VOL 41 NO 8 | FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 746 Seattle, WA

VOL 41 NO 8 FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

FREE 40 YEARS YOUR VOICE

“This is our home!”

Chinese American community rallies in remembrance of expulsion Photo by Tony Au

By Debby Cheng NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Leading the walk to the waterfront was (from left) Bellevue City Councilmember Janice Zahn, Dr. Xiao Ming, Bellevue Mayor Lynn Robinson, Michael Chen, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, and Edmonds City Councilmember Will Chen.

see RALLY on 16

Man charged in baseball bat attack

Photo provided by ICHS

Staying healthy during Lunar New Year

A crowd of nearly 1,000 people gathered around Hing Hay Park in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (CID) on Feb. 12, 2022

in remembrance of the 136th anniversary of the Chinese expulsion.

The rally—which wound its way to the waterfront and back to the CID—was the brainchild of

Dr. Michelle DuMond examines a baby during a well-child visit at the ICHS International District Medical and Dental Clinic, on Oct, 29, 2021.

Surveillance video images provided by the King Co. Prosecutor’s Office

By Juliet Fang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Wantez J. Tulloss has been charged with first-degree assault for attacking a Chinese woman with a baseball bat on Jan. 31 in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood.

Surveillance video shows Shengnan Wang walking alone down a sidewalk at 225 Cedar Street just after 6 p.m. It was dark outside and her hood was up.

For the third year in a row, the Lunar New Year, the ultimate celebration of family, food, and good fortune, is takeing place during a global pandemic. Despite these circumstances, millions across the planet will fly home to their families, teach grandparents how to use online video chatting systems, and eat fried spring rolls, nian gao (a glutinous rice cake), and sweet rice balls to welcome the Year of the Tiger.

With Omicron pushing a record-high surge in COVID-19 cases, individual and community safety has become of critical importance when concerning one of the planet’s biggest holidays.

“Whenever we have in-person gatherings, there’s a heightened risk of transmission,” says Dr. Jessica Lu, a physician for Seattle’s International Community Health Services (ICHS),

■

a clinic geared towards providing culturally and linguistically appropriate healthcare to the Asian Pacific Islander community.

“Especially since a lot of our patients come from multi-generational families, including grandparents and young children, we have to be very mindful of people more at risk to COVID-19 infections.”

Though one of Lunar New Year’s most important traditions is to gather with extended family, Omicron has made traveling problematic and possibly dangerous. Indeed, because children under 5 are still ineligible for vaccination and elders are more at risk of serious infection, many officials are urging people to, once again, refrain from traveling.

For the people that do decide to travel, Lu recommends they be “very cognizant see ICHS on 12

Charging documents state that Tulloss walked up behind her, bat in his left hand, and two bags in his right. He saw her and quickly put down the two bags he was carrying so he could use both hands to swing the bat. He then took a full body swing at her head with the see ATTACK on 4

THE INSIDE STORY

PUBLISHER’S BLOG Good and bad cop, I experienced both—No two cops are alike  7

PHOTO CONTEST See who made the final cut!  8&9

HEALTH Gift of Sight: Bringing vision care to Seattle World School students  10

412 Maynard Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104 • t. 206.223.5559 • f. 206.223.0626 • editor@nwasianweekly.com • ads@nwasianweekly.com • www.nwasianweekly.com

2

asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

■ NAMES IN THE NEWS

Vanessa Lee (middle) with her parents, Tim and Kristin.

Vanessa Lee of Bellevue took the title of 1st Princess at the 2022 Thunder Valley Casino Resort Miss Chinatown USA Pageant on Feb. 12 in San Francisco.

Lee was also Miss Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Thunder Valley Miss Talent.

Crystal Lee was crowned 2022 Miss Chinatown USA. The other winners include Miss San Francisco Chinatown, Kimberly Tom; 2nd Princess, Jamie Moy; 3rd Princess and Comcast Miss Community Service, Vanessa Guo; 4th Princess, Noel Yang; and Miss Congeniality, Kimberly Tom. Held since 1958, the Miss Chinatown USA Pageant is the country’s longest running Chinese American pageant, taking place during the Lunar New Year. 

Alaska Airlines Chinese New Year Parade in Bay Area

The 2022 Alaska Airlines Chinese New Year Parade will be held on Feb. 19, with over 100 parade floats participating.

The parade in San Francisco is one of the top 10 parades in the world, according to the International Festivals &

new building at the Tet Lunar New Year’s celebration on Feb. 5.

The building, designed by Weber Thompson and Phase 1, targets Asian & Pacific Islanders and other seniors aged 55 and older, including low income and formerly homeless seniors.

APCC will be part owner of the project with LIHI and will refer seniors and provide on-site supportive services, educational and cultural activities. 

Events Association. It’s one of the few remaining night illuminated parades in North America and the biggest parade celebrating the Lunar New Year outside of Asia.

The Alaska Airlines Chinese New Year Parade float has marching bands, a fighting lion and dragon dances, and more. 

Friends of Mukai seeks to restore fruit barreling plant

Upcoming new senior housing in Tacoma

Photo by Darren Pen

Photo from Tim Lee

Miss Chinatown USA pageant

LIHI & APCC Booth at Tacoma’s Tet Lunar New Year celebration

Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) and the Asian Pacific Cultural Center (APCC) are partnering to build 78 affordable apartments for seniors in Tacoma’s Lincoln District, at 701 South 38 Street.

LIHI and APCC showcased renderings and plans for the

The Friends of Mukai, a nonprofit group based on Vashon Island committed to the operation of the Mukai Farm & Garden, is launching a campaign to restore and bring new activity to its historic Fruit Barreling Plant—the facility used by the Mukai family to process and pack their strawberry harvest.

Interested parties are invited to obtain a Request for Information (RFI), by writing to info@ mukaifarmandgarden.org.

The Fruit Barreling Plant includes 5,200 square feet of internal space, as well as a 1,530-square-foot covered veranda. Friends of Mukai seeks responses only from individuals/organizations who have relevant experience and financial means to assure a successful and sustainable tenancy. Responses to the RFI are due on April 15.

Mukai Farm & Garden is the last pre-World War II Japanese American farmstead still standing in the United States today. 

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

YOUR VOICE

■ BUSINESS

asianweekly northwest

3

Frill Clothing, featured on Shark Tank, receives Comcast RISE grant

By Nina Huang NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY Indian American husband and wife duo, Suresh and Sudh Iyer, ventured into the ecommerce space and in the latter part of 2016, they acquired Frill Clothing, a onestop sorority shop, most notable for their Shark Tank appearance.

Part of the acquisition led them to move the company headquarters from Raleigh, North Carolina to the greater Seattle area.

Suresh was an IT professional for about a decade prior to venturing into the ecommerce business with Frill Clothing.

While he is the spokesperson, Sudh takes care of most of the business.

Frill Clothing’s presence has been mostly in the East Coast, but they started to expand to the Midwest and West Coast in the past few years. Suresh said that their goal is to expand across the country and eventually, the globe.

The company not only offers clothing for sororities, but also wedding attire and they plan to get into the fraternity business, too.

However, like many businesses, they took a hit during the pandemic.

“We had a vision, but ran into the pandemic so we put that on hold. We wanted to expand to other business areas across the globe,” Suresh said.

Some of the biggest challenges they faced were on the supply chain side.

“Any company in the ecommerce world ran into supply chain issues. The supply

chain slowed down, which caused the slowdown of moving all raw materials as well,” he said.

In addition, people started working from home, which meant fewer people were going into colleges and universities, which slowed down the demand for sorority gear.

The Comcast RISE grant is going to help bolster Frill Clothing’s path to get back on track and beyond.

“Things slowed down in the latter part of 2020 into 2021 because of COVID. We used to get a lot of orders, and this grant helps us to stock inventory and get back to

the level we need to be at, and also refocus our energies with more marketing.”

Suresh added that they’re already seeing a positive trend in sales and he believes that it’ll pick up even more in the coming months.

“The folks that we interface with are enthusiastic clients who compliment our goods. We go through the quality checks to make sure it fits what clients need, and in return, we receive lots of compliments, and that’s what makes us stay in the business itself.”

Some of their most popular orders include

the Classic and Magnolia collections, which mostly feature dresses. The pricing options start at $25 and are economical for group orders as well as mixing and matching pieces.

A lot of their repeat customers ask for specific products, and Suresh and his wife work hard to accommodate their requests and maintain the quality of the goods.

Suresh also said that their plan is to restart efforts to design more clothing. They used to have about 10 people on staff, but they’re down to about four, including him and his wife.

