President:
Nancy Wang
576-0533

Vice President:
David Chung
538-4926

Treasurer:
Shirley Brummell
528-8044

Recording
Secretary:
Kevin Ablett
538-1938

Corresponding
Secretary:
Judy Cheung
528-0912

Newsletter,
Scholarship:
Mirin Lew
545-6173

Social Director:
Mary Lowe
528-8712 x12

Membership:
Judy Cheung

Ways and Means:
Lan Zhang
535-0985

Building Committee:
Joe Wang
576-0533

Youth Group:
Mark & Azy Heydon
575-9541

Board Members:
Stephanie Chan
Keung Chan
Irene Fong
Jean Gee
Winston Lee
Frances Lok
Shubert Yee
Kay Yee

May 2002

Contents
President's Message
Be in the Rose Parade
Youth Group Event
Youth Cultural Camp
Children's Chinese Cultural Camp
Tuesday Language Class Opens in September
Want to Learn English?
Third Annual Multi-Cultural Poetry Potluck
RECA New Year Celebration a Success
Fine Food, Speeches & Music Highlight RECA Potluck
Carl Wong Elected New Superintendent of Sonoma County Schools
Being Part of the Community
RECA Receives Award from City HALL
Bearing Witness
Congratulations to Frances Lok!

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
By Nancy Wang

As we start the Year of the Horse, I want to thank everyone who has made this past year such a success. During the last twelve months, we have made significant progress with fund-raising for our new building. The building committee has met regularly to amend the plans and projections when regulations changed and costs were inflated. A new grant committee has worked long hours to write a major grant proposal that we hope will provide the additional funds necessary to begin construction once all permits and government requirements are met.

The past year was filled with extra events. We had the Fashion Show featuring Families with Children from Asia wearing costumes designed and created by Phi Phi Dang. RECA and the Philippine-American Association of Rohnert Park joined together to have a benefit dance. We had our regular events of the joint potluck with the Japanese-American Citizens League of Sebastopol, quarterly potluck socials, our annual picnic, participation in the Santa Rosa Rose Parade, and a multitude of cultural performances and exhibitions at Sonoma County schools, businesses and community events.

Our successes have also included the highest enrollment in our language classes. Over 50 people have been enrolled during this past year. Our Youth Group has found new leaders and is so enthusiastically active that it is hard to keep up with them. The summer sessions of the Children's Chinese Culture Camp, Children's Chinese Language Camp (including one class for Vietnamese) , and the one-day Family Camp were all tremendous successes despite the fact that each was our first endeavor at such events. According to the Chinese horoscope, the Year of the Horse will be fast-paced, lively, high-spirited, bold and brave. Join us with your participation in what should be an exciting new year.

BE IN THE ROSE PARADE!

Once again, RECA will participate in the Luther Burbank Rose Parade in Santa Rosa on Saturday, May 18. We need volunteers to be a part of our dragon performance. Volunteers must attend a rehearsal at 5:30 PM on May 17 at the RECA Center (3455 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa), and they need to meet at the Veterans Memorial Building in Santa