By Indunil Usgoda Arachchi
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
The crowd treads together along the trail of tears, where their ancestors were forcibly deported. Although it was a nightmare long ago, the shades of pain and uncertainty remain. The only way is to make a noise, not only for the past tears of ancestors but for securing the present and the future of all humans here.
“Where is our home?” They chant continuously in unison as they walk through the streets. It is the voice of generations who have passed a number of horrible tragedies, and also the voice of everyone’s rights and solidarity.
“Home is here, where is our home, home is here.”
On Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, the Chinese community in the greater Seattle area marked the 137th anniversary of one of the darkest occasions in Chinese American history and Seattle history—the Chinese Expulsion Act and the Seattle riot of 1886.
“It’s important to remember,” Dr. Connie So, a professor of Teaching at the University of Washington (UW)’s American Ethnic Studies department and the president of OCA, Asian Pacific American advocates of Greater Seattle. “But also, not to let it drown out what you want to do yourself.”
This is the fourth time the Chinese Expulsion has been formally remembered in Seattle. The first and second remembrances had been held in 1986 and 2011 for the 100th and 125th anniversaries. The third one was also organized by the United Chinese Americans of Washington (UCAWA) last year.
People from more than 20 local Chinese American organizations got together at Hing Hay Park in the Chinatown-International District (CID). Before marching down to the waterfront to mark the path by which Chinese Americans were forcibly deported, they shared the memories of both superior and worst scenarios their ancestors and they experienced.
Dr. So spoke about how the CID is still here even though the people were driven out and destroyed in history. She reminded the ancestors who had the…
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