Frill Clothing serves a wide range of clientele, including Asian- and Blacksororities in the Southwest region as well as California.

The original founders, Sharon Bui and Kate Steadman, founded the company centered on philosophy and while they aren’t tied to the business anymore, they still act as influencers.

Suresh and his wife are from the southern part of India and have been living in the United States for about 25 years. They have a high schooler and enjoy traveling the world. They split their time between Seattle and Austin.  For more information, visit frillclothing.com.

Nina can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

■ COMMUNITY NEWS

“Alternative Facts”: Racism yesterday, racism today, activism always

By Andrew Hamlin NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY The year was 1992. I was a managing editor at my college newspaper. We somehow managed to lose the announcements for the 50th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, the action from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which sent more than 100,000 Japanese Americans to relocation camps during World War II. Naturally, the paper’s editors had to take a meeting with Asian American activists on campus to explain how this happened. I was willing to admit we’d screwed up. Privately, though, I was a little impatient with all the anger.

That was merely my bit of privilege speaking. I had no family in camps and knew no one who’d been sent there.

I wasn’t considering the truly important aspects of the anniversary­­­­­—what the order meant, what it reflected in American politics, and what it continues to mean.

Thirty years later, the 80th anniversary of 9066 sits in sight, on Feb. 19. The crowd at Seattle’s Ethnic Cultural Theater on Feb. 12 for Jon Osaki’s new documentary, “Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066,” seemed like a cross-section of the Asian community.

Older faces, younger faces. A lot of chatting and catching up. Cell phones came out as folks settled into seats. One fellow kept his texting window up through most of the afternoon.

Kendall Kosai, from OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, stood to introduce the afternoon. He reminded the crowd of that impending 80th anniversary.

We waited, after the film got started with no sound, for technical repairs. It eventually got going again with sound, although the audio and picture remained unsynced. The story Osaki had to tell, though, transcended any such concerns.

“Alternative Facts” runs roughly one hour, enough time to delve into the intricate history around 9066. The salient points shine through all the complications though.

The government lied to the public and eventually to the Supreme Court. Those lies were necessary for 9066 to exit, and to seem plausible to whites in America.

Osaki went as far back as anti-Chinese sentiment in the late 1800s, to show how Asians have always faced discrimination and hate. After Pearl Harbor, many folks stoked anti-Japanese American sentiment to suit their own purposes—notably white farmers who regarded farmers with Japanese faces as unwelcome competition.

Osaki pointed out, in a question-and-answer session following the film, that while other documentaries about 9066 exist, nobody before had delved so deeply into the underlying causes, and the suppression of the truth, that no evidence existed tying Japanese Americans to spying or sabotage.

After the lights came up, longtime activist and mediator John Yasutake introduced a panel discussion

featuring Osaki himself, lawyer and activist Lorraine Bannai from Seattle University School of Law, and Stanley Shikuma, longtime activist and current president of the Seattle Chapter JACL. Yasutake posed a question to each panel member.

Asked why he decided to make “Alternative Facts,” Osaki remembered a pilgrimage he made to the former Tule Lake War Relocation Center, in Northern California, where many of his family members went during World War II. He shot video of his kids playing atop Castle Rock, which gave him the idea to research 9066 as a whole, as something new generations could grab onto. He felt that he learned more about the whole story, making the film, than he suspected the vast majority of Americans know.

He also gets thank-you messages from high school and college students—some of whom confessed that prior to watching the film, they’d never even heard of the camps.

And of course, he stressed, his film was about “alternative facts” and “fake news,” decades before those terms came about. They’re simply latterday summations of practices conducted for centuries.

Asked about the legal implications of 9066, Professor Bannai referred to the Executive Order as a “blank check,” giving the military practically unchecked power to handle Japanese Americans in any manner. She see ALTERNATIVE FACTS on 14

4

asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

■ COMMUNITY NEWS

Man injured in CID shooting

Police are investigating after a man was wounded in a shooting in the ChinatownInternational District (CID) on Feb. 10.

At 6:31 p.m., police responded to the intersection of 12th Avenue South

and South Jackson Street for reports of a shooting. Arriving officers found a man with multiple gunshot wounds and immediately began first aid. Seattle Fire Department medics responded shortly

after and took over treatment of the 31-year-old man, eventually transporting him to Harborview Medical Center in stable condition.

Officers recovered ballistic evidence

at the scene and detectives will continue to investigate. Anyone with information about this shooting should call the Violent Crimes Tip Line at (206) 233-5000. 

CID transit hub considered Community members pushed for their favored solution on a new transit hub in Seattle’s ChinatownInternational District (CID), at a Feb. 15 Sound Transit meeting.

Paul Wu, a semi-retired architect and a long-time community volunteer, urged the Sound Transit Board to consider the least impactful option for the new transit station—the so-called 4th Avenue ‘Shallow’ Option 1A—which would mean the full closure of 4th from Main Street to Jackson for four years, and estimate nine to 11 years of construction and the loss of 210 parking spaces.

Wu said this option has the least impact to the Historic District and will provide transit access for both the CID and Stadium communities.

The other location option, Wu stated, would create unwarranted disruptions to local businesses and

residents during construction and replace local property ownership in subsequent redevelopments.

Tuck Eng, born and raised in the CID, and a board member of Chinatown International District Business Improvement Area, also supports 4th Avenue ‘Shallow’

Option 1A because it “has the least impact…in terms of construction activities, noise, air pollution, blocked streets, minority property ownership transfers and displacement of immigrant businesses, tenants, and residents.” He added, “Help us keep over 1,000 elderly non-English speakers, other residents, and community members safe and revitalize Chinatown by staying on Fourth Avenue where there is no community of color to impact and no mass of immigrant businesses to force out.”

Eng said two other options on the table (Segment 5th Avenue Shallow and Deep Station) have serious flaws— chief among them planning several years of construction on top of a community of color filled with immigrant businesses and residents, a majority of whom do not have a command of English. 

Proposed law offers offenders serving long sentences a chance for freedom

By Juan Morfin WASHINGTON STATE JOURNAL Incarcerated individuals who serve 15, 20, or 25 years of total confinement would have the opportunity to apply for a conditional commutation under a bill passed by the Washington State Senate and now being considered in the House.

“This bill would establish a system in which individuals who have reformed themselves over many years could be released to community custody,” said state Sen. Manka Dhingra, a sponsor of this bill. “This is

ATTACK from 1 baseball bat, striking her in the side of the head and knocking her to the ground.

Wang suffered skull fractures and has had to undergo significant surgery in the coming days.

The judge in the case set bail at $150,000 and Tulloss remains in King County Jail.

Tulloss had an outstanding Kirkland Municipal Court warrant at the time of the attack, and there have been 11 other warrants for Tulloss’ arrest since 2012. He has been convicted of nine misdemeanors and two felonies for robbery and breaking into private property.

If convicted, Tulloss could get sentenced up to 12 years in prison, as well as 36 months of community custody. 

not about pardons. This is about recognizing that people change.”

If approved, appeals would be heard by the state Clemency and Pardons Board. Ultimately, it will be up to the governor to approve or deny these petitions.

Some Republicans opposed to the bill said it allows people like Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, to get out of jail. For that to happen, the Pardons and Clemency Board and the governor would have to approve the release.

State Sen. Joe Nguyen said, “I don’t know of that particular case in terms of the Green River Killer, but

I think there are other individuals where we believe it would be safe being able to have them in our communities again.”

The bill was approved by the Senate on a party-line vote, and now is under consideration by the House Public Safety Committee.  The Washington State Journal is a nonprofit news website operated by the WNPA Foundation.

To learn more, go to wastatejournal.org.

YOUR VOICE

■ WORLD NEWS

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

asianweekly northwest

5

For Asian American women, Olympics reveal a harsh duality

Eileen Gu at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Feb. 15 in Zhangjiakou, China.

skaters Karen Chen and Alysa Liu of the U.S. team and Zhu Yi of the China team have also been promoted by their national teams and scrutinized—sometimes harshly—by Olympic fans. Commentators have mocked Yi for falling in the team event, as if she deserved the mistake after giving up her U.S. citizenship to compete for her ancestral homeland.

Others are angry that she “stole” the Olympic spot from an actual China-born athlete.

Even the winners struggle to feel fully embraced in America. Kim, who won the halfpipe at the Beijing and Pyeongchang Olympics, has revealed she was tormented online daily. She says she was consumed by fear that her parents could be killed whenever she heard news about another brutal assault on an Asian person.

