The men were later sentenced by a judge to 3 years’ probation and a fine of $3000.

Doug had a rich life, full of meaningful experiences.  Doug grew up in Germany, graduating from a high school in Frankfort.  He was a Vietnam vet, serving in the United States Air Force during the sixties.  He attended and graduated from  the University of Oregon School of Law in the seventies. He worked on the Alaska pipeline, negotiated contracts for Boeings, and served as an administrative law judge for the State’s Employment Security Department,. He had a professional career to be proud of.

But it’s what Doug did in his spare time that showed how generous he really was.  He did a lot of volunteer work with a variety of organizations such as those connected to food programs and minority representation in the legal profession.  Born of a mixed heritage, part Tlingit and part Filipino, Doug took pride in his cultural ancestry, maintaining ties to both the Native American and Asian communities.  During his working life and after he retired, Doug volunteered countless hours of time in the Native American and Asian communities.  He used his legal expertise as a tribal judge for the Tlingit and Hoida tribes.  He volunteered for the Seattle Indian Center with its meal program.  He also had a religious side, faithfully attending Sunday morning mass at St. Matthews Church, serving as a Eucharistic minister.

In the seventies, Doug helped Inter*Im build and develop the Danny Woo Community Garden.  He helped start a tradition, Inter*Im’s annual summer pig roast, which started out as a celebration of the garden’s completion.  He became a fixture at the pig roast, famous for cooking late night breakfasts for community volunteers taking their turns turning the pig.  And Doug was there to carve the pig when it was ready.

Doug had a wealth of accomplishments and good deeds to be proud of.  Yet, to him, his greatest accomplishment was the growth and maturation of his daughter, Mercedes.  He was a devoted and loving father.  He took her to far off places throughout the world, to community fund-raisers, and even occasionally to the monthly poker game, cherishing the time he spent with her.

Doug had a big heart.  Ironically, it was that big heart that caused Doug’s health to decline.  But even as his health declined, he continued to volunteer.  And in passing, Doug still showed that generous spirit.  In lieu of flowers Doug requested that any remembrances be sent to the Seattle Indian Center or Inter*Im to help continue the good work of these organizations.  Doug Luna volunteered because he wanted to make a difference.  We are all better off because he did.

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Tlingit Tribal Judge Doug Luna Leaves Legacy

Former Chief Justice Doug Luna of the Tlingit-Haida Tribes has passed away at the age of 67. He died peacefully in the University of Washington Hospital in Seattle, after a brief hospitalization for heart problems.

“Judge Luna was visionary – deeply caring and committed to his community and the cause of justice,” said former Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Z. Smith. Judge Luna instructed on Native American law procedures and practices at the National Judicial College. He had innovative sentencing practices, including ones that proved effective at curtailing drunk driving. The National Judicial College once named him one of the year’s “Top 10 Most Inspired Judges.”

Judge Luna taught: “The first rule of Indian law is to bring honor to your tribe and country, your family and yourself – in that order.” His approach to family was inclusive and traditional. “In the Tlingit language, everyone is either a mother, father, uncle, aunt, brother or sister. There is no other word in the Tlingit language,” he often told friends.

Congressman Jim McDermott said, “Judge Luna was a unique man in that he was interested in and gifted at many different things.  He was generous and kind, and it was a privilege to know him.”

“Doug Luna served as a delegate to Tlingit Haida Central Council for approximately three decades,” said Tlingit Haida Central Council President Ed Thomas. “He served on the Executive Council and served as one of the first Tlingit Haida Central Council Tribal Judges. Doug very much enjoyed the leadership roles he held in our tribal government over the years. He was always in the mix of the debate when it came to the rights of our tribal citizens.”

“I’ve lost a very close friend; and the community has lost one of its finest civil and human rights advocates with Doug’s passing,” said Judge Vicki Toyohara. “Judge Luna always greeted me and others with his warm, wonderful smile. He is one of the most compassionate and caring human beings I have ever met. He always put others before himself,” added Judge Toyohara, who worked with him on several civic initiatives.

Hon. Daniel Inouye, the senior senator from Hawaii said, “(His) legacy will live on forever in the hearts and minds of all those he touched. His was truly a life of service – from his military service in Vietnam, to his work as a judge, minister, and cultural ambassador.”

