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The Chinese community is very happy to have an Asian person who is recognized.” — CATHY WILLIAMS, Jordan parent
bers presented a resolution at the April 24 school board meeting. The resolution urges the board to address damage done to the Japanese-American community through anti-racism education and outreach. PAUSD parent Michelle Higgins, a member of the resolution-writing team, believes that the importance of reflecting on recent debates extends beyond addressing immediate community issues. “The current [U.S. presidential] administration is directly referencing internment as justification for the Muslim ban,” Higgins says. “In this era, where we have a national conversation that questions the right of people to be here and demonizes people based on their country of origin, we cannot afford to be neutral.” Group member Eimi Okano, who was a founding member of Asian Americans for Community Involvement during the Civil Rights Movement, also expressed the importance of not being complacent in the face of perceived injustice. “My concern is that our children may feel less than full-American when they hear this kind of controversy,” Okano says. “We need to clarify and emphasize that these names, that are unusual, are also American names.” Other parents also experienced pertinent takeaways. For Korean-American Rika Yamamoto, who adopted her Japanese husband’s surname, friendships with parents in a Fairmeadow Elementary School chat group became strained when parents displayed “anti-Japanese sentiments.” But the mother of three PAUSD students has experienced positives: she has spoken for the first time at a school board meeting and learned more about US-Japan relations. Parent Satomi Okazaki, who although was “disheartened by the whole process,” has also “learned about all these great local and national organizations that are supportive of Asian American civil rights.” And parent Kim Shimazaki now plans on attending board meetings regularly. “One
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MAY 2018
UNITED PARENTHOOD In response to the Yamamoto controversy, Palo Alto parents, including Michelle Higgins, Kim Shimazaki, Eimi Okano, Rika Yamamoto and Satomi Okazaki, drafted a resolution that set specific goals for the school board and garnered over 100 signatures.
of the great takeaways for me was the importance of making your voice heard.” Making peace While Yamamoto was Armstrong’s first choice, she is content with the school board’s chosen names. Yamamoto stands among two other important figures recognized: Frank Greene, one of the first African-American founders of a publicly traded tech firm, and Ellen Fletcher, a Holocaust survivor who served as Mayor and devoted 40 years to fighting for environmental causes. All three figures, though previously not well-known among many residents, will now be household names city-wide. “It’s very fitting that a brilliant African American technologist who ... lended a hand to people and recognized structural inequality in our society, is replacing someone who didn’t believe in an entire race’s intellectual capacity,” Armstrong says. Harry Luo, whose son attends Jordan, is also pleased. “The name of a school is the identity of its students,” Luo says. “I think he [Greene] is very representative of the local community and where we’re from.” Despite the strain of community tensions, a prevalent willingness to listen to opposing beliefs was instrumental to the formation of another form of tribute: a scholarship fund in Yamamoto’s name. “When the scholarship fund was set
up, individuals in the Chinese community donated right away, because we would like him to get recognized,” Williams says. Armstrong likes to think that Fred Yamamoto, who abridged his studies and was unable to attend college because of family obligations and financial need, would have been pleased with the scholarship. Though the past months have been trying, silver linings have emerged: knowledge that the community rallied to find common ground, and that these efforts raised awareness about an inspirational historical figure. “For people for whom the first association of Yamamoto is that negative association with the Japanese Imperial Navy, maybe the work we’re doing with the scholarship will supplant those negative feelings,” Armstrong says. “We’ll try to move on. I know there’s still healing to be done in our community, there’s still reflection and empathy to be fostered.” Higgins echoed Armstrong’s optimistic sentiments, but believes that there is still room for growth as a community. “I think the scholarship fund is a positive … [but] it doesn’t absolve us of grappling with what happened,” Higgins says. “If we choose to take a very sad moment and grapple with it properly, it’s an enormous teachable moment. We don’t want to split further; we want to come together.” v