There have been more than 10,000 reported anti-Asian incidents—from taunts to outright assaults—between March 2020 and September 2021, according to Stop AAPI

Gao becomes 1st Chinese man to win Olympic speedskating gold

By PAUL NEWBERRY AP NATIONAL WRITER BEIJING (AP) — When the last pair crossed the line, the excruciating wait finally over, Gao Tingyu was swallowed by his teammates and coaches.

Then he grabbed a Chinese flag and took off on a sprint around the infield at the Ice Ribbon, the striking red banner fluttering behind his head.

When he pulled up alongside the finish line, Gao let out a scream that could be heard throughout the only new venue built in Beijing for this year’s Winter Games.

Finally, a Chinese man has won speedskating gold at the Olympics.

Not bad for a guy who calls himself lazy.

“I’m quite a slow person,” Gao said through a translator. “But for speedskating, I really love speed. I also like the sound of air beside my ear when I skate. It feels exciting.”

Gao felt plenty of excitement on Feb.12, setting an Olympic record with his victory in the 500 meters.

It took a while for the celebration to begin, however.

The 24-year-old Gao skated in the seventh of 15 pairs, posting a blistering time of 34.32 seconds. Then he waited nervously on the infield as 16 other skaters took aim No one could beat it.

“It felt like I was riding a roller coaster,” Gao said. “When I finished my race, there were 16 people behind me and all of them are great. I felt some pressure until the last group of people.”

Gao knew he had at least a medal for the second straight Olympics after the nextto-last pair crossed the line. But the real celebration began when the final group finished.

Gao took bronze in the 500 at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

“This is different from four years ago,“ he said “This time it comes to our home country. I felt excited and nervous. I think this is a good mentality for the competition, especially for such a big event.”

Zhang Hong had been China’s only speedskating gold medalist. She won the women’s 1,000 eight years ago in Sochi. see GAO on 14

Hate, a national coalition that gathers data on racially motivated attacks related to the pandemic.

“The experience of hate is withering, and it takes a huge mental health toll,” says Cynthia Choi, the coalition’s cofounder. “When we think about the Olympics, it’s really incredibly powerful to have taken place in Asia three times in a row. That context is very significant, and to have Asian Americans and Asians representing the United States in these games is more than symbolic.”

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the country have endured racist verbal, physical and sometimes deadly attacks for two years now, fueled by the pandemic.

Some perpetrators have based their hate on the fact that the virus was first detected in Wuhan, China. Adding to the mix: former President Donald Trump, who regularly talked about COVID-19 in racial terms.

Gu, the daredevil freestyle skier who placed first in the big air competition, said she’d never been as scared as when a man directed a tirade about the coronavirus’ Chinese origins against her and her immigrant grandmother at a San Francisco pharmacy.

The San Francisco native, fashion model and social media figure has also been criticized with anti-China rhetoric for switching from the U.S. team to the China team.

Conservative Fox News personalities Tucker Carlson and Will Cain even dedicated a segment to berating Gu, saying she was “ungrateful“ and is “betraying her country.”

Those racially charged denunciations have been called out on social media for being hypocritical. Phil Yu, who runs the popular Angry Asian Man blog, tweeted succinctly: “Oh sure, it’s always ‘go back to your country’ see OLYMPICS on 14

‘We’re Filipinos’: Women soccer players decry criticisms AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, File

BEIJING (AP) — Across two pandemic Olympics set in Asian countries, Asian American women fronting the Games have encountered a whiplashing duality—prized on the global stage for their medal-winning talent, buffeted by the escalating crisis of racist abuse at home.

The world’s most elite and international sporting event, underscores along the way the crude reality that many Asian women face: of only being seen when they have something to offer.

“It’s like Asian American women can’t win,” says Jeff Yang, an author and cultural critic. “Asian American female athletes, like most Asian American women in many other spaces, are seen as worthy when they can deliver and then disposed of otherwise.”

The issue is playing out at the Beijing Winter Games, the third straight Olympics set in Asia and the second held during the unrelenting global coronavirus crisis—and playing out, too, during a rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans.

Here, U.S. snowboarder Chloe Kim and China’s freestyle skier Eileen Gu are the latest additions to the list of American women of Asian descent who have been “It Girls” of the Winter Games, joining icons like American figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan.

When Kim and Gu earned their gold medals in Beijing, it was the perfect bow on professional narratives that have been covered incessantly leading up to the actual event.

Their star power and talent made them two of the de facto spokeswomen for the Olympics.

Meanwhile, other Asian American women like figure

AP Photo/Francisco Seco

By SALLY HO ASSOCIATED PRESS

AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 match between South Korea and Philippines on Feb. 3.

Members of the Philippines’ team have played down social media comments by some fans that most of the players with mixed American ancestry “were not Filipino enough.”

By JIM GOMEZ ASSOCIATED PRESS MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Members of the Philippines women’s soccer team, which recently qualified for its first World Cup, have played down social media comments that most

of the players with mixed American ancestry “were not Filipino enough.”

The Philippines beat Taiwan 4-3 in a penalty shootout recently after the match ended 1-1 in the Women’s Asian Cup hosted by India. see WOMEN SOCCER on 13

6

asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

■ COMMUNITY CALENDAR FEB 17

CLUB MEETING ABOUT ASIAN PACIFIC CULTURAL CENTER WITH FAALUAINA PRITCHARD 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

For Zoom link, contact rotaryofseattleid@gmail.com KOREAN AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON’S 31ST ANNUAL BANQUET Via Zoom For more info, please contact kabawabanquet@gmail.com

NOW THROUGH FEB. 18

VACCINATION EVENT Federal Way Performing Arts Center, 31510 Pete von Reichbauer Way S., Federal Way, WA 98003 Appointments and drop-ins are welcome Pre- registration: tinyurl.com/bdf4y3bf

19 SPECIAL EXHIBIT: PICTURES OF EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066 @ OCTAVE 9 Seattle Symphony Feb 19, 1-7 p.m.

EO9066 ticket holders will receive free entry on the day of their show with their

concert ticket Exhibit tickets: $12 Tickets: https://bit.ly/32l2xz8 MUKAI FARM & GARDEN WILL COMMEMORATE THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066 4 p.m.

Via Zoom Register at https://tinyurl.com/2h9zybz9 mukaifarmandgarden.com TAKE A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD AT CULTURALFEST UW Seattle, Husky Union Building 1-5 p.m. fiuts.org/culturalfest

META HONORS 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 12-1 p.m.

Bellevue Museum of Art’s Facebook and YouTube accounts RSVP at https://bit. ly/3HUMmYT YEAR OF THE TIGER PARADE LIVESTREAM! 5 p.m. https://bit.ly/3oRtemO

20

Zoom Meeting ID: 716 4280 1111 Passcode: 23x40X minhcarrico.com

20-28 VACCINATION EVENT Federal Way Performing Arts Center, 31510 Pete von Reichbauer Way S., Federal Way, WA 98003 Appointments and drop-ins are welcome Pre- registration: tinyurl.com/bdf4y3bf

MINH CARRICO WAS LOST AND NOW HAS BEEN FOUND, “KINGS TO KING” 2-3 p.m.

Via Zoom

■ NATIONAL NEWS

Asian woman killed by man who followed her into NYC apartment

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

By KAREN MATTHEWS

People hold signs and pictures of Christina Yuna Lee during a rally in the Chinatown section of New York, on Feb. 14.

NEW YORK (AP) — A woman was stabbed to death inside her lower Manhattan apartment by a man who followed her from the street into her building, authorities said.

Christina Yuna Lee, 35, was found fatally wounded in her bathtub at about 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 13, police said.

The suspected killer was taken into custody after he at first tried to flee down a fire escape and then barricaded himself inside the apartment, a police spokesperson said.

Police announced on Feb. 14 that Assamad Nash, 25, was arrested on charges of murder and burglary. It wasn’t clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

Officials including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams denounced Lee’s killing as the latest in a string of unprovoked attacks on people of Asian descent.

“I join New Yorkers standing together in support of our AAPI friends & neighbors,” Hochul said on Twitter.

Several dozen neighborhood residents and their supporters chanted “Enough is enough!” at a rally near the victim’s building. “Our elected officials need to act,” said Susan Lee, who is not related to Christina Lee. “I’m begging them to act so that not another life is lost.”

Christina Lee worked as a senior creative producer see NYC on 11

View the solution on page 14

Assunta Ng

Account Executives

John Liu

kelly@nwasianweekly.com

Ruth Bayang

john@nwasianweekly.com

Publisher assunta@nwasianweekly.com Associate Publisher john@nwasianweekly.com Editor editor@nwasianweekly.com

Han Bui Layout & Web Editor han@nwasianweekly.com

Kelly Liao John Liu

George Hira

ghira@nwasianweekly.com

The only weekly English-language newspaper serving Washington’s Asian community. The NW Asian Weekly has one simple goal: “To empower the Asian community.”