Legacy: Business, Government and Community

After graduating from the University of Washington Law School, Mr. Luna entered the corporate and government world. His early achievements for The Boeing Company and the Trans Alaska Pipeline were notable. He was the director of pipeline compliance for the building of the Trans Alaska Pipeline. In 1978, he was appointed as the Deputy Corporate Administrator for The Boeing Company’s Small and Minority Business Program. He authored the Model Subcontracting Plan for all federal contracts for implementing small and minority business programs; the plan became a model for the federal government to judge all other prime contractors.

Prior to his leadership, Boeing’s highest annual award to minority businesses was $7 million (1977). Under his directorship in a four-year period, The Boeing Company increased awards to $155 million to minority businesses and $4.5 billion nationally to small businesses – all awards were purely competitive.

Mr. Luna became an administrative law judge and later, a review judge for the State of Washington. He also adjudicated cases for several Western Washington tribes through the Northwest Intertribal Court System (NICS).

His heritage was Filipino, Native American, Russian and Spanish and he served many communities. He was a founding member of the Asian American Bar Association and served numerous other community organizations, including the Seattle Indian Center, Washington State Supreme Court’s Minority and Justice Commission, INTER*IM, ID Housing Alliance, Filipino American National Historical Society, Washington State Commission on Asian American Affairs, Seattle Food Committee, Northwest Harvest, the Meals Partnership Coalition and Food Lifeline

He was a Eucharistic minister at Immaculate Conception Church and, most recently, was active with St. Matthews Church. Judge Luna is preceded in death by his mother Corinne Monzon Leach (known as the “Mother Theresa of the Tlingits”) and distinguished relatives including Elizabeth Peratrovich, called the “Native American Martin Luther King.” He is survived by his daughter Mercedes and numerous “aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters.”

Memorial Tributes

Recitation of the rosary will be held at the Columbia Funeral Home on Friday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m. A funeral Mass is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 5 at St. Matthew’s Church (1240 NE 127^th St.) in Seattle to be followed by a repast.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to:

INTER*IM Community Development Association
308 6th Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98104  (or)

Seattle Indian Center
611 12th Avenue S, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98144

Hisaye Yamamoto

Perhaps many of you have never heard the name Hisaye Yamamoto who died on January 30, at the age of 89. But many students and former students of Asian American literature will know who she is. Yamamoto was one of the most respected and appreciated writers in the short history of Asian American creative arts. She is regarded as a pioneer in Asian American literature and her work has been republished and anthologized numerous times. She inspired others and also set a very high standard for all aspiring writers. Her output was slender, but she was quickly recognized as a master storyteller in the 1940s and 50s, with stories in such noted literary magazines as The Partisan Review, Kenyon Review, and Furioso. One of her stories was included in Martha Foley’s yearly collection of Best American Short Stories in 1952, putting her up in the ranks of the best American writers of the time.

I had the happy accident of meeting her when I was around 10 years-old in Oceanside, California, and during World War II we lived in the same block in the concentration camp* at Poston, Arizona. She became a mentor and friend for many years, maintaining our friendship through letters. I don’t know how she put up with a naïve and questioning adolescent, but my literary and political interests were much influenced by her insights and her encouragement.

Hisaye Yamamoto was clearly brilliant and complex. She was a pacifist and a civil rights activist in her youth, standing in picketing lines and working for an African American newspaper, the Los Angeles Tribune, as a journalist and columnist for several years. After returning to the West Coast. A John Hay Whitney Foundation fellowship ­allowed her to devote full time to writing for a period, and many of the stories that were published in those prestigious magazines came out from that period. The writing took a secondary role after her marriage and the raising of her family of five children, but for many years she continued to have her work consisting of articles, stories and poems published in the local Nikkei press in Los Angeles.

Her stories about the lives of Japanese Americans, particularly those taking place in the pre-World War II period in California, are richly detailed with the minutiae and concerns of their immigrant existence, but the characters are never stereotypical. They are all struggling with the need to make a living and raising families in an often hostile environment, trying to merge old world values with the new, and often trying to find ways to express themselves. Yamamoto observed their lives with compassion for their frailties and with an ironic understanding of each individual life. As King-Kok Cheung, UCLA professor of English and specialist of Asian American literature says of her work, “We must be attentive to all the words on the page to unbury covert plots, fathom the characters’ repressed emotions, and detect the author’s silent indictment and implicit sympathy.” Yamamoto’s writing gives us a deeply insightful look at the Japanese American experience, ever mindful of the humanity of all of their lives.

* Also known as internment camps.

Betty Burke. Photo courtesy the Burke family.

