts Editor

Subhankar Banerjee speaks on the tip of the global warming iceberg

By Janet Brown IE Contributor Best known for his work as a photographer, Subhankar Banerjee is also a writer and the editor of Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point. Born and raised in Kolkata, he discovered a strong affinity for Arctic Alaska, to the point that he became a U.S. citizen in order to more effectively prevent the environmental destruction of the area. Although traveling in India, Banjeree graciously found time to correspond with the International Examiner.

Banerjee has spent over a decade living in the Arctic pursuing his environmental conservation work.

“The Arctic is warming at a rate twice that of the rest of the planet and consequently the impacts of climate change have become more visible in the Arctic over the past decade,” Banerjee said. “Politics of resource wars, the quest for oil and gas, and resistance to such attempts have intensified over the past decade. Moreover, I’m interested in historical analysis of American environmentalism and how contemporary resistance movements in the Arctic is offering a space for more collaborative forms of environmentalism.”

Few Alaskans have encountered conditions as extreme as Banerjee during his time in the Arctic. On one of his first visits, he traveled on a snowmachine through temperatures that the wind chill brought down to 110 degrees below zero.

“The human body is quite remarkable in adapting to extreme weather conditions,” Banerjee said. “In March 2001, when I first arrived in Kaktovik, I would see Robert Thompson [an Inupiat conservationist and wilderness guide with whom Banerjee traveled] operate metal parts (tent poles, snow mobile parts, etc.) with simple cotton gloves in minus 40 degrees, whereas I would wear three layers—liner gloves, thicker gloves and then heavy fur mitts—and still felt cold in my fingers. After having spent seven months in 2001, when I returned again the following year I was able to operate metal parts with a single layer of gloves in minus 40. Robert always told me that a combination of factors—part physical and part psychological—contribute to why we feel cold. Once I was able to get over the psychological fear of the cold, it became a lot easier.”

Banerjee

Arctic Village I learned that when you visit the first time you are considered an ‘outsider,’ but when you return you become part of the community.”

Although environmental conservation sometimes seems an insurmountable task, Banerjee introduces a workable and practical solution conceived by climate scientist James Hansen.

“The idea of putting a tax on carbon has been around for some years now,” Banerjee said. “What Hansen has provided is a simple democratic mechanism through which such a tax can both be applied and then distributed to each and every citizen as a dividend.

The fee and dividend system that Hansen is referring to connects production where the fee is charged and the dividend is tied to consumption. In my understanding what he has proposed ties conservation and consumption with production. In Hansen’s fee and dividend idea there is no corporate entity involved in collecting fee or disbursing the dividend. In an interview I did with him in Santa Fe as part of a Lannan Foundation In Pursuit of Cultural Freedom event on February 20, 2013, he did say that China is already implementing something akin to fee and dividend and that when it comes to addressing climate change, ‘China might be our best hope.’”

In the state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and Bellingham, community discussion is taking place about the melting Arctic ice and its implications for the entire planet.

“My humble suggestion to environmentalists who are working on Arctic issues would be two things: read more (particularly environmental history and criticism) and engage with the locals (to understand local knowledge and indigenous human rights),” Banerjee said.

“It would certainly strengthen the already existing resistance movements that address the Banerjee spends much of his Alaskan time larger ecocultural urgencies that are affecting in the Gwich’in Athabaskan community of the Arctic today, including climate change and Arctic Village. resource wars.”

“I first met community activist Sarah James in an activist gathering in Washington, D.C., in 2001,” Banerjee said. “There, she invited me to her community, Arctic Village, to attend a Gwich’in gathering. I did, and a long relationship with the community began. In

To anyone who is interested in having a more critical and deeper understanding of the Arctic, Bannerjee recommends reading Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point, for a multiplicity of informed viewpoints on a complex and important subject.

A cropped image of Caribou Migration by Subhankar Banerjee

Wonder and power of Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art 1775-2012 at Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, Washington

By Janet Brown IE Contributor

4. This glacial world seems indestructible, until the art begins to show its fragility.

Images of European, North American, and Asian icefields in times past are accompanied by photographs of the same places today, showing how dramatically they have diminished. The melting of Arctic sea ice is charted by NASA in startling views from 1979 contrasted with 2012. A black crack in an expanse of pale blue foreshadows disaster in People and animals are often mere specks, Jean de Pomereu’s Fissure 2, Antarctica, and as in Subhankar Banerjee’s photograph, Caria timeline reveals that in 2002, an Antarctic bou Migration, or in Eirik Johnson’s view of ice shelf the size of Rhode Island collapsed pilgrims climbing to honor glaciers in Peru. into the ocean.

Spencer Tunick poses figures on a Swiss glaThe wonder and power of Vanishing Ice cier in a photograph that makes the viewer question if these basking forms are human or makes us care and think about a loss that will seals. And an enigmatic female figure in Isaac change our planet forever, while providing Julien’s video, True North, exists only as a a bibliography that underpins the art. The exhibition has been extended until March 16. guide to the frozen world that she inhabits.

For further information, visit www.vanishingThe loveliness of ice takes precedence. ice.org.

Solid clouds of ice hold menace in Lens A series of lectures, discussions, films, Jenshel’s iceberg photograph, Narsaq Sound, Greenland. Painter Anna McKee turns an and accompanying art shows take place icescape to soft, silken patterns by using in Bellingham through May, 2014, while scientific data to create a haunting abstract a smaller exhibit in the same museum, image, Depth Strata V, and the “tip of the Washington’s Changing Climate, brings this iceberg” is dwarfed by Cynthia Camlin’s topic closer to home through visual art and image of what lies beneath the water in Melted video.

Walk through the door of Whatcom Museum’s art exhibition, Vanishing Ice, and enter another world. Through painting, photography, video, and the printed word, curator Barbara Matilsky has created an environment designed to create an emotional response to ice.

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014 — 7

IE ARTS

Arctic Voices provides a medium for those impacted by global warming

By Janet Brown IE Contributor Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point edited by Subhankar Bannerjee gives voice to the people whose lives are being changed as the climate of the Arctic grows warmer. From Siberia to Iceland, Canada to Alaska, stories are told, facts are provided, and a vivid picture of an imperiled country takes shape.

In the northern country that lies below the Arctic Circle, winter’s arrival and departure is heralded each year by the raucous, triumphant cry of sandhill cranes. In the spring, they come in large flocks from the southern United States to nest in the wetlands of the Arctic; in autumn they fly south with their young.

They are among the many species of birds that have chosen the Arctic as their breeding grounds, along with eagles from northern Mexico, sandpipers from Argentina, and Arctic tern from Antarctica. Birds come from India, Japan, and China. Their nests are so plentiful in the Arctic wetlands that naturalist George Archibald, in an essay from Arctic Voices, says he was “afraid to walk anywhere for fear of stepping on nests or chicks” when he visited the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The Arctic is the breeding ground for caribou, with an annual migration of up to 200,000 coming to give birth to their young. It is the site of the oldest continuously inhabited village in North America, Alaska’s Point Hope, poised on the coast of the Chukchi Sea. It is, the Gwich’in Athabaskan people say, the “Sacred Place Where Life Begins.” It’s also a place that contains fossil fuel: billions of barrels of oil and an estimated 4 trillion tons of bituminous coal, a wealth of resources that the world is hungry for.