The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject any advertisement, letter or article.

Subscriptions cost $40 for 52 weeks of the NW Asian Weekly and $30 for 52 weeks of the Seattle Chinese Post. The NW Asian Weekly owns the copyright for all its content. All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reprinted without permission.

412 Maynard Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104 • t. 206.223.5559 editor@nwasianweekly.com • ads@nwasianweekly.com • www.nwasianweekly.com

YOUR VOICE

■ PUBLISHER’S BLOG

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

asianweekly northwest

7

Good and bad cop, I experienced both No two cops are alike I have been a beneficiary of a good cop and a victim of a bad cop’s racism.

First, the unsettling incident. In 2001, a cop stopped a group of students, lined them against the wall, patted them down, and searched them at 4th Avenue South and Main Street South (now the Hirabayashi Place), and accused them of jaywalking.

These 20-plus high school students were enrolling in our summer youth leadership program organized by the Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation.

Some students, who were so scared and traumatized, cried. During the line up, the cop asked the students, “Are you from Japan?” “Do you speak English?” One brave soul, David Ka, who was the student photographer, secretly sneaked across the street and snapped a photo of the cop and the students lining up against the wall. Ka now works for Vulcan in the ChinatownInternational District.

Most of these teenagers were Americanborn. So was the coordinator, Andrew Cho, now a faculty member of Tacoma Community College on Asian American studies. The road was blocked on one side so there was no traffic. The incident occurred way before the construction of rails and housing. There were hardly any pedestrians except our students. Unable to find fault, the cop gave the students a

Photo by Assunta Ng

By Assunta Ng NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Paramedics tending to my husband

citation for allegedly jaywalking. When you have one group of people belonging to the same organization with over 20 members crossing the road together, they are not going to walk as fast as they tend to, walking right behind each other.

The cop couldn’t find fault with the students so he had to punish them with something. Hence, the ticket for jaywalking.

I wasn’t going to give in. I wanted to contest the ticket. One of the speakers for the

Help prevent opioid misuse.

Take back your meds today.

Find a participating pharmacy location near you at

MED-Project.org

program was Yvonne Konoshita Ward.

I had no idea the students felt so unfairly treated. They contacted Ward, an attorney, who had spoken to the class about social injustice.

The incident got so big that the Japanese American Citizens League and Organization of Chinese Americans jumped in to help. The story of the students and the two organizations made network news and mainstream newspapers.

Represented by Ward and public defender Leo Hamaji pro bono, we ended up going to Municipal Court, contesting the ticket.

The judge threw the ticket out, because the ticket was given with a racial overtone.

That was the past. One racist cop doesn’t represent the whole police force. It was an isolated incident.

Recently, I had a frightening incident. If not for the cop who stopped his car and ran out to help me, it would have been a disaster for me and my husband.

It was Jan. 27, a cold evening. I had a meeting at the Joyale Restaurant. To make sure I was safe, my husband walked with me to the restaurant on South Jackson Street, as there were homeless camps nearby. After crossing 7th Avenue South, he was not feeling well.

“My feet are weak,” he said. He had taken some new medication and had some negative side effects.

“You go back to the office,” I said. “I can walk by myself.”

At the intersection of 8th Avenue South, I was waiting for a red light to turn green so I could walk on the side of the road towards Joyale. Before the light turned green, I looked back and saw someone lying on the floor. Had I not looked back, I might have regretted it for the rest of my life. I saw two men pass by and gaze at the man lying on the floor without doing anything, and then see BLOG on 13

Seattle has over 80 safe disposal kiosks.

8

asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

■ PHOTO CONTEST

Vote for your favorite photo online nwasianweekly.com/events (for real) Out of more than 60 photos submitted, these are the finalists of our recent Lunar New Year photo contest—from readers showing how they celebrate the Year of the Tiger.

Vote online for who you think should win the People’s Choice Award.

The names of the winners will be published in next week’s issue.

CONTESTANT #1 Chinese New Year snacks corner. It’s a tradition in our family to have a snack corner during Chinese New Year celebration for our guests to enjoy!

CONTESTANT #3 Girls celebrated the lunar new year’s day in Hanbok (Korean traditional dress) but also received “hong bao” (lucky money in Chinese).

CONTESTANT #2 Though lot of traditions have been simplified over the years, to me “年夜飯” (New Year Eve’s dinner) is a must and cannot be simplified.

CONTESTANT #5

CONTESTANT #4: I wanted to capture the essence of what Lunar New Year’s means to the Vietnamese community. The yellow Chrysanthemums symbolizes wealth and prosperity.

Whereas, the Gift basket is just a way to show respect and love towards one another.

CONTESTANT #6 CONTESTANT #9: Dumplings

CONTESTANT #7

CONTESTANT #10: Celebrating the Lunar New Year by making dumplings with my family and sharing the deliciousness and learning the art of shaping the dumplings.

CONTESTANT #8: This is a picture of our front entry as you walk into our house.

This is also where we set up our affrenda for Viva Los Muertos and Halloween.

CONTESTANT #11: This is a picture from New Years of me and my family. We had stir fry with noodles, fish, and dumplings earlier.

And I’m the middle oranges and fortune cookies. My name is Maeve. I go to Seattle Waldorf Highschool

CONTESTANT #12: Students love our Lunar New Year display corner, especially the paper orange tree that is supposed to bring us good luck.

CONTESTANT #14: Xiaoling Mo gave her child Laurel Mo (6 years old) an red envelope on Lunar New Year’s Eve.

CONTESTANT #13: Students made paper firecrackers to decorate our campus, more importantly, to scare away the Nian monster and all bad spirits.

CONTESTANT #15: Daphne Mo (8 years old) and Laurel Mo (6 years old) are enjoying Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner. They matched the Chinese lucky sayings with the lucky food with mom Xiaoling Mo before eating.

CONTESTANT #16: Student lion dance was getting ready to walk around campus in Seattle Country Day School.

CONTESTANT #17: Some 4th graders in Seattle Country Day School practiced how to write Chinese lucky words to welcome the New Year with Chinese brush pens and ink, and then showed their work.

CONTESTANT #18

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

YOUR VOICE

asianweekly northwest

CONTESTANT #21: Jackson Cahn CONTESTANT #19: Phuong & Amelia

CONTESTANT #20: Sy grandparents and grandchildren

CONTESTANT #24

CONTESTANT #23: Hans Riebeling CONTESTANT #22

CONTESTANT #27: Anja Leung

CONTESTANT #25: I am 10 years old and helped my mom make these spring rolls and dumplings from scratch for Lunar New Year.

These foods represent wealth and I arranged them to represent the word ji (lucky in Chinese).

CONTESTANT #26: This photo is of my family’s LNY meal, taken right after we welcomed our ancestors and wished for good luck and fortune in the coming year.

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

COMMUNITY SPONSORS

WHAT WE KNOW:

Everyone 12+ years who is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is eligible for a booster.

WHAT IT MEANS: Vaccines continue to protect from severe disease.

A booster shot strengthens and extends this protection.

Go to VaccinateWA.org to schedule your appointment.

Jim Doane

9

10

asianweekly northwest

■ HEALTH

40 YEARS

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

Gift of Sight

Bringing vision care to Seattle World School students And finally, Warby Parker will provide the students with glasses to fit their individual vision care needs.

“We are excited to be a part of providing this essential need for Seattle World School students to continue on the road to success,” said Lisa Harris of Warby Parker, an online retailer of prescription glasses and sunglasses with the mission to inspire and impact the world with vision, purpose, and style. This community partnership is the first of its see GIFT on 14

Photo provided by ICHS

International Community Health Services (ICHS), First Hill Lions Club, and Warby Parker have partnered on the Gift of Sight Project to provide free eye exams and glasses to 20 lowincome immigrant and refugee students at Seattle World School.

“Being able to see the board at the front of the classroom is something that many of us take for granted, but for some of our students, not having access to affordable eye care can be very detrimental to their learning,” said Janni Sun, ICHS School Services Administrator. “The cost of eye care is prohibitive, even though it is so essential for young learners. To be able to offer students a solution to this persistent issue, even though they may not have insurance or otherwise access to affordable glasses, is a step towards more equitable services for students who have historically been and continue to be underserved.”

ICHS’s Teen Health Center at Seattle World School has been serving middle and high school age immigrant and refugee students for over a decade.

Because of the Teen Health Center, students have had access to high quality health care. The Health Center has also been instrumental in connecting students’ families with the school and with community resources, helping to improve student and family outcomes overall.