Elizabeth Burke died December 25, 2010 in Ajijic Mexico — a village that she dearly loved. She was 78 years-old and is survived by her husband, Edward, following 59 years of happy marriage. Elizabeth was born in New York City in 1932 in the same hospital her husband had been born in. She met him when she was 13 years-old and married him five years later. She earned a degree at Hunter College in New York City and then flew with Edward to Seattle where they lived for 46 years. She gave birth to and is survived by her daughters Linda Anne Broderick, Sheila Siobhan and Allison Patricia. She will be missed by her grandchildren; Andy, Bobby, Anika, Keegan, Becca, Kallum and Korry.

She became a pre-kindergarten teacher in the Head Start Program prior to returning to college at Seattle Pacific University where she earned a Masters Degree in Creative Education. She taught at a Seattle school for gifted children until her husband completed the renovation of the Kobe Park Building containing the Nippon Kan, a historic Japanese American theatre. Elizabeth assumed management of the theatre and led historic tours of Seattle’s International District. Under her guidance, the heritage and life of the Nippon Kan was restored. In 1990, the Emperor of Japan bestowed on her husband the Order of the Sacred Treasure with Gold Rays and Rosette. Because Edward and Elizabeth shared all of the grief and joy in restoring and operating the Nippon Kan Theatre, he believes the award should have been given to both of them.

In 1994, Elizabeth and her husband retired, sold their Seattle home and purchased a small motor home. They drove their home throughout the United States and Canada and through every state in Mexico. For the past 13 years they have been spending six months of every year in Ajijic.

Betty was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in 2007, received a double mastectomy and radiation treatment. She was given hormone treatment but by June of 2010, the cancer had spread throughout her body. She refused chemotherapy. Following several weeks of ineffectual injections she returned to Ajijic in November for her final days.

Betty then enjoyed seven weeks surrounded by friends, birds and sunshine living in a lovely home and reading books on a sun drenched patio. She gradually became weaker and finally collapsed two days before her death. She died on Christmas day with Edward at her side.

1938 – 2010

Remembering Roberto Maestas
On September 22, 2010, El Centro de la Raza and our Community lost a beloved leader.
We invite you to share in the memory of Roberto.

Public Viewing
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
1-8pm
El Centro de la Raza
2524 16th Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98144

A Celebration of Roberto’s Life
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
4-6pm
WaMu Theater
1000 Occidental Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98104

Reception to follow Celebration
6pm
WaMu Theater

Please share your photo memories of Roberto! Pictures of Roberto can be emailed to Enrique Gonzalez juvyjustice@elcentrodelaraza.org.

All other questions regarding the viewing or service should be directed to(206) 957-4605 or email execasst@elcentrodelaraza.org.

By The International Examiner

Roberto Maestas, 72, a founder of El Centro de La Raza and a leader for social justice, died of lung cancer Wednesday, Sept. 22 morning at the University of Washington Medical Center. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn ordered city flags to be flown at half-staff.

Roberto Maestas was a leading figure of the local civil rights movement. He first served as an activist in the 1970s, involved in countless movements toward social justice including fighting for Native American fishing rights and African American employment equality.

His friend Larry Gossett, a King County Councilmember, told the Seattle Times, “The power of his personality lit up any room.”

Mr. Maestas was a force behind developing a coalition of local community leaders working together as community activists and friends across racial lines on civil rights and social justice issues that affected our local communities of color. The group would famously be coined as the “Four Amigos” — including Gossett, Mr. Maestas, the late Native American leader Bernie Whitebear and “Uncle” Bob Santos, a familiar leader and advocate in the Seattle Asian Pacific American community. Maestas was also a founding member of the Minority Executive Directors of King County.

Mr. Maestas moved to Seattle from his native New Mexico and served as director of El Centro, an educational, cultural, and social service agency focused on the Latino/Chicano community. He served as the center’s leader for 36 years until stepping down in June 2009.

El Centro is hosting their 3rd Annual Event this SATURDAY, September 25th and one of the ways in which you can help to support his tremendous life’s work is to support the agency he founded! Details can be found at www.elcentrodelaraza.org.