That same hunger for fossil fuel is drastically changing the Arctic through the warming effects of climate change. Both the oil and the shipping industries are “anticipating the thaw” of the Arctic seas as more ice disappears each summer. As the Arctic ice sheets thaw, permafrost in the Arctic soil melts and releases methane gas into the atmosphere.

“The fact is the ice is melting,” says Koji Sekimizu, Secretary General of the United Nations International Maritime Organization.

Fraser Edison, Canadian CEO of a radar technology company, announced jubilantly:“This is a New Frontier for us,” as he anticipates a lucrative business in mopping up Arctic oil spills in what Alaska Senator Ted Stevens dismissed as “a frozen wasteland.”

“We are winter people,” says novelist Seth Kantner, who grew up in a “sod igloo” in Alaska’s Brooks Range.

“We are the caribou people,” says Gwich’in Elder Sarah James.

“Reindeer people,” anthropologist Piers Vitebsky says of the Eveny people in Siberia.

The link between people, animals, and the Arctic environment is an intimate one with ancient roots;

Arctic Voices describes this in detail and as the story unfolds, the Arctic relationship with the world at large becomes clear.

“We need the Arctic to be cold,” says James Hansen, former director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, “Otherwise we will end up with a different planet.”

The people of Kivalina already know this. Their coastal village is disappearing from the erosion of soil which is losing its permafrost and from violent storms that bring pummeling waves. So do the people of Nuiqsut, a village near the oilfields of Prudhoe Bay. They have seen a 600 percent increase in respiratory patients in recent years, believed to be caused by particulates from natural gas flares that burn in the oilfields, says physician assistant Rosemary Ahtuangaruak. And the Gwich’in people have always known it. Their Elders told of a coming time when the world will grow warm and different animals will come to the Arctic.

“They were also aware of the ozone layer,” says Matthew Gilbert, a Gwich’in writer from Arctic Village who has transcribed ancient knowledge handed down from his grandfather. “They knew something was happening to it.”

Bannerjee, a physicist from Kolkata who has become a photographer, writer, and environmental activist, first became aware that the Arctic was going awry when he visited the famous Churchill polar bears and watched one bear devour another.

“Not normal,” he was told. In the thirteen years that followed, he immersed himself in the land above the Arctic Circle, camping out in temperatures that the wind chill brought down to -100 degrees Fahrenheit, talking to the Inupiat and Gwich’in people who make that part of Alaska their home, learning to love it as they do.

“I realized if I were to have a voice in conservation in the US, I must become a US citizen,” Bannerjee writes. “So I did.”

“Only outsiders ever asked ‘What do you do for a living?’ What a strange thing to ask, Didn’t everybody hunt, fish, gather wood?” Seth Kantner says of his Arctic childhood. He and his family faced winter dressed in outerwear made of caribou skins, mirroring the Eveny people who, Piers Vitebsky has said, wore garments that made them look and smell like reindeer—and kept them warm at temperatures that plunged deeper than -50 degrees F. For indigenous people in the Arctic, their lives depend upon the bounty of the land and the sea.

“Without caribou, we wouldn’t exist,” Sarah James says, and she’s not speaking metaphorically.

Caribou meat provides 80 percent of the Gwich’in diet, in a part of Alaska where 25 percent of the population lives in what the United States deems poverty level.

As wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer says of the future of the Arctic, “Time will tell, I suppose, but unfortunately, time is running out,” adding, “Some things just need to be left alone.”

Kashiwagi

Kashiwagi an unsung hero of resisting Japanese American incarceration

By Chizu Omori IE Contributor

and dodged the “slings and arrows” of outrageous fortune. Kashiwagi, always so Protest against the illegal incarceration thoughtful, chose to defy the authorities, of Japanese Americans during World and thus, his fate was cast for the rest of War II took many forms, resulting in his life. huge consequences for the individuals In my eyes, his resistance is every bit who bucked the system. A few took a as heroic as that of Hirabayashi, Yasui, legal route, such as Gordon Hirabayashi, and Korematsu, but is still largely Min Yasui, and Fred Korematsu, and unrecognized as one by the community. they spent time in prisons along with But what makes these stories so poignant incarceration in camps. In later life, they and evocative is that they describe a were celebrated as heroes and champions way of life that was typical for Japanese of democracy.

Americans before World War II, and of a On the other hand, Hiroshi culture that is dying out.

Kashiwagi’s stands brought down upon him some heavy penalties that harshly impacted the rest of his life, for his actions provoked hostility from within his own community. By answering no-no to the infamous “loyalty” questionnaire and later renouncing his American citizenship, Kashiwagi forever carried the stigma of the label of disloyalty.

Such stories are precious and tie us to our past, and, to use a cliché, show us where we came from. His love of sushi, his going to funerals in his home town, his father’s general store, all such details bring alive a way of life that has mostly disappeared.

Our community suffered some terrible blows by being incarcerated. How one person, Kashiwagi, was affected and how These factors profoundly colored he lived out his life are tales well worth the life of this man and he has dealt preserving, studying, and savoring. with these ambiguities in words (plays, poems, writings), in speaking out about his experiences, and in pursuing a career in acting.

In Starting From Loomis, Kashiwagi’s latest book, he speaks about these matters, comments on his life, thinks deeply about the community he grew up in and of Japanese American life in those troubled times.

There is nothing extremely profound or of deep philosophical import in these stories, but these are heartfelt reminiscences of a complex life. The circumstances that confront a group may be similar, but each draws different conclusions about what to do.

Many Nisei went along with the flow and by keeping their heads low,

8 — March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014

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BANK OF WASHINGTON STATE

Illustration by Ryan Catabay

Green money: Hasegawa proposes state bank

By James Tabafunda IE Contributor

GREEN MONEY

Cole) also issued a memo with eight guidelines that update its policy on marijuana With hundreds of newly licensed mari- enforcement and Washington’s I-502, an juana retail stores in Washington set to initiative passed in 2012 that decriminalopen for business this spring, green pot izes the use of recreational marijuana. equals greenbacks.

Hasegawa said: “[This] Cole memo gives us guidelines on how to implement Sellers of Washington’s newest cash I-502, but it did not address the financial crop will have no choice but to store the piece. … We cannot allow a cash-based flood of cash in bags, lots of them monisystem to implement 502.” tored by private security guards.