But for some immigrant and refugee students at Seattle World School, access to vision care was identified as a barrier for their families due to factors such as immigration status, family income, and dependency status. In particular, students who have aged out of government assistance when they turned 19 do not have access to proper vision care.

This unique collaboration on the Gift of Sight Project helps alleviate the financial burden associated with vision care needs and allow these students to focus on their academic and professional pursuits.

Under the supervision of Sherryl Grey, ICHS Director of Community Health Services, the ICHS Vision Clinic will work with the Seattle World School nurse to identify students that need this additional vision service.

“Vision services has been an ongoing gap in our services,” Grey said. “We can close that gap and make sure these young people have access to the services and resources they need.”

Funding from the Seattle First Hill Lions Club and the NW Lions Foundation is helping to cover the cost of the students’ eye exam and prescription.

“Since 1954, the Seattle First Hill Lions Club has been quietly serving the community in as many ways as we can come up with,” said Karen Ko, Seattle First Hill Lions Club President.

“Vision is core to our mission and to be a partner with the ICHS and Warby Parker in helping young refugee and immigrant students couldn’t be more perfectly aligned with what the Seattle First Hill Lions club values.”

ICHS Optometry Services Supervisor Andrea Liem, OD sees patients at the ICHS Vision Clinic at 718 8th Ave S in Seattle.

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COVID-19

AND BOOSTED

Everyone ages 12 and up should get a booster • 5 months after 2 doses of the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech (ages 12+) and Moderna (ages 18+), or • 2 months after a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (ages 18+)

Protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community Visit www.ichs.com/covid-19-vaccine-update

YOUR VOICE

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

■ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

asianweekly northwest

11

ArtSEA: Artfully told stories of Japanese internment and resilience

Images from BellevueArts.org

In Bellevue and Edmonds, Northwest artists illuminate the stories of Americans forcefully incarcerated during World War II.

Emerging Radiance: Honoring the Nikkei Farmers of Bellevue, created by Seattle artist Michelle Kumata, is a multimedia exhibit at Bellevue Art Museum that showcases the stories of Bellevue farmers who were unjustly incarcerated in Japanese American internment camps during World War II.

By Brangien Davis / Crosscut.com REPUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION In the lobby of the Bellevue Arts Museum, a shingleroofed farm building seems to have dropped out of the sky. But the jarring appearance is appropriate for a story of shocking displacement. Created by Seattle artist Michelle Kumata, Emerging Radiance: Honoring the Nikkei Farmers of Bellevue (through March 13) is a multimedia immersion that showcases the stories of Bellevue farmers who were unjustly incarcerated in Japanese American internment camps during World War II. The striking piece came about after Kumata was commissioned to paint a similar large-scale mural for the Bellevue offices of Meta. The ide was to educate employees about the history of the location—specifically, the Japanese and Japanese Americans who operated local strawberry and sugar pea farms long before high-rise office buildings took over the landscape. The mural was a success except on one front: the public could not access it. So the Meta Open Arts team helped Kumata create the freestanding, four-sided, augmented-reality-enabled “farmhouse mural” now at BAM. “Sixty farm families were removed from here,” Kumata said during the press tour. “Only 12 families returned.” Many of those who attempted to come back to Bellevue discovered that their homes had been burned or vandalized, their wells poisoned. Kumata did research with local nonprofit Densho, which had collected oral histories of displaced local farmers some 20 years ago.

In a clever use of tech, those voices are incorporated into her artwork.

The farmhouse is painted with striking graphic illustrations on all sides, featuring farmers in 1940s dress, sprigs of snap peas and strawberries, and whitewinged cranes (a symbol of hope) that direct your gaze around the tall cube. The faces of the farmers are painted a warm golden —a color of honor, Kumata said, but also a reference to racist slurs lobbed at Japanese Americans.

“I think of yellow as a symbol of empowerment,” she added.

As standalone murals, these are eye-grabbing enough, but they achieve three-dimensional depth when you click on the QR codes embedded in each image.

NYC from 6 at Splice, an online platform for digital music. She was a graduate of Rutgers University and had previously worked for companies including Marriott and the shoe retailer Toms, according to her LinkedIn page.

“Over the weekend, our beloved Christina Lee was senselessly murdered in her home,” Splice officials said in a statement posted on Twitter. “Our hearts are broken.

Always dedicated to making beautiful and inclusive artwork, Christina is irreplaceable. As we start to process this tragedy, we ask that you remember Christina Lee as

Most of the augmented reality applications I have seen over the past several years are little more than visual gimmicks. But this one—created by filmmaker and creative director Tani Ikeda—convinced me of the technology’s potential.

Once the feature opens in Instagram, point your phone at the mural and the painted faces become animated, as farmers Tosh Ito, Rae Matsuoka Takekawa and Mitsuko Hashiguchi tell their stories in one-minute clips taken from the oral histories. At the same time, animated plants unfurl, swoops of color swish by and cranes take flight.

And in yet another layer, historic photos of local farms from the era are superimposed on the mural. It’s quite effective and affecting.

The roof of the farmhouse is asymmetrical, which Kumata said she intended to convey “something off or not quite settled,” because there is still so much unresolved about this history, so much lingering antiAsian sentiment.

“Why don’t later generations know these stories?” She asked the question, then shared a personal insight: Both of her parents were born in the Minidoka Relocation Camp in Idaho. “My parents were too young to remember, my grandparents didn’t talk about it, and I didn’t know enough to ask,” Kumata said. After being punished because they were seen as “different,” many Japanese American families emphasized blending in over stirring up bad memories.

As we mark the 80th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 this month, Kumata hopes to facilitate more story sharing. On Feb. 19 at noon, BAM will host a virtual Day of Remembrance event, a conversation with Kumata, Tani Ikeda, Densho founding director Tom Ikeda and descendants of the Bellevue farmers featured in the artwork. They’ll talk about the history and legacy of Japanese incarceration, as well as the creation of the farmhouse mural, which Kumata says is “a container for these stories of strength and resilience.”

Another of these stories of resilience is currently on beautiful display at Cascadia Art Museumin Edmonds.

Totally worth the drive for die-hard Seattle dwellers, Kenjiro Nomura, American Modernist: An Issei Artist’s Journey (through Feb. 20) explores the creative life of an artist who was one of the Northwest’s most prominent in the 1920s and ’30s.

the magical person she was, always filled with joy. We wish peace upon her family in their grief.”

Surveillance video obtained by the New York Post shows a man following Lee into her building on Chrystie Street in Chinatown.

The building’s landlord told the Post that cameras posted on every floor showed the man followed Lee all the way up the stairs to her sixth floor apartment. A neighbor heard screaming and called 911, police said.

The killing happened weeks after another woman of Asian descent, Michelle Alyssa Go, was killed by a man who pushed her in front of an oncoming subway train. 

Born in Japan in 1896, Kenjiro Nomuracame to the U.S. with his family at age 10. He grew up in Tacoma, and by age 20 was living on his own in Seattle’s Japantown, trying to make it as an artist. He worked as a sign painter and took classes with Fokko Tadama, a respected Dutch-Indonesian painter who taught many issei (first generation Japanese American) artists in his Capitol Hill studio.

The Cascadia exhibit features several of Nomura’s earliest works, including portraits from the 1910s, as well as a fascinating collection of his modernist urban cityscapes from the 1920s and ’30s: old Fords lined up on Yesler Way, the Fourth Avenue train tunnel, the Smith Tower, houseboats on Lake Washington. His work was highly acclaimed and won awards. And when the Seattle Art Museum opened in 1933, he was the first regional artist to be featured in a solo show.

His career was skyrocketing as he worked among a group of artisti peers that included Kamekichi Tokita and Takuichi Fujii. Then: World War II. Nomura, his wife, Fumiko, and son, George, were sent to the Puyallup Assembly Center before being transferred to the Minidoka camp. In both places, he painted extensivel—scenes at the camps that are devastating in their plainspokenness: the water tower, the laundry, the outhouse. He used watercolors in soft blues and greens, but always there are dark clouds overhead, barbed wire in the distance.

Nomura and his family returned to Seattle in 1945.

One year later, his wife took her own life. With the support of other midcentury Seattle artists, including George Tsutakawa and Paul Horiuchi, he started painting again, but in a totally different style. Seeing the contrast between these wildly abstract paintings and the ones he made before the war is jolting—and yet, it makes complete sense. His whole world was shaken up and turned on its head.

