I don’t know how I stumbled onto Untold America on Facebook, but the programs are riveting and unusual. The first one I found was “Chinese and the Mississippi Delta,” which told the story of the Chinese in Mississippi. Since over the last year I’ve been involved in the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation, I was drawn to the story.
The Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation (CRPF) is a nonprofit organization that advances civic harmony by way of the Tacoma Chinese Garden and Reconciliation Park on Ruston Way along Commencement Bay. The Chinese garden motif allows the park to stand both as an acknowledgment of the forceful expulsion of the Chinese population of the City of Tacoma by municipal leaders and a large crowd on November 3, 1885, and as a celebration of the city’s multicultural past, present, and future. The expulsion was an act of exclusion in response to complex conditions of the time, among them economic decline and anti-Chinese sentiment. The park is an act of reconciliation and inclusivity toward appreciation of the people of diverse legacies and interests who are part of the city as a dynamic community.The Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation (CRPF) is a nonprofit organization that advances civic harmony by way of the Tacoma Chinese Garden and Reconciliation Park on Ruston Way along Commencement Bay. The Chinese garden motif allows the park to stand both as an acknowledgment of the forceful expulsion of the Chinese population of the City of Tacoma by municipal leaders and a large crowd on November 3, 1885, and as a celebration of the city’s multicultural past, present, and future.
The expulsion was an act of exclusion in response to complex conditions of the time, among them economic decline and anti-Chinese sentiment. The Chinese were forced out of their homes and marched out to Southgate near Lakewood to board the train going to south to Portland. Two Chinese died along the way. The park is an act of reconciliation and inclusivity toward appreciation of the people of diverse legacies and interests who are part of the city as a dynamic community. Once the Chinese were looked down upon from the Nisqually Delta to the Mississippi Delta.
During the 1800s Chinese men were brought to America as a cheap labor force to build the railroads and other services like laundry for the miners in the gold fields. In Mississippi they were brought into the fields to pick cotton. The Chinese soon left the fields and opened shops and grocery stores. The Chinese would sometimes have two stores on opposite sides of the streets: one for blacks and one for whites.
The Chinese began selling their food and left a legacy of success and a unique part of history. As with all social media, sometimes the comments are as provocative and charming as the basic story.
Brian Brown – “I grew up in Clarksdale, MS. I visited at least one Chinese grocery nearly every week of my life with my grandparents, and I went to school with amazing Chinese-American people like May Lin Chow. I never saw color… I only saw heart… and, I heard one of the sweetest southern accents that still makes me feel at home to this day. I never knew until now why my friends had to live in the back of their stores, but now I know. What a beautiful stroll down memory lane and an even more beautiful tribute to the unsung heroes of the Mississippi Delta. Thank you for serving us and serving our communities!”
Richard – Clara Lee – “Peoples want to know where they got the money to get started in the grocery.. It was trust of our own peoples. And trust of a few very good white.”
Fatimah Rahman – “Amazing narrative of how Chinese Americans, among other groups, have made invaluable contributions to the building of American culture, but have not been acknowledged. This list of people is endless…Native Americans, Africans, Southern Asians, West Indians, and Latinos, have and continue to contribute in myriad ways.”
Aimee Hammack Robinette – “I grew up riding my bike to a Chinese grocery store in the Delta. A grandmother who didn’t speak English taught me how to use chopsticks. My life was enriched by my parents who just saw people and not color, and those people who just saw me as a child with her eyes wide open ready to take it all in.”
This year I’ll be the emcee for the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation dinner on June 2nd. We will be featuring entertainment from the Tacoma’s Refugee Choir. Their board chair Michael Collier will speak of his experiences coming to America after World War II. Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards will address the audience. Two of the auction items will feature five nights in a downtown Vancouver, B.C. condo and a candle lantern from author Jamie Ford along with autographed copies of his three books including the outstanding “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.”
Tickets and reservations are available online – http://www.tacomachinesepark.org/community/events/annual-dinner/
If you can’t join the festivities on June 2nd, please watch the visual tour of the Chinese Reconciliation Park – which is one of the fastest growing sights to see in Tacoma and Pierce County. – https://youtu.be/KLwYFwQnc44
Don, thank you for letting folks know, and the auction items look tasty, and in British Columbia, too. The Tacoma Reconciliation Project is a wonderful project, and a landmark apology from a city to the people they feared. PS, Tacoma Szechuan in the Paldo Shopping Center is a good place to taste one of the many Chinese cuisines. Love it, and your writing improves every time I read and article.