“It’s clear the banks cannot police this These public purposes would be funded marketplace.” “cheaper than we would be able to borEstablished in 1919, the BND is the row from Wall Street, who would then only bank of its type in the country with just make a profit off of us,” Hasegawa exan excess of $270 million in capital, part- plained. “When we borrow from ourselves nering with local banks, economic devel- to build these things, we’re just paying ouropment groups, and guaranty agencies. selves back. So, it uses public dollars for Its mission is “to deliver quality, sound the benefit of the public, rather than profit financial services that promote agricul- for Wall Street.” Hasegawa identified this ture, commerce and industry in North as the most important reason for this bank.

HASEGAWA PROPOSES STATE BANK

The |Cole classifi ed PRESCHOOL marijuana Dakota.”

Washington are hesitant UNDERSTANDING API POVERTY 5 memoHOA MAI COMING | 13 REMEMBERING JAPANbanks TSUNAMI | 10 State Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle, as a “Schedule I” drug under the federal Over the past decade, it has returned admitted: “We are just opening the door Last month, Hasegawa co-sponsored to the possibilities of armed robbery, orga- Controlled Substances Act and makes it millions of dollars that benefit North Da- Senate Bill 5955, which would create a “illegal in the eyes of the federal govern- kota’s economy—an annual average of publicly owned trust that would be responnized crime, and theft.” ment.” $29.4 million to the state’s general fund. sible for the accounting of the cash.

To shut the door on these dire predic“Fundamentally,” Hasegawa said, “they “Why should we let the Bank of Ameritions, Hasegawa supports the creation In addition to the collection of taxes, of a state-owned bank, like the Bank of [the Justice Department] have limited ca use taxpayer dollars to make a profit for Hasegawa said, “If we had a publiclyNorth Dakota (BND), one that provides resources. So, if we adhere closely and itself? Why don’t we, instead, create our owned bank and required every particibanking services—checking accounts and strictly to the eight guidelines, they’ll re- own publicly-owned state bank?” Hasega- pant in the marketplace to have an account credit-card processing, for example—to direct their limited resources to more im- wa asked. “And then, the taxpayers will inside this bank, we could track every last make money for themselves.” businesses the BND does not serve: le- portant matters.” dollar that moves within this marketplace gal marijuana businesses. His plan differs from the one laid out in the February 14 guidance from the Justice and Treasury departments calling for large commercial banks and credit unions to provide these services. Last August, the Justice Department (Deputy Attorney General James M.

Banks and credit unions still risk prosecution by the federal government for racketeering or money laundering if they work with marijuana businesses that violate these guidelines.

He said a state community investment bank like the BND could help fund local issues, easing the burden on taxpayers.

Hasegawa emphasized, “We can lend it back into the community for public pur“Commercial banks can’t adhere to the poses like building schools and water and Cole memo’s guidelines,” Hasegawa said. sewer systems and roads.”

and assure the federal regulators that we’re doing our due diligence to adhere to the guidance memos.”

The bill faced resistance for its “out-ofthe-box thinking,” according to Hasegawa.

GREEN MONEY: Continued on page 9 . . .

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014 — 9

IE NEWS . . . GREEN MONEY: Continued from page 8

“People were real standoffish because the banks have such a powerful lobby here,” Hasegawa said. “It’s been almost impossible to move the broader version of the bill that I’ve had for four or five years now.”

Hasegawa said at a public hearing last January in Olympia before the Senate Financial Institutions, Housing, and Insurance Committee: “The conditions and requirements that will guide us are evolving as we speak. But despite that, we have to act now. Washingtonians needs a safe, secure marketplace where growers and sellers aren’t cash-rich targets for criminals. … We’re exposing all participants in this marketplace to violent criminal activity.”

Northwest Credit Union Association, said, “Our focus is on credit unions and the resources they need if they determine they want to bank legal marijuana businesses.”

“We appreciate the federal guidance,” he added. “It still comes with significant regulatory burden, and it’s policy, not law.

We would encourage Congress to take action that allows credit unions to serve these businesses without so many regulatory complexities.”

Waiting on Congress

As far as Congressional efforts go in supporting banking services for legal marijuana businesses, Hasegawa is not opDenny Eliason, a lobbyist for the Wash- timistic. ington Bankers Association, said at the “The reality is: Congress is not going public hearing: “But, what is very clear is to take action,” Hasegawa said. “They are that even if you did establish a state bank, not going to change the law to make marithat financial institution would be in the juana legal.” exact same position we are. They could At a meeting of the House Financial only operate on a cash-in and cash-out baServices Committee last December, U.S. sis. The reason for that is you cannot have Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash., said the legal access to the electronic banking system or marijuana business is expected to be a $1 the check-clearing system in our country if you violate federal law. And indeed, this billion a year sector of the economy. would still be a violation of federal law.”

“A billion dollars in cash floating around an economy where the businesses, Banks and credit unions in Washington which otherwise legally operate, cannot are deciding what is in their best interest access depository services, can’t issue regarding legal marijuana businesses. checks, can’t receive credit-card payLynn Heider, vice president for pub- ments, in fact, all cash,” he told Treasury lic relations and communications for the Secretary Jack Lew.

Hasegawa • Courtesy Photo

“It’s setting out the welcome mat to organized crime and disorganized crime,” he continued. “It’s setting out the welcome mat for tax avoidance. It is an open-ended invitation to all sorts of activities which will render us and our communities and our neighborhoods less safe.”

and Washington led state efforts to legalize recreational use of marijuana in 2012.

“It’s a long-term project to educate people around the benefits this (bank) could bring,” Hasegawa said about his goal.

“Fifty years from now, like the Bank of North Dakota, we will build a resource for our children and grandchildren to have the Twenty states and the District of Colum- capacity to build the type of society that bia have legalized marijuana. Colorado we want them to have.”

Sakuma

SHIMANE FOOD FAIR March 12-18, 2014

Celebrate the Delicacies of Shimane Prefecture Seattle & Bellevue Uwajimaya • March 12-18 • 9am - 6pm Join us as we welcome over a dozen specialty food vendors from Japan featuring tea, Japanese sweets, fresh soba noodles, fish cakes and seafood, croquettes, and more! Free demos and samples daily.

Visit www.uwajimaya.com for more fair details.

10 — March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

IE COMMUNITY

Japan’s tsunami and what art can do This March marks the 3rd anniversary of the great tsunami that hit Northern Japan. This natural disaster did irreplaceable damage to the land and its’ people.

Not only were whole towns and citizens washed away, but a nuclear power plant began to leak. Even today, some areas remain uninhabitable and people cannot return.

Recently, I read about a couple of news items that convinced me things are still in flux. A farmer angry over the government’s slow steps at recovery illegally returned to the fenced-off epicenter of the tragedy and has reclaimed his home.

He takes in all the stray cattle left behind by fleeing villagers and vows to stay until authorities admit responsibility and take action.

As recently as last week, I read that the nuclear facility had been leaking again, tainting the water supply and no one even noticed. The people of this area have suffered enough. We hope efforts by the government and aid agencies will bring closure to the damage both physical and psychological as soon as possible.

