The Seattle Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) will celebrate its 90th annual banquet on Saturday, February 4, 2012 at the Tea Palace Restaurant, 2828 Sunset Boulevard N.E. in Renton, Washington. The dinner and program will start at 6:30 p.m. following a no-host reception from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.. The Chapter is very [...]
Bellevue’s newly elected Mayor, Conrad Lee can be described as a die-hard optimist mixed with a healthy amount of genetic old-school Chinese realism. With all the popular talk about recession and depression, Mayor Lee is someone you would want around to lighten the mood. He warmly accepted our invitation to a Q&A session to figure [...]
On Jan. 3 2012, seven Bellevue City Council members conducted the mayoral election. Conrad Lee, a former deputy mayor became the first Asian American elected mayor of the City of Bellevue. In Bellevue, city council members elect the mayor. “I’m grateful to the people of Bellevue and I am honored to be entrusted by [...]
OLYMPIA, Washington — Redistricting commissioners Tim Ceis and Slade Gorton, tasked with developing WA’s congressional maps, propose the historic creation of WA’s first majority-minority congressional district. 50.3% of the new 9th congressional district will comprise of people of color, just over half of the district. The district would encompass Southeast Seattle, Bellevue, Northern Tacoma and [...]
On November 30 and December 13, NAAAP-Seattle held board elections and elected in the following officers: President – Kevin Chang Vice President of Internal Affairs – Sherwin Tsao Vice President of External Affairs – Amy Duong Treasurer – Lily Li Secretary – Mingxing Tu PR/Marketing – Brittany Ryerson Social – Heidi Yu Student Relations [...]
Hello friends, ArtXchange Gallery is hosting a fun & fabulous event at our Satellite Gallery at the Seattle Design Center on Sunday, Dec 4th. Please come join us for a cup of cheer and enjoy browsing for unique holiday gifts. Driving directions to SDC is attached. Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday! **************************************************************** Friends [...]
Sharing the sad news that Ark Chin, who critically advanced the Chinese Americans into the political arena in the 1960s and was an ardent philanthropist, has passed. His contribution, not just locally (Seattle) but back home, was built around his belief of giving back to the communities that supported him. Read more about his life and accomplishments at http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/seattletimes/obituary.aspx?n=ark-geow-chin&pid=154631319&fhid=2475.
Submitted Special to SouthendSeattle by Community Power Works Summer jobs for students are becoming harder to come by. But Community Power Works (CPW) produced memorable summer-time gigs for a group of teenagers who got volunteer hours and payment to break dance in the name of promoting energy efficiency. Incoming Cleveland High seniors Carlos Nieto, Erick [...]
Devastating 2004 tsunami that wiped out everything and now the monsoonal flooding– the worse flooding in decades– hit Thailand. So far, 281 people have been killed and two people are missing in Thailand. Some 61 of the country’s 77 provinces (including Bangkok) have so far been affected, impacting more than eight million people. Thai [...]
“This looks like hell. We have to do something about this,” said Jeffery Hattori about one year ago, as he looked out at Seattle Keiro Rehabilitation Center’s current garden, with an uneven ground, an abandoned nursery and scattered plants. Hattori, CEO of Seattle Nikkei Concerns, the umbrella organization of Seattle Keiro, had a vision: [...]
Supporters call him the “Asian Obama” and is described as a rising star in the Democratic Party. He already made history as the first Chinese American elected at a state level in Connecticut and is poised to make history again if he wins his bid for U.S. Senate in. Rep.William Tong (D-CT), 38, sat down [...]
There’s an arts movement happening in the International District. Artists, galleries and arts businesses are finding a place to call home in the historic and cultural richness of the neighborhood. With vacant spaces and a slumping economy hitting the neighborhood particularly hard the last few years, some say the shift is a welcome infusion. [...]
Pramila Jayapal, OneAmerica Founder and Executive Director, has announced she will step down from leading OneAmerica in the spring of 2012. Pramila launched Hate Free Zone in the wake of 9/11 to address the backlash against immigrant communities of color (the organization changed its name to OneAmerica in 2008). The organization began as a volunteer [...]
On August 3, long-time activist Frank Irigon announced his plans for reform and transparency in his bid for Newcastle City Council, position 4. The campaign fundraiser, coordinated by Al Sugiyama, was held at Tea Palace restaurant in Renton. Dozens of supporters attended the campaign kick-off and raised thousands of dollars for Irigon’s bid for the [...]