On Feb. 20, Cascadia museum will host a daylong Day of Remembrance (10 a.m.-5 p.m.), commemorating the signing of Executive Order 9066 with Taiko drumming, a Japanese tea ceremony, ikebana flower arranging, a calligraphy workshop and haiku writing—art forms that survived and flourished in the face of tremendous adversity. 

12

asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

■ WORLD NEWS

Beijing’s ambitious Olympic COVID bubble: So far, so good

By HUIZHONG WU and KEN MORITSUGU ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING (AP) — For a country determined to keep out the virus that first emerged within its borders, bringing in more than 15,000 people from all corners of the world was a serious gamble. It appears to be working.

One week into the 17-day event, China seems to be meeting its formidable COVID-19 Olympic challenge with a so-called “bubble” that allows Beijing Games participants to skip quarantine but tightly restricts their movement so they don’t come in contact with the general population. There have been 490 confirmed cases— many of them positive tests on symptomless visitors— and no reports of any leaking out to date.

Inside the bubble, Olympic organizers are employing a version of the government’s zero-tolerance approach.

Everyone is tested daily for the virus, and anyone who tests positive is rapidly isolated to prevent any spread.

Athletes and others are required to wear N95 face masks when not competing.

“Arguably the riskiest thing they’ve done so far is to host the Games, and if they can get through that, then they can continue to use this strategy to keep localized outbreaks under control for a long time,” said Karen Grepin, a public health expert at the University of Hong Kong.

China has tight restrictions on who can enter China and requires those who do to quarantine at designated hotels for two to three weeks. It responds to even the smallest outbreaks with lockdowns of buildings and neighborhoods, followed by mass testing of all residents to root out and isolate positive cases.

The strategy is not without costs. In the run-up to the Olympics, China expanded its lockdowns to entire cities of more than 10 million people to stamp out outbreaks, forcing factories and nonessential shops to close and restricting people to their residential compounds.

A southwestern area of about 4 million people bordering Vietnam has been locked down this week because of an outbreak that has infected about 180 people. In Beijing, two residential neighborhoods

remain locked down because of a handful of cases two weeks ago.

The closed loop, as the Olympics bubble is officially called, has created two separate worlds. Athletes and other participants aren’t able to visit Beijing’s tourist sites or restaurants and bars in their downtime. Their only glimpses of the city are from the windows of buses that shuttle them from lodging to venues and back.

Both their hotels and the competition venues are fenced off with temporary walls; guards are posted to keep people from going out or coming in.

Outside, life goes on as normal for most in the nation’s capital. Select groups—school children, corporate sponsors, winter sports groups, foreign diplomats and journalists among others—are being invited to fill the stands partially, but most follow the Games on their smartphones or TV. “We don’t feel the Winter Olympics are far from our life,“ said Yi Jianhua, a retiree from Hunan province see COVID BUBBLE on 15

of the risks and benefits associated with returning home.” She added, “It’s important to protect yourself by getting vaccinated and boosted, but we must also be wary about protecting others by wearing masks as well. Meanwhile, medical clinics and centers like ICHS will continue to make vaccinations, onsite testing, and testing kits available.”

Lu also emphasized the importance of testing if people are in-person gathering or traveling. “The tests most people are acquainted with are rapid tests and PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests. Rapid tests are beneficial in that they are easily done at home and give quick results.

They are also very accessible to most people. However, they’re not very good at detecting early illness, and thus have a higher possibility of false negatives.

That’s why the protocol is to test yourself twice with a rapid test if you experience COVID-19 symptoms.”

“On the other hand, PCR tests are much more sensitive to early illness and often yield accurate results. But because they must be administered by a clinic or testing site, they are not as readily

CREDIT

ICHS from 1

CAPTION

accessible to people as rapid tests are.

At the end of the day, getting tested if you’re having symptoms or know you’ve been exposed to COVID-19 after a large gathering or traveling is one of the best things you can do to protect yourself and

others, as well as self-quarantining.”

“The CDC has also recently recommended upgrading to surgical masks, as cloth masks have been shown to be less effective at filtering out airborne particles. If you’re able to access

a standard surgical mask or KN95 mask, you can reduce risk of transmission during any in-person gatherings.”

Like the fearless, tenacious Tiger—this year’s animal on the Chinese zodiac— people have continuously adapted to new circumstances to accommodate for COVID-19 during celebrations.

Specifically, online video services, such as Zoom and WeChat, have made virtual celebrations an option to safeguard against any disease transmission.

“Technology has really bridged a lot of barriers—certainly, I’ve used a lot of WeChat video calling to stay connected with my family abroad. It’s just a matter of deciding what will personally work best for you and your family.”

Regardless of in-person or online celebrations, Lunar New Year will always be a time of celebration and reunion. Like Lu said, we will continue to “connect with our families, count our blessings, and hope for the best for the new year,” embracing our inner Tiger strength and looking forward to a post-pandemic era.  Juliet can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON NOTICE TO PROPOSERS Proposals will be received for KC000465, Work Order Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Services for WTD; by King County Procurement and Payables Section until 12:00 PM on 3/10/22.

This contract includes development and submittal of an Equity and Social Justice (ESJ) Innovation Plan. The ESJ Innovation Plan details the approach, strategies, and actionable steps that will be taken to maximize the participation of Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Women Business Enterprise (WBE) firms. Both MBE and WBE firms must be certified by the State of Washington Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises.

Total Estimated Price: $1,000,000 (each) King County intends to award two contracts from this RFP. Prospective proposers can view more details at: https://kingcounty.gov/procurement/solicitations Contact: Taylor Lee, talee@kingcounty.gov, 206-263-3173

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

YOUR VOICE

■ ASTROLOGY

asianweekly northwest

13

Predictions and advice for the week of February 19–25, 2022

By Sun Lee Chang Rat—Have you been trying to replicate a past experience? Shift your focus to creating an entirely new one instead.

Dragon—There is a lot going on around you right now. Despite the distractions, steer towards your chosen destination.

Monkey—Bringing two opposing viewpoints together can seem daunting. Start by searching for any common ground.

Ox—Is someone projecting their expectation onto you? Don’t let it override what you see for yourself.

Snake—While you are accustomed to being a solo act at times, take advantage of the support if offered.

Rooster—Is your interest waning in one area, but picking up in another? Embrace the opportunity to learn a new skill.

Tiger—Assessing blame might feel better in the short term, but you will benefit more from finding a better way forward.

Horse—A tight schedule won’t leave much room for error. Organize as much as possible ahead of time.

Dog—Let your imagination flow today and it could lead to quite a nice outcome, albeit not exactly what you intended.

Rabbit—Set yourself up for success by planning a strategy based on actual facts, rather than what you hope are the conditions.

Goat—Are you trying to save for something special? Get to your goal faster by minimizing unnecessary purchases.

Pig—Whether in person or virtual, the company of a lively friend is sure to add a spark to your week.

WHAT’S YOUR ANIMAL SIGN? RAT 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 OX 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021 TIGER 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 RABBIT 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 DRAGON 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012 SNAKE 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 HORSE 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014 GOAT 1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 MONKEY 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016 ROOSTER 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017 DOG 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018 PIG 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019

*The year ends on the first new moon of the following year. For those born in January and February, please take care when determining your sign.

BLOG from 7 moving on as fast as they could.

It reminded me of Princess Diana’s automobile accident.

When she was dying, a member of the paparazzi touched her hand and took her photo instead of rescuing her. Another story illustrated the same point. In 2018, Hollywood star George Clooney was injured in a motorcycle accident in Italy. He said in a British newspaper that bystanders just filmed the incident, instead of rushing to help.

Although Clooney recovered, he thought at that moment he wouldn’t see his family again.

I ran back to look at the man.

I was shocked to discover that it was my husband and blood was streaming down his face in twilight, right where the 7th Avenue auto shop used to be. In fear and desperation, I looked up and saw a police car waiting for the red light to turn at 7th Avenue South.

“Help, help, help,” I yelled at the top of my lungs many times.

When the cop walked out from his car towards us, I felt less afraid. The truth is, I didn’t know what to do. It’s exactly what a Chinese proverb says, “Those who are involved cannot see, the bystander sees clearly from the outside.”

I wasn’t able to calm down because there was so much blood on my husband’s face.

Sure, I could call 911 myself.

Usually, the responder asks so many questions that it would take much longer to get help.

The cop asked a few questions about what happened, where we lived, and what we wanted to do with my husband’s situation. But first, he looked at my husband’s wounds.

“Would you like me to put a bandage on his eyebrow?” he asked, where blood was gushing out. A big piece of flesh was gone right above his lip.

“Yes,” I replied. He told me my husband had cuts above his eyes. He called the paramedics and they arrived within a few minutes.