Obviously when tragedy strikes, people all over the world do whatever they can, how they can. Artists are no different. In this feature, we learn about a Bay Area jazz musician and what he did to bring comfort to the victims of this disaster.

From Japan, we profile a contemporary woman artist who brings her art to bear on this tragedy.

—Alan Chong Lau, IE Arts Editor

Local Events Locally, there are a number of memorial events planned. Japan-America Society of the State of Washington will hold the “Act of Japan” event with the Consulate General of Japan in Seattle on March 9 from 1:45 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. at the University Temple United Methodist Church in the University District. A documentary film entitled Light Up Nippon will be screened followed by a panel discussion about recovery updates and future disaster preparedness. A benefit concert with Songs of Hope will follow the panel discussion featuring Marie Rossano on violin, Naomi Kato on harp and Sho Kato on flute. Handmade handicrafts and products from the devastated region will also be on sale. Donations can be made to a retreat housing facility that houses tsunami victims. For more information, call (206) 374-0180 or visit www.jassw. org.

Miho Takekawa, a member of the Pacific Lutheran University music faculty and a Yamaha Artist, will hold a concert with friends entitled “Smile for Japan— Fundraising and Benefit Concert” on March 9 from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Bethany United Church of Christ on Beacon Hill at 6320 Beacon Avenue S. Besides the concert, a Japanese photo and art exhibit will be on display. Items by local craftspeople will also be on sale.

A portion of sales will go to a non-profit organization that helps the people of the disaster area. For details on this event, visit http://goo.gl/sabmDX. Finally, Echo at Satsop is a film and sound installation by Seattle artist Etsuko Ichikawa and is a response to the disaster that occurred in her home country on March 11, 2011. It is on view till March 14 at Jack Straw New Media Gallery. A closing event takes place on Tuesday, March 11 at 6:00 p.m. at 4261 Roosevelt Way NE in Seattle. For more information, call (206) 634-0910 or visit to www. jackstraw.org. Gallery is open Mondays through Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

A large ferry boat rests inland amidst destroyed houses after a 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Japan March 11, 2011. • U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Garry Welch

Drummer Akira Tana brings music to tsunami victims

By Nancy Russell IE Contributor

In the devastated landscape of the Tohoku coast, which was hit by the triple catastrophe of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant meltdown, drummer Akira Tana and his jazz group, Otonawa, softly played the blues.

With Bay Area native Art Hirahara, two Japanese musicians who now reside in California—Masaru Koga of San Francisco and Ken Okada of San Jose—Tana brought Asian American jazz renditions of Japanese folk songs to appreciative listeners in temporary barracks and wherever displaced people could gather to hear them.

The group, known as “Otonowa” or “Sound Circle” in Japanese, traveled to Japan last spring, on the second anniversary of the 3/11 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Trumpeter Dai (center), who was separated from his parents for two days when the tsunami struck, performs in

The band is among a contingent of Bay Area Otsuchi town, Iwate Prefecture. • Courtesy Photo Asian American groups that have lent support to survivors of the disaster. renditions of Japanese folk melodies such as This year, the Friends of Fukushima in San Akatombo and Furusato.

Francisco are holding “Noodles for Nippon” on Sunday, March 9, at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) to raise money for the Horikawa Aiseien Children’s Home in Fukushima.

The venue didn’t have a fancy acoustic system and lacked the sophistication of the Satin Doll in Tokyo or jazz clubs in New York, where Tana has played with jazz greats Sonny Rollins, Hubert Laws, and Lena Horne.

On March 15, musicians and performing But “it was very meaningful because we artists Brenda Wong Aoki, Mark Izu, Tomohiro were playing for survivors,” Tana said. “The Tanaka, Edward Schocker and Shoko Hikage town of Otsuchi—there’s no town anymore.” will perform music related to the Tohoku region Otsuchi was flattened by the tsunami, which at the San Francisco Public Library in a free slammed over a 30-foot-tall concrete sea wall recital titled “Wasurenai” (We will not forget). and killed several hundred people, including the Recalling last year’s tour, Tana said that town’s leaders. Those who stayed on the second perhaps the most moving event was a small floor of the town hall and didn’t flee to the roof concert held near a temporary barrack built in were swept away. An iconic image of a ferry Otsuchi, a fishing village in Iwate Prefecture. boat resting on the top of a building was taken Folding chairs and a small stage were set in Otsuchi (visit http://goo.gl/87d9z9 to see it.) up for an audience of a few dozen. A young man who had gone missing for two days before being reunited with his father played the trumpet. His name was Dai and he wore a formal black business suit. The audience included grandmas who dabbed their eyes when they heard Asian American jazz

The Tohoku region is one of the nation’s poorest areas. In past decades, poor laborers known as dekasegi would famously travel to Tokyo on the night train in search of day labor in the urban center. Traditional farm textiles now prized by collectors used techniques known as sashiko stitching and kogin needlework that

were invented out of the need to extend the life of thread-bare garments.

The famous, long-running NHK television serial, Oshin, about a poor country girl who rises to wealth and success over the course of the tumultuous 20th century—only to question her achievements towards the end of her life— begins in the Tohoku region.

The struggle now for recovery in the Tohoku is compounded by a high percentage of aged residents in the farming and fishing industries and an outflow of young people to jobs in cities.

Three years after 3/11, some 95,000 people are still displaced in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures, living in emergency housing. The occupancy rate in such housing is surprisingly high, at 85 percent.

Otonawa is planning a return trip to Japan in July to bring free concerts to Tohoku survivors.

They will be playing at the Jazzschool in Berkeley on June 29 at 4:30 p.m. to raise funds for the trip. On August 10, they will be part of the San Jose Jazz Festival, which is a fiscal sponsor for Otonawa’s fundraising for the Tohoku tour.

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014 — 11

IE ARTS

‘Revelations from the Sea’: A painter’s response to 3/11

By Rebecca Jennison IE Contributor

Japanese artist Tomiyama Taeko (b.

1921) has devoted her life to creating paintings, prints and collages that explore contested histories of war and colonialism in East Asia. Since establishing her onewoman studio, Hidane Kobo (glowing embers) in 1975, she has collaborated with musician and composer Takahashi Yuji to produce powerful audio-visual slide and dvd works that help us better understand untold stories of the past so that we may make better sense of the present; the two artists see themselves as modern day “tabigeinin” (wandering minstrels) who like poets and painters of medieval times, speak through their art to the times.

Given Tomiyama’s passionate commitment to art as a vehicle for both the expression of poetic vision and social responsibility, it is not surprising that she began to work on a news series of paintings almost immediately after the triple disasters (earthquake, tsunami and nuclear) struck northeastern Japan last March 11. Nor is it surprising that the sea should be the stage for her “Revelations” of and reflections on these disasters. In earlier works such as Memories of the Sea (1986) and Hiruko and the Puppeteers: A Tale of Sea Wanderers (2009), the artist has used images of a shaman’s undersea journey to the South seas and that of a puppet troupe traveling across Central and Southeast Asia, and then in small boats along sea routes to Taiwan and north to her native Awaji Island in western Japan.