The proposed 10th Congressional District. Map courtesy United for Fair Represetation. On August 9, members of a public forum with the Washington Redistricting Commission, advocated for a new 10th Congressional District in South King County (and state legislative districts in King, Pierce and Yakima counties) where a majority of people of color reside. The 2010 [...]
International Community Health Services, which operates medical-dental clinics in the International District and at Holly Park, will close its clinics one day a month because of significant cuts in state funding. “Sadly, the state cuts during the last legislative session have forced ICHS to reduce its operations and services,” said ICHS CEO Teresita Batayola. “We’ve [...]
SEATTLE – In her ten years of teaching students in Seattle Central Community College’s award-winning film and video communications program, Sandra Cioffi has reason to be proud of her protégés. Graduates of her two-year associate of applied science degree program have made their mark as successful photojournalists, radio producers, independent video filmmakers, lighting technicians, set [...]
Recent comments by Kennewick City Council candidate Loren Nichols – and the lack of any public condemnation so far by elected officials in Washington State – serve as a stark reminder that immigrant communities and communities of color need leaders willing to stand up for them. Mr. Nichols took a volatile political environment around immigration [...]
The Rainier Valley Community Development Fund invites community members to a public meeting on August 25th, 5:30 – 7:30, at the Filipino Community Center, 5740 Martin Luther King Jr. Way South. Come hear about our future plans and next steps. Interpreters available in Amharic, Somali and Vietnamese. We hope to see you there!
A memorial fund for the family of photographer Michael Wang, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident on Friday, July 29 after riding his bike the day before, has been established by colleagues. Wang, 44, a photographer at PATH, a global health nonprofit in Seattle, was headed north on Dexter Avenue North in Seattle on [...]
Local residents will have a chance to save energy, money and the planet as Puget Sound Energy’s Rock the BulbTM: The Re-Energize Tour distributes 200,000 free, efficient light bulbs this summer. The campaign, which first toured the Puget Sound region in 2009, encourages PSE residential electric customers to switch from incandescent light bulbs to ENERGY [...]
If you’re Thai and visiting the International District, chances are really good that you know “Mr. Moo” and his ever-welcoming smile. His small Thai Video shop by Sixth and South Jackson doesn’t just sell the syrupy romance movies and colorful tabloids from back home. It also serves as a kind of crossroads for the Seattle [...]
By Janelle Wetzstein IE Contributor Janelle Wetzstein is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory. Seattle’s First Hill streetcar project is drawing concerns about safety among members of the International District community. Despite assurances from the city of little pedestrian impact, stakeholders are worried about the safety of pedestrian traffic [...]
By Josephine H. Kim UW News Lab For the past 23 years, Filipino Americans in the Seattle area have gathered each year to celebrate their culture. On Sunday, July 31, the Filipino community hosted Pista Sa Nayon (a phrase translated to “town festival”). From 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. visitors enjoyed games, dance, entertainment and [...]
Nhien Nguyen, drug rehab case manager and former Editor in Chief of the IE “Native Speaker” by Chang-Rae Lee “Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan “American Knees” by Shawn Wong “Finding My Voice” by Marie G. Lee Harvey Dong, co-owner of Eastwind Books in Berkeley, Calif., one of the few bookstores in the country devoted [...]
SEATTLE – A time traveler seeking a glimpse of the International District’s past would do no better than to take its measure through the eyes of its Asian-Pacific Islander American storytellers. A good place to begin is the Panama Hotel. The historic local landmark figures prominently in Jamie Ford’s debut novel, “Hotel on the Corner [...]
“Fight for the International Hotel; It is a Right to Rebel Against Eviction” declares a vivid, multi-lingual silk-screened poster produced by the San Francisco Poster Brigade in 1977. That same summer, on August 4 at 3 a.m., over 300 riot police forcibly evicted the I-Hotel’s low-income tenants, mainly elderly Filipino and a few Chinese. Since [...]
PULLMAN, Wash.–Washington State University will soon be home to the largest private collection of photos taken at the Heart Mountain (Wyoming) Japanese Internment Camp during World War II. In addition, the National Park Service announced it is providing WSU with a $49,217 matching grant to help digitize and preserve the collection which includes over 2,000 [...]
BY MAUREEN FRANCISCO “I’m sorry to say that I didn’t know anything about the Japanese internment until I came [to Seattle]. I had no idea it existed or that it actually happened,“ said Kevin Allen. He’s part of the IE’s InspirAsian book club, which started three years ago. On July 14, it brought four readers [...]