He will be buried in a private ceremony @ Mount Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent. A public memorial service is scheduled for 11 AM on May 22 @ PUYALLUP UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Please read his history on :  http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/04/28/1165817/even-after-internment-he-served.html?story_link=email_msg

Neal Morrison, Olivia Taguinod, and Loni Ding at the Golden Spike National Historical Site, in Brigham City, Utah, in 1994

Veteran documentary filmmaker Loni Ding passed away in February. Her career as an independent filmmaker, university professor and television producer spanned decades. Her numerous film and television projects garnered over 15 awards and fellowships. Best known for the award-winning documentary, “The Color of Honor: The Japanese American Soldiers During World War II”, her film that contributed to convincing government officials to pass the 1988 Civil Liberties Act which granted financial reparations to those remaining Japanese American survivors of WWII internment camps. The Center for Asian American Media will create an award in her honor.

Though based in the Bay Area, Ding traveled up and down the West Coast and across the country researching her film projects. To this day, she is still remembered fondly by people in the Northwest.

I met Loni Ding only once when she was researching and filming for her project “Ancestors in the Americas” series (it remains unfinished due to lack of funds). She interviewed Ron Chew, Bea Kiyohara, Connie So and myself. Though our meeting was brief, I came away impressed by her fierce commitment, energy and passion for what she did. Below are remembrances by others.

Local photographer/writer/camera man Dean Wong worked briefly with Loni in San Francisco on a public television series for children when he was in his 20’s. He had this to say.

“I worked with Loni on her ‘Bean Sprouts’ children’s TV series,” recalled Dean Wong. “She had an amazing amount of energy and was always coming up with new ideas for the show. Lori was a mentor, who taught me the value of using my media skills to benefit the Asian American community.”

Photographer/light and sound design person/camera man/ writer John Pai vividly recalls his encounters with the filmmaker.

Loni Ding in 1994. Photos courtesy Olivia Taguinod.

“Loni was a very deep soul,” said Pai. “She was always searching for the truth. Digging deep to uncover the obvious but making sure that as the layers of the onion are peeled back that the convoluted becomes obvious and irrefutable. She brought Asian American artists and media professionals together so that the common path can and would emerge. An angel of sorts to point the way if one were open to the messages contained within the koans. Her energy was inexhaustible. If you were holding the camera, be ready for the ape to run out before you can change the battery. She wanted to get it right, to set the record straight, to have the voices heard … she will be missed.”

For more memories about Loni Ding, please go to  these websites:
www.asianamericanmedia.org or www.rememberingloni.com

Ronald Takaki

“How do we free ourselves from our past, if we do not even know this past?” These are the words of the late Professor Emritus Ron Takaki.

On May 26, 2009, the legendary Ron Takaki passed away at the age of 70. Takaki pioneered the first Ethnic Studies Ph.D program in the country and taught more than 20,000 students in his position as a professor emeritus of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley.

After spending his childhood in Honolulu where he was nicknamed ‘Ten-toes Takaki’ for his surfing moves, Takaki attended College of Wooster in Ohio, then pursued a masters and a doctorate at UC Berkeley before teaching UCLA’s first black-history course in 1967. He returned to UC Berkeley as the first full-time professor in the Ethnic Studies Department in 1971, and retired more than four decades later, in 2003. Asian American Studies Program Lecturer Harvey Dong describes Professor Takaki as “a unique academic, an activist educator who challenged the master narrative, and who was and continues to be a model for a university tenured professor.”

A public memorial for Takaki was held at UC Berkeley on September 18. Put together by various staff and faculty of the Ethnic Studies department, the memorial took place in the auditorium of the International House, which was packed to standing-room only capacity as students, faculty, family members and friends filed in to pay their respects and reflect on the life of Ron Takaki. From the Hawaiian musical numbers, to the tributes from various students, and the picture slide show put together by his son, Troy Takaki, the program for the memorial was indicative of the full life that Takaki led, the thumbprints he left in the hearts and minds of the people who knew him, and the far-reaching impact of his works for ethnic people in America. Ethnic Studies professors, students, and family described a fun-loving and gregarious activist, committed both to his work and his family. Most strikingly, all spoke of Professor Takaki’s commitment and contributions to Ethnic Studies, of his ground-breaking work as an academic, a teacher, and a public figure who contributed tirelessly to the field of multiculturalism.

Professor Michael Omi, a professor of Asian American Studies at Cal and one of the creators of the racial formation theory, started his speech remembering Takaki with this quote from Isaac Newton: “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” Indeed, Takaki was, is, and will continue to be the giant of Ethnic Studies. His numerous books and his pedagogy will continue to be used, and while his death is a tremendous loss to the Asian American community, the legacy of his teachings will continue to educate and empower future generations.