Through these works, the artist links histories of war and natural disaster to our present, turbulent times. When Tomiyama was working on paintings and collages for Hiruko in 2005, the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami struck and she decided to make reference to this disaster in the work.

When the March 11 disasters struck last year, Tomiyama asked herself how she might address the enormity of the loss caused by natural disaster—whole villages washed away—and the ongoing man-made nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Again, the sea is the stage, but to convey the largerthan-human scale of the natural disasters, she would need to find imagery other than the shaman, fox and puppets used in earlier works. From early on, it was also clear that media reports concealed information about the man-made nuclear disaster and that yet another “contested contemporary” history was being constructed before our eyes.

DONATE to NAFCON’S Typhoon Relief Program “Fukushima: Spring of Caesium-137” by Tomiyama Taeko.

“Revelation from the Sea: Tsunami” by Tomiyama Taeko.

brought by the tsunami? Or are they rising before us to warn against the frailty of human existence in the face of possible future devastation?

Tomiyama began working on these these large paintings in mid-April. On April 7, a major “aftershock” struck the Fukushima area where desperate efforts were being made to contain the already serious nuclear disaster. In early May, Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced his aim to shut down the Hamaoka power plant immediately. In “Fukushima: Spring of Caesium-137,” Tomiyama introduces another deity, this time one from the Shinto pantheon of gods, Fujin, (God of the Wind). This dark, demon-like god rides on the wind and scatters particles of Caesium 137 along with seasonal cherry blossoms over land and sea. What at first glance appears to be a painting of a commonly seen theme, Japan in springtime, comes to have foreboding associations.

In “Revelation from the Sea: Tsunami,” Shitenno, or Guardian Deities of the gods of the four directions rise up out of the dark, angry sea. Fires burn on water and the sky beyond the horizon glows ominously.

The four devas who originated in India and appear as deities in the Buddhist pantheon across east Asia, hold computer It wasn’t until October that journalists parts and other now useless fragments of were allowed inside the Fukushima the civilization presumably lost under the Daiichi facility to take more detailed sea. Were they unable to ward off evil and photographs of the destruction. When protect the nation from the devastation Tomiyama saw these images, she began

and completed a new painting in a few short weeks. In “Japan: Nuclear Power Plant,” we see the artist’s interpretation of a photographic document; the bleak, crumbling frame of the plant, a skeleton against a bleak landscape, speaks more boldly of the fragility and hubris of this man-made accident than photo or words.

Tomiyama plans to conclude the series with a fourth painting that features Raijin, (God of Thunder), who often appears with Fujin. Once again the revelation comes from the dark, angry sea; the deity rides on a thunderous wave, perhaps to warn us of unstoppable natural disasters and remind us of that we might just be able to save ourselves from the dangers of manmade ones.

Rebecca Jennison teaches in the Humanities Department at Kyoto Seika University. With Laura Hein, she coedited Imagination without Borders: Feminist Artist Tomiyama Taeko and Social Responsibility (Center for Japan Studies, University of Michigan, 2010).

Her publications include “Reconciliation and Remembrance in the Art of Tomiyama Taeko,” in InterAsia Cultural Studies, Routledge (forthcoming).

For info on how to donate, visit nafconusa.org.

12 — March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

IE ARTS

Cloud Gate founder Lin Hwai-min reflects on his 20-year journey

By Roxanne Ray IE Contributor

In early March, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan comes to Seattle to extend an invitation to tranquility.

Under the direction of founder Lin Hwai-min, Cloud Gate will perform “Songs of the Wanderers,” which Lin developed nearly twenty years ago.

This dance piece was generated at a turning point for Lin, in 1994, after Cloud Gate Dance Theatre had already been in existence two decades, since 1973.

“I was always eager and anxious and easily frustrated when I was young,” Lin said. But in 1994, he embarked on a journey to Bodhgaya, India, the site of Buddha’s enlightenment under a Bodhi tree.

Before that journey, Lin had already experienced two fast-paced careers. “I started as a writer,” Lin said. “My second book, ‘Cicada,’ a collection of fiction, was published with high acclaims when I was 22.”

But writing as a young adult led him back to dance, which he had previously found compelling since early childhood.

“I was inspired by ‘The Red Shoes,’ the famous British ballet film,” Lin said. “I saw it eleven times when I was five-anda-half. I was very inspired and wanted to become a dancer.”

Yet those dreams were placed on hold of people have turned off their TV until Lin pursued advanced studies in the and come out to sit together is a great U.S. encouragement to us.”

“It was during my studies at the Writers But Lin wanted Workshop at University of Iowa that I to expand Cloud took modern dance classes and started Gate’s outreach choreographing,” Lin said. “Since then, I further. have been writing with bodies in space.”

“In 1998, Cloud Soon after he returned to dance, Lin Gate Dance received both encouragement and a School was foundwarning from his father. “Dancers are ed,” he said. “We the greatest among all artists,” Lin quoted cultivate students his father, “because they use their bodies to be aware of and Lin as an instrument for expression.” to make friends with their bodies.”

But when Lin decided to found his own Then, the dance company stretched dance company, his father cautioned that again. “dancing could be a beggar’s career.”

“To further tour campuses and grassLin took this advice to heart. “I have since worked hard to make sure that my roots communities, and to foster young choreographers in Taiwan, I founded dancers are not deprived,” he said.

Cloud Gate 2 in 1999,” Lin said.

Cloud Gate has succeeded for four That road has not always been easy. decades due to its outreach efforts and community support.

“Like everybody, Cloud Gate had “Whenever we could, we gave free moments of exhaustion and desperation,” outdoor performances,” Lin said. “In Lin said. “However, when looking around, the past 18 years, thanks to the generous in offices, on the platforms of classrooms, support of Cathay Insurance Company, in farming fields and factories, on drivers’ we gave such performances in four seats of trains, buses, taxi or garbage different cities and small towns every trucks, at every corner of Taiwan every single person takes on his or her role with year.” full devotion, no matter what challenges Lin reports that attendance has been each one faces through time. Therefore, strong. we dare not to despair, but to keep going.”

“It attracts 50,000 to 60,000 people A significant component in what kept for each show, or 30,000 on rainy days,” Lin going was his 1994 trip to India. he said. “Just to see tens of thousands

Courtesy Photo

“Life and death is revealed in a very Following these travels, Lin found his simple way by the Ganges,” Lin said. “In creative process to be very fluid.

India, a bowl of rice is really a bowl of “Back in Taipei, ‘Songs of the rice. A glass of water is a glass of water. Wanderers’ just flew out by itself,” Lin They don’t have any kind of brand names.” explained. “I always think that it is not Initially, Lin found this frustrating. my work, but a gift from Buddha.”