The cop and the medic concluded that my husband needed stitches.

“Would you like me to take you home or call an ambulance?” he asked.

When he said my husband needed stitches, I said, “Ambulance.”

“Which hospital do you want to go to?” the medic asked.

“Swedish,” I replied, as it was closest to Chinatown.

Within a few minutes, the ambulance came. I was not allowed to go with my husband.

“During Covid, no visitor is allowed to go into the hospital,” the ambulance crew member said.

The whole incident, from the time I found my husband on the floor, to the time he was inside the ambulance, took a lit-

WOMEN SOCCER from 5 The landmark victory added to soccer’s phenomenally growing attention in the basketballand boxing-crazy former American colony.

An online video of the winning kick posted on Twitter has gone viral with 168,000 views, 5,700 likes and more than a thousand retweets.

Then the questions turned to the online criticism, which cast a cloud on the American heritage of many of the

tle more than 10 minutes. Had I called 911 and explained the whole situation, it would probably have doubled the amount of time before my husband could get help. My past experiences with 911 for my employee who was bleeding, and other incidents out of safety concerns, usually took a lot longer. One friend, who called 911 recently, said, “It’s chaotic and confusing.”

Later, my husband told me he was dizzy and lost consciousness. He didn’t know he fell on the ground hard and hurt himself. Luckily, the scan at the hospital revealed he had no broken bones or a concussion.

In addition to all his scrapes, bruises and injuries on his face, foot and nose, he got eight stitches—four above his eye and four on his knee. The fall was hard as his pants and coat were torn. He is now healed.

I wish I had been more calm in the midst of disarray. Although I remembered to thank the officer, I didn’t ask for his name. I never knew who he was, even though I had asked Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz to identify him. I wanted to say, “Thank you,” for his service and being a good cop.

But the journalist in me, made me take my husband’s photo quickly before the ambulance swished him away. One photo showed his face full of blood. He was fully conscious

How to avoid injuries when you fall?

1. When you feel dizzy, take deep breaths to increase oxygen in your brain.

2. Find something to lean on.

3. If you can’t find something, sit on the floor to avoid head injury.

4. When you fall, put your chin to your chest so your head doesn’t land on the ground, to prevent head injuries.

5. Be careful when you walk on wet or icy roads.

6. Wear non-skid or flat shoes.

of what was going on then. He told me to go home and that he would call me.

My best friend in California said, “Do you know how lucky you are to have a cop next to you when you need help?” Not all people in ChinatownInternational District were that lucky when they needed the cops.

A reader also told me that he speaks only Chinese and called 911 and got nowhere. (Diaz has said previously that if victims and witnesses do

players in the Philippine team.

“We’re all Filipino, there’s no such thing as we’re not Filipino enough,” online news site Philstar.com quoted U.S.-based Kiara Fontanilla as telling a news conference in Manila. “I think people that are saying that are wrong.

We’re here to make a difference.”

Olivia McDaniel, whose penalty shootout kick against Taiwan gave the Filipinos their first World Cup berth, said the questions hurt her and stressed the Filipino American players were certain of their identity as Filipinos.

not speak English, the city’s 911 call takers can link to interpreters certified in over 200 languages and dialects,) “I know,” I said. “I just looked up, feeling helpless at that moment and wondered who could help me. And the cop was right in front of me. It’s like God sent an angel.”  Assunta can be reached at assunta@nwasianweekly.com.

“Some people haven’t been really accepting . . . but I think when you’re Filipino, you’re Filipino,” McDaniel said.

Stajcic said the criticisms upset him, having witnessed the hard work, passion and sacrifices of the players.

“How can you doubt?” he asked. “How can you doubt how much Filipino they are?”

The Philippines women’s team plans to compete in the Southeast Asian Games, the AFF Women’s Championship and the Asian Games as part of its 18-month preparation for the World Cup. 

14

asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

CLASSIFIEDS

DONE RITE

CARPET CLEANING

206-487-8236

GAO from 5 Now, she’s got company.

“I want to give my medal to my country,” Gao said.

When Gao’s name was announced at the venue ceremony, a prelude to the medal festivities later in the evening where he was actually receiving his

gold, he hopped joyfully onto the top rung of the podium, throwing both arms skyward.

“Gao was impressive,” said 2018 gold medalist Haavard Lorentzen. “He’s been a big favorite all season since he skated so fast in the first World Cup. He raced so fast that everybody thought it would be impossible to beat him at the Olympics.

OLYMPICS from 5 but not ‘go back to your country and win a gold medal.’“ The dichotomy of the Asian American woman’s existence is not limited to Winter Olympians, though. In October, Hmong American gymnast Sunisa Lee said she was pepper sprayed by someone shouting racist slurs while driving by in a car in Los Angeles.

Lesser-profile Olympians from the Tokyo Games like golfer Danielle Kang and karateka Sakura Kokumai spoke about their experiences with anti-Asian hate last summer.

Kang said she’s fought racism all her life and urged for a broader social studies curriculum that could better capture

It’s cool to see that he succeeds on home soil.”

The silver went to Cha Min Kyu of South Korea, whose time of 34.39 gave him a matching medal to the one he earned four years ago in Pyeongchang.

Wataru Morishige of Japan took the bronze in 34.49, completing an Asian sweep of the podium.

today’s multicultural America.

“I’ve been told to go back to China. I don’t know why they think China is the only Asian country,” said the Korean American athlete. “I also have heard, ‘Do you eat dogs for dinner?’ It’s nothing new to me. However, the violence was very upsetting.”

Kokumai, who is Japanese American, was angry to discover that the same man who had harassed her in April with racist slurs also assaulted an elderly Asian American couple. Equally painful: colleagues’ silence when the incident was reported. She said Japan’s coach called her about it before members of her U.S. team did.

“It was really hurtful that it took so long for my side of the

It was the first time in Winter Games history that three different Asian countries claimed medals in an event.

“The people back home were really hopeful and doing things like making posters for me. It was really encouraging to see that,“ Morishige said. “I’m glad I could deliver a bronze medal to them.” 

federation to address it,” Kokumai said last summer.

In July, when Lee became the surprise breakout star of the Tokyo Olympics by winning gold in the all-around event and bronze on uneven bars, Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, said she felt conflicted about seeing Lee on a pedestal given the way Hmongs have been marginalized.

“I’m really wrestling with this idea that we’re all ‘American’ only when it comes to us being excellent and winning medals for the country,” Choimorrow said.

“Asian American women are hyper-visible in ways that dehumanize us and completely invisible in the ways that humanize us.”  SOLUTION from SUDOKU on page 6.

ALTERNATIVE FACTS from 3 emphasized that the wording of 9066 never mentions Japanese Americans specifically, but everyone knew who the Order was referring to.

She added that we need to watch the Supreme Court carefully, and its tendency to stand aside on questions of justice, if it thinks “national security” is involved in an issue. We need to keep a sharp eye on such cases, she said, and speak out if we feel the Court’s copping.

Asked about what we can do to prevent 9066 from happening anew, Shikuma said the three leading causes of such things are: Racism, wartime hysteria, and failure of political leadership.

“These are always with us, and we need to speak up,” he concluded. We need, he concluded, to be the allies, the friends, that Japanese Americans needed and didn’t get, 80 years ago this Saturday.  Andrew can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

GIFT from 10 kind in the region for Warby Parker.

“Without vision, the students’ learning would be affected,” said Heidi Wong, ICHS Foundation Executive Director. “If we can give them a little help to assist with their learning and give them confidence to excel in school, imagine what they can do to break out of barriers that are out of their control.” 

YOUR VOICE COVID BUBBLE from 12 visiting his daughter in Beijing. “We can watch it on TV and mobile phone.

Although we cannot be there in the venue, we still pay close attention to it, because this is a grand event. Yes, there are regrets but it’s acceptable.”

China has had scattered outbreaks in the past month, but none related to the Olympics. On Feb. 11, health authorities reported 22 new cases in an outbreak in Liaoning province, east of Beijing.

None of the 450 confirmed infections inside the loop have spread to others in the bubble, Huang Chun, a pandemic control official, said. And there have been no reports of anything medically serious.

The possibility of a large outbreak inside the bubble, potentially sidelining athletes from competitions, has been a greater fear than any leakage into the rest of China.

“I feel all the protective measures are well in place,” said Fang Yanmin, a tourist taking photos with her friend in front of a statue of Bing Dwen Dwen, the Games’ panda mascot. “There is no need to panic.”

Guo Haifeng, waiting for friends at a nearby subway station, applauded the closed loop, saying it prevents the athletes and public from interrupting each other’s lives. Even if he were offered tickets, he said he wouldn’t go.