“In the first week I was always upset when trains and airlines were delayed,” Lin said. “Then I told myself that the train and the plane would definitely come, no panicking. The experience made me slow down and appreciate every moment of life.”

Since then, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre has continued to perform “Songs of the Wanderers” for worldwide audiences.

“Although almost twenty years has passed, the choreography remains the same,” Lin said.

“But the dancers’ Gong Fu (Kung fu) are getting better and better,” he explained. “Gong Fu has two meanings: skill and time. After the years, those from the original cast have become more That process has often proved a powerful and thus more expressive. And challenge, as the tension he felt between the young dancers in the present cast writing and dance lasted for decades as he make up for their lack of experience by spending more time in meditation.” built his dance company.

This deceleration of life continued to stay with Lin. “I don’t look for the end result,” he said. “I keep working and treasure each minute of the process.”

This enables “Songs of the Wanderers” “Ironically, it took me more than twenty to remain alive in the present moment, years to ‘erase’ words from my mind, until Lin said, “so we are able to keep the I realized that the most powerful quality of work fresh.” dance is ambiguity,” Lin said.

These practices are all aimed at Lin’s And now the situation is reversed: “I ultimate goal: “I hope to share with the have since lost my ability to articulate with audience the serenity I brought back written words,” he said. from Bodhgaya.”

But Lin is satisfied with this outcome.

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s “Songs During his 1994 trip to India, Lin found of the Wanderers” will be performed on that he no longer needed words.

“I was overcome with joy and felt a March 6 to 8 at 8:00 p.m. at the Meany quietude that I had never experienced,” he Hall for the Performing Arts, University of Washington,Seattle. said.

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014 — 13

IE COMMUNITY

Bilingual Vietnamese preschool aims to address opportunity gaps

By Atia Musazay IE Contributor

to cultivating student’s self-esteem and their dispositions toward learning, risktaking, socialization, and problem solving.

The maximum group size per classroom is 16 students.

When Seattle-area Vietnamese parents expressed concern to the Vietnamese Friendship Association (VFA) that their children were losing their language and heritage, the VFA, in conjunction with two other organizations, sought to address these issues through an early education center. The idea for creating a dual language Vietnamese preschool was initiated in 2009. Parents said the school would help their children overcome opportunity gaps.

Seattle is home to dozens of dual language education programs for young children, with the great majority focusing on Spanish. Washington students served by the State Transitional Bilingual Instructional Program spoke a total of 203 different languages, according to a report to the Legislature on educating English language learners in Washington in 2011.

In September, a Vietnamese bilingual preschool will be opened for the first time in Seattle. The goal of Hoa Mai Vietnamese Bilingual Preschool is to ensure that children are well prepared for kindergarten, while developing skills in both English and Vietnamese. Vietnamese culture will also be a focal point of teachings.

“Children can really thrive in a bilingual, bicultural environment,” said James Hong, Director of Operations at the VFA. “They can master a second and third language if they want. Children have that ability and can absorb it all.”

“We had a common vision for community development, diversity, and early learning,” Hong said.

Hoa Mai, the name of a five-petal yellow flower that blooms only during the time of the Lunar New Year, is a name commonly associated with good luck.

Hong said the name in the context of the school “represents good fortune and prosperity for our children and community.”

Children learn how to make Vietnamese spring rolls. • Photos courtesy of Hoa Mai

foreign language at a younger age later developed more advanced areas of gray matter, or the area in the brain that processes information. As a result, they scored higher on standardized tests, exhibited more creativity and showed less signs of mental decline as they age, according to the study.

The work of Patricia Kuhl, a professor of speech and hearing sciences at the University of Washington, has influenced many bilingual preschool programs in the Seattle area. Kuhl believes bilingual children as young as infants develop different brain wiring compared to their monolingual counterparts. Kuhl, also the co-director of the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, also believes that bilingual babies grow to become better at problem solving and decision making later in life.

the VFA, Sound Child Care Solutions created a curriculum for two to five year olds built around Vietnamese language and heritage.

Hoa Mai’s philosophy is to nurture and honor every child’s unique cultural heritage by implementing anti-bias practices and emphasizing the value of diversity that does not stereotype, trivialize, or objectify.

“The flower also represents the growth of the hearts and minds of children,” The curriculum is described as childHong said. “The roots of the flower are the centered, play-based, and facilitated by foundation on which we want to build our empowered teachers engaged in rigorous community and future.” and reflective practice who learn alongside For more information, visit hoamaipreschool.org. the children. Teachers pay close attention

Hong said parents of any background, not just Vietnamese parents, are invited to Hoa Mai will be located next to the enroll their children, who, studies indicate, would benefit from learning a second Mt. Baker light rail station and housed in a building created by Artspace, an language. organization that creates spaces for “There has been a lot of research that artists. The three-classroom building demonstrates the cognitive, emotional, will also have a community kitchen and and social benefits to children [learning an outdoor play area. a second language],” Hong said. “That’s Sound Child Care Solutions, a partner what gets us really excited.” in the venture, supports early childhood According to researchers at University education organizations. Together with College London, people who learned a

Martinez

14 — March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

IE COMMUNITY RESOURCE DIRECTORY Arts & Culture

Professional & Leadership Development

Asian Counseling & Referral Service

Asia Pacific Cultural Center 4851 So. Tacoma Way Tacoma, WA 98409 Ph: 253-383-3900 Fx: 253-292-1551 faalua@comcast.net www.asiapacificculturalcenter.org Bridging communities and generations through arts, culture, education and business.

1300 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98101 Ph: 206-654-3209 Fx: 206-654-3135 SAM connects art to life through special exhibitions, educational programs and installations drawn from its collection of approximately 25,000 objects. Through its three sites, SAM presents global perspectives, making the arts a part of everyday life for people of all ages, interests, backgrounds and cultures.

Education 3327 Beacon Ave S. Seattle, WA 98144 ph: 206-725-9740

3639 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S, Seattle, WA 98144 ph: 206-695-7600 fx: 206-695-7606 events@acrs.org www.acrs.org ACRS offers multilingual, behavioral health and social services to Asian Pacific Americans and other lowincome people in King County.

Executive Development Institute 310 – 120th Ave NE. Suite A102 Bellevue, WA Ph. 425-467-9365 • Fax: 425-467-1244 Email: edi@ediorg.org • Website: www.ediorg.org EDI offers culturally relevant leadership development programs.

WE MAKE LEADERS Queen Anne Station, P.O. Box 19888, Seattle, WA 98109 info@naaapseattle.org, www.naaapseattle.org Fostering future leaders through education, networking and community services for Asian American professionals and entrepreneurs.

Facebook: NAAAP-Seattle Twitter: twitter.com/naaapseattle

Senior Services

VNSF enables underprivileged students in Viet Nam to achieve success and happiness through education. We are looking for volunteers and board members to join the team and make a difference in the lives of kids in Vietnam.

Housing & Neighborhood Planning HomeSight 5117 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-723-4355 fx: 206-760-4210 www.homesightwa.org HomeSight creates homeownership opportunities through real estate development, home buyer education and counseling, and lending.

Address tobacco control and other health justice issues in the Asian American/Pacific Islander communities.

PO Box 14047, Seattle WA 98114 (206) 325.0325 (Helpline) info@apichaya.org www. apichaya.org API Chaya is dedicated to serving survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence and human trafficking in the Asian, South Asian and Pacific Islander communities. We offer multi-lingual services that are free and confidential.

Community Care Network of Kin On

815 S Weller St, Suite 212, Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-652-2330 fx: 206-652-2344 contact@kinon.org www.kinon.org Provides home care, Alzheimer’s and caregiver support, community education and chronic care management; coordinates medical supply delivery for Asian/Chinese seniors and families in King County.

Kin On Health Care Center

4416 S Brandon St, Seattle, WA 98118 ph: 206-721-3630 fx: 206-721-3626 contact@kinon.org www.kinon.org A 100-bed, Medicare and Medicaid certified, not-for-profit skilled nursing facility offering long-term skilled nursing and short-term rehab care for Asian/Chinese seniors.

803 South Lane Street Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-292-5184 fx: 206-838-3057 info@legacyhouse.org www.scidpda.org/programs/legacyhouse.aspx Description of organization/services offered: Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, meal programs for low-income seniors.

Medicaid accepted.

National Asian Pacific Center on Aging Kawabe Memorial House 221 18th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98144 ph: 206-322-4550 fx: 206-329-3330 connie.devaney@gmail.com We provide affordable, safe, culturally sensitive housing and support services to people aged 62 and older.

601 S King St. Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-682-1668 website www.apicat.org

CISC helps Asian immigrants make the transition to a new life while keeping later generations on touch with their rich heritage.

Legacy House InterIm Community Development Association 310 Maynard Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-624-1802 fx: 206-624-5859 info@interimicda.org www.interimicda.org Affordable housing development, multi-lingual low-income housing outreach, rental information, financial literacy, neighborhood planning and outreach for APAs, immigrants and refugees.

Senior Community Service Employment Program ph: 206-322-5272 fx: 206-322-5387 www.napca.org Part-time training program for low income Asian Pacific Islanders age 55+ in Seattle/ King & Pierce Counties.

International District Medical & Dental Clinic 720 8th Ave S, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-788-3650 fax: 206-490-4011 email: info@ichs.com website: www.ichs.com Shoreline Medical & Dental Clinic Coming in 2014!

ICHS is a non-profit medical and dental center that provides health care to low income Asian, Pacific Islanders, immigrants and refugees in Washington State.

Seattle Rotary Club Bill Nagel Meets Every Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

New Hong Kong Restaurant Bill.nagel@gmail.com http://www.seattleidrotary.org/ Improve the local community by engaging activities such as community improvement projects, scholarship opportunities, and undertakings that promote education.

Housing, property management and community development.

Please mail a check for $35 to the International Examiner or donate to: 622 S. Washington St., Seattle, WA 98104.Thank you for your contribution.

Our programs help people meet their immediate needs and gain the skills and resources needed to reach solid ground and achieve their dreams.

www.merchants-parking-transia. org

1601 E Yesler Way, Seattle, WA 98122 ph: 206-323-7100 fx: 206-325-1502 www.nikkeiconcerns.org Rehabilitation & care center; assisted living community; senior activity program; continuing education.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER FOR $35/YEAR FOR 24 ISSUES!

1501 N 45th St, Seattle, WA 98103 ph: 206-694-6700 fx: 206-694-6777 info@solid-ground.org www.solid-ground.org

ph: 206-624-3426 Seattle Chinatown/International District Preservation and Development Authority ph: 206-624-8929 fx: 206-467-6376 info@scidpda.org

Don’t get take-out!

Have it Delivered!

Chinese Information and Service Center 611 S Lane St, Seattle, WA 98104 ph: 206-624-5633 fax: 206-624-5634 info@cisc-seattle.org www.cisc-seattle.org

info@deniselouie.org www.deniselouie.org Multicultural preschool ages 3-5 years old. Now enrolling Private Pay full-day ($900/mo) and part-day classes ($500/mo) with locations at ID, Beacon Hill, and Rainier Beach.

P.O. Box 16016 Seattle, WA 98116 info@vnsf.org www.vnsf.org

Social & Health Services

Merchants Parking provides convenient & affordable community parking. Transia provides community transportation: para-transit van services, shuttle services and field trips in & out of Chinatown/ International District & South King County.

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Call Washington Apple Health at 1-855-WAFINDER (1-855-923-4633). Choose Amerigroup.

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014 — 15

IE COMMUNITY

‘Grit’: Who were the first APIs in the Pacific Northwest?

By Christina Twu IE Contributor

cooks, shepherds, barrel makers, farmers and lumber jacks, and prohibited from living in the same quarters within fort walls. The servants instead formed their own Kanaka Village right outside, suffering abuse from their masters that they hoped William Kaulehelehe, the Hawaiian preacher the company brought to Fort Vancouver in 1845, would end. Instead, Kaulehelehe and his wife, Mary Kaii lived their lives safely around fort villages until the camp was abandoned by the company in the 1860s. They were eventually forced out of their home by the U.S. Army, who later burned it down.

Long before the Pacific Northwest was established as a home for the Pan-Asian-American experience, the foundations of the cities we know today were quite literally laid by the hands of Asian Pacific pioneers growing crops, mining gold, and building railroads and businesses from the ground up, stretching from John Day, Ore., to Fort Lewis, Port Gamble, Bainbridge Island and Vancouver, Wash., to cities in Alaska and Idaho.

It was 20 years ago when Cassie Chinn, deputy executive director of the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience (The Wing), saw some of these sites for the first time.

“I got to go on the 1994 Chinese Heritage Tour in the Pacific Northwest, and that was a bus tour from here to John Bay, Oregon, across Northern Oregon, and then to Idaho,” she says. “It was such an incredibly powerful experience for me to venture so close to where our Asian-American pioneers had touched the rock and had struggled in the heat of summer and in the icy cold waters when they were mining.”

Twenty years later in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, The Wing showcases a rich, layered narrative of our region’s first Asian Pacific immigrants captured in objects dug up from archaeological investigations, documents, oral history and photographs of 16 historic sites. These stories converge to comprise “Grit: Asian Pacific Pioneers Across the Northwest,” an exhibit showing through October 19, 2014 where visitors can glimpse the arduous lives of these pioneers, and the resilient, renegade spirit from which they operated.