“Because of the pandemic, we should try to avoid going to the scene,“ he said.

“We should restrain ourselves and not affect others.”

The final test will come after the Games, when thousands of Olympic staff and volunteers from China exit the bubble. They are expected to be

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022 required to quarantine for a week or more before leaving to try to forestall the effects of any latent infections they might have.

China’s zero-tolerance policy has kept the virus at bay. Health authorities have reported 4,636 deaths since the start of the pandemic, a tiny fraction of those in other major nations. Most date from the initial outbreak in early 2020 that overwhelmed the health system in the city of Wuhan.

“For us, we achieved the goal of zero cases so we can travel with ease,” said Yi, the retiree.

Grepin believes the health and economic benefits of China’s approach have outweighed the costs, borne by those caught up in lockdowns and industries such as tourism, which has been damaged by on-and-off pandemicrelated travel restrictions. Economic growth slowed to 4% at the end of last year but exports remain strong.

“They’ve had incredibly low mortality by any standard, and most of the country has lived a relatively normal life for the last two years,” she said.

China’s relative success may make exiting its zero tolerance strategy more difficult. Most of the nation’s 1.4 billion people have not been exposed to the virus, so they haven’t developed antibodies that way. And while the vaccination rate is high, the emergence of new variants such as omicron may make the vaccines in use less effective.

For at least the near future, that means anyone caught in an outbreak could face lockdowns and repeated testing—and those coming to China will be isolated in a hotel room for two weeks or more.

The repercussions from the 2-year-old pandemic keep marching on. 

northwest

Weekly Specials Prices Valid February 16-22, 2022

Warm Up with Instant Soups!

Myojo

Udon Noodles

Hokkai Yamato

Hokkai Yamato

Instant Soup

Assorted. 7.23 oz

.89

Potage Soup

Assorted Flavors. 3 pc

Corn or Creamy. 8 pc

Hikari Miso

Instant Osuimono Clear Soup

2.99

Lotte

Instant Miso Soup

Xylitol X BTS Gum Assorted. 3.03 oz

4.99

Hamaotome

Clam (3 pk), Assorted or Matsutake (6 pk)

Assorted Variety. 8 pc

5.49

2.99

3.29

Fresh!

Fresh!

Okinawan Sweet Potato

Whole Saba

Painted Hills

Chuck Roast

600 grams/up from Norway.

Previously Frozen

Boneless. USDA Choice

6.49 lb

with Purple Flesh.

4.49 lb

2.99 lb

To see all of our weekly specials, visit uwajimaya.com seattle

•

bellevue

Water fluoridation benefits the whole family.

Curious about how it works?

Visit WashingtonWaterFluoridation.org

Sponsored by the Arcora Foundation

asianweekly

•

renton

•

beaverton

•

uwajimaya.com

15

16

asianweekly northwest

40 YEARS

FEBRUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2022

Winston Lee

years for Seattle’s Chinese population to return to its 1885 levels.

King County Executive Dow Constantine said that during these past two years of the global pandemic, Asian and Pacific Islander communities in this country have been singled out by racists and people who wish to lay blame on people who look different.

“We gather right here to say no. We will not stand for it in our community.

We will stop Asian hate and will continue to stand against racism, ignorance, and violence in our community,” Constantine said. “King County must be a place where all newcomers can be fully, equally welcomed.”

According to the statistics from the Seattle Police Department, there were 38 and 49 hate crimes against Asians last year and in 2020, respectively. It is still significantly higher than the number of 21 cases of Asian-related hate crime in 2019.

When COVID arrived in 2020, small businesses in Chinatown were vandalized and robbed. Seattle resident Suyan Wen, who participated in the event, said that she no longer feels safe.

“Look at all the restaurants and windows. Everything is broken and lots of people are afraid to come here,” Wen said.

“Before the pandemic, I came down here a lot, enjoyed walking here. After COVID,

Shaquita L. Bell, MD

Winston Lee and it quickly gained the support of over 20 Chinese community organizations.

“I see the community very divided,” said Lee. “This rally brought left and right, old and new immigrants together.”

It also brought people together to stand against hate crimes towards Asian Americans.

Former Washington Gov. Gary Locke said in comments opening the event that the gathering was important to share remembered experiences and to ensure that history is told from the perspective of the affected communities.

“We as Chinese Americans and Asian Americans have every right to bear the responsibility, to be the active members of the community, because we care about the community, about our future,” he said.

Locke is a third-generation Chinese American. He was born in the Seattle area and started his political career in Seattle in 1982 in the Washington State House of Representatives.

“We were kicked out of Seattle 136 years ago. And we say it won’t happen again,” Locke said. “But it is happening again. It is happening again when they say the ‘kungfu virus,’ the ‘China virus,’ the ‘Wuhan virus,’ and ‘all of you need to go back home.’”

“This is our home!” Locke shouted, and the crowd broke into sustained applause.

Chinese people were rounded up in 1886, taken down to the docks, and kicked out of Seattle. According to HistoryLink.org, America struggled with hard economic times in the 1870s and 1880s, and white workers came to view Chinese immigrants as threats to the few available jobs. On Feb. 7, 1886, violence broke out in Seattle and citizens forcibly expelled most of the city’s Chinese population, killing one and injuring four Chinese Americans. It took 20

Photo by Assunta Ng

RALLY from 1

I’m very afraid, especially in the evening and nighttime.”

Wen brought her husband, Frank Grabner, along to the event.

“Hearing that something like this (Chinese expulsion) was allowed to happen is just mind boggling to me,” Grabner said.

For Lily Yin, Newport PTSA copresident and Bellevue PTSA Council board member, her participation marks the culmination of a long effort to bring corporate support to issues of education and social justice. Before the march, Yin lobbied her company, BPM Accounting and Consulting Firm, to allow her to represent her 900 colleagues at the event. She and a colleague raised placards representing the company.

“I am so grateful that the firm really cares about the AAPI committee. At the same time, we hope the Chinese community can feel support from other communities during the event. I am glad to move forward a little step and receive huge support from the firm and the other communities. We are not alone,” Yin said.

Yufan Mou, a Chinese American junior studying at the University of Washington, was invited to the event by her father, who is a representative of the Olympia Area Chinese Association. She is a secondgeneration Asian American.

Mou never learned about the Chinese expulsion at school.

“It’s really great to learn about the culture and the history of this event since as a younger Chinese American, I definitely haven’t had much exposure to this history,” she said.

Living in a diverse community like Seattle, Mou thinks this remembrance, and this type of event in general, is extremely important for creating more exposure and awareness for the local community when anti-Asian hate crime happens.

“Asian Americans standing up for ourselves is the strongest way to be able to

give ourselves a voice. So I think that in the cases when these types of situations occur, we need to make sure that we are standing up for ourselves and changes are made,” Mou said.

Angeles Muñoz was visiting her sister, Isabella Muñoz, who currently resides in the greater Seattle area, and brought her to pay a visit to Chinatown. The two of them had no idea what the Chinese expulsion was.

After directly introducing the expulsion to the sisters, they think people of that time made a terrible decision that today’s community can learn from.

“That’s really unfortunate that people have such a closed-off mindset. And I think there’s always room to have different cultures in our community,” said Angeles Muñoz. Isabella Muñoz added, “Just cutting off other people is not the right way because there is so much culture we could be open to learn about.”

The sisters are not the only ones who came to experience the atmosphere of the Chinese community. Jack Woo, a Chinese American, brought his two 7-year-old sons, Evan and Jayden, to the event because he heard there would be a traditional Chinese lion dance.

Woo learned about the purpose of the event only after arriving.

“I hope the event brings better change or impact,” Woo said. “As Asians, we are trying to help out. We are not a threat.”

This was the third time the local Chinese community organized a walk and rally to remember the Chinese Expulsion Act over the past 35 years.

When asked what was next, Winston Lee said “We’d like to see if we can make a statue at the waterfront to remember this part of history.”  Debby can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

A second location for the ones that come first: our community’s kids.

From the Central District to the South End, the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic is expanding with a second location in Othello. Local pediatric providers are coming together to offer primary, dental, and behavioral health care for your little one, and every kid that needs it. We can’t wait to meet your family soon. SeattleChildrens.org/obcc

OPEN IN G SOON N EA R OTHELLO LIGHT R A IL STOP

TOGETHER WITH

CHILD 16451 OBCC Teaser_NWAsianWeekly_ENG_v2.indd 1

Pub/s: NW Asian Weekly(ENG)

1/24/22 5:22 PM

Traffic: 1/24/22

Run Date: 2/1/22

Color: CMYK

Author: JL