“After this 20-year relationship with Wing Luke … I feel really proud and blessed that the information is getting out there,” says Dale Hom, a retired U.S. Forest Service supervisor who was one of 16 community members to advise the exhibit. “A lot of this history really wasn’t told at least when I was in school. And even today it’s not told unless you take an Asian-American studies course up at the university.”

Stories such as those of Chinese merchant Lung On, who opened Kam Wah Chung Company in the 1880s, a mercantile store and Chinese herbal apothecary in John Day, Ore. The store rose to become the social, medical and religious center of the growing Chinese population for the following 50 years: a safe harbor during tumultuous anti-Chinese times in the United States and across the West Coast. Today, Kam Wah Chung has been preserved by Oregon State Parks and converted into a museum showcasing the life and work of Lung On and his business partner Ing “Doc” Hay. Other tributes paid in “Grit” tell stories of assimilation in the 20th century.

By 1907, Japanese-American farmers in Seattle had built a thriving economy of their own in the flower market, as with the Japanese-Amer-

Japanese-American–owned Liberty Flower Shop at Pike Place Market, ca. 1931. • Photo courtesy of Washington State Historical Society

ican-owned Liberty Flower Shop at Pike Place Market. Nearly 80 percent of the market flower shops by then were owned by Japanese Americans. But new prosperity was threatened with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1942 and the subsequent Executive Order 9066 that forced families to leave their belongings, homes and businesses behind with the relocation and incarceration of more than 170,000 Japanese Americans during World World II.

After the war ended, many had very little to go back to. Those returning to Washington state from the Minidoka camp in Idaho found their homes and much of their belongings gone. Enter the Japanese Language School (Nihongo Gakko), then known as the “Hunt Hotel” in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, a safe haven and temporary living quarters for many of the families returning to rebuild their lives—and thriving as a community center, school and cultural preservation agent today.

The legacy continues when Camp Murray near Tacoma became a temporary home for 500 Vietnamese refugees in 1975. This was the case with Thach Nguyen, who lived at the camp for three months before a camp volunteer from Sumner sponsored his family.

“[For me, Camp Murray meant] stabilization,” Nguyen shares in the exhibit. “Just the fact that we landed in the U.S. all together. There were five of us kids, my dad, my mom was pregnant with my sister. Imagine—with that many kids separated would have been a nightmare. That was the most meaningful thing for my family: to be in one place and sticking together.”

Not only did all of his family members get to stick together, Nguyen went on to become a millionaire at 27 pursuing a career in real estate, and dedicated himself to helping families like his find stable housing.

More obscure is the story of Native Hawaiians making their early mark on the Pacific Northwest. In the 1830s, European trade ships would stop in the Pacific Islands to recruit young Hawaiian men to paddle their ships and help them to set up Fort Vancouver 100 miles up the mouth of the Columbia River in Washington. These young men were made to serve the Hudson’s Bay Company settlers as

“I think [the exhibit is] sort of filling in some of the gaps of historical narrative that maybe had been told in the past, but hadn’t included the role of the early Asian Americans,” says Chinn.

“And being able to give name to who they were and to demonstrate that yes, we were there at some pretty significant events that are more broadly known … I have been really proud of that: reclaiming that heritage and paying honor to the pioneers that had been overlooked for a hundred-plus years.”

“Grit: Asian Pacific Pioneers Across the Northwest” will be on display at The Wing’s Special Exhibition Gallery through Oct. 19, 2014. A series of related programs and events will take place in the coming months before the exhibition closes, including bus tours to Kanaka Village, Iron Goat Trail, and other Filipino and Japanese heritage sites. For more information, please visit www.wingluke.org/grit.

Check back for Sudoku in the IE every issue! Answers to this puzzle are in the next issue on Wednesday, March 19.

16 — March 5, 2014 – March 18, 2014

INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER

IE NEWS

DREAM Act signed into law

By Chelsee Yee IE Contributor

those who lost the vote still have something to say about it.

Students without citizenship status Critics of the bill say that it now have a better chance of reaching creates a kind of unconstitutional their academic goals thanks to a new bill competition between documented and known as the “DREAM Act.” undocumented students. Critics also On Wednesday, February 26, Gov. say that it will hurt the middle class Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 6523 into and cost American taxpayers to pay law, which will allow students to apply billions a year. for state financial aid, regardless of their However, many Washingtonians, documentation status. including the people at our very For undocumented immigrants, it is a own Asian Counseling and Referral huge step for surviving the adversity they Service (ACRS), see the bill as a face in getting an education and applying better version of the “Real Hope Act,” for a job. The bill will essentially legalize which passed out of the House last month. their status.

Washington becomes the fourth state to pass the legislation—joining California, New Mexico, and Texas— in extending state need-grants to undocumented students who have lived in the state for at least three years and received a high school diploma or equivalent in the state as well. These are the requirements students must meet before they can receive any financial aid.

In a recent post to social media, the ACRS called the DREAM Act an act of hope and opportunity: “Children in thousands of immigrant families (including ACRS clients) now have access to more affordable higher education, and we believe our state can only benefit from their success.”

The Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs also took to social media to celebrate the bill It was a nearly six-year effort by the that gives all Washington state students Democratic Party to pass a version of a chance to qualify for financial aid. the DREAM Act, closing with a 75-22 The bill is to be effective on June bipartisan vote in the House. However, 12, 2014.

File Photo

ID post office soon to be relocated Jewelry and be next door to Dong Sing Market at 404 Maynard Avenue S.

By Vowel Chu IE Contributor

“USPS decided to leave the current location, which gave [Seattle Parks and Recreation] an opportunity to purchase the site and expand Hing Hay Park,” Baldwin said in an email conversation. “There won’t be any businesses relocated due to construction. The only parcels that will be improved are the post office site and the In order to stay in the International current park site. In general, the community District neighborhood, USPS negotiated is very excited.” a lease with the Bush Hotel, said Seattle The relocation of the post office is expected Parks and Recreation Landscape to take place within about two months, Architect Kim Baldwin.

Swanson said, while all the postal services The International Post Office (currently located at 414 6th Ave. S) will soon be moving to the northeast corner of Jackson Street and Maynard Avenue due to the ensuing Hing Pay park expansion project, according to United States Postal Service representative Ernie Swanson.

The new post office location will be available at the current location will also be at the site of the now-closed Le-Hama available at the new site.

ANH THUY NGUYEN TH

MARCH 21

ASIA

NGO TRA MY

AT BENAROYA HALL JULIA TAI

Presenting Sponsor:

JULIA TAI, conductor // HAOCHEN ZHANG, piano NGUYEN THANH THUY, dan tranh // NGO TRA MY, dan bau STEFAN ÖSTERSJÖ, ti ba, banjo & guitar

Sponsors:

6:30PM PRE-CONCERT PERFORMANCES: East meets West in the Samuel & Althea Stroum Grand Lobby, featuring the talents of Chaopraya Ensemble, Kalahi Philippine Dance Company, Northwest King Fu and Fitness and more!

International Guest Artist Sponsor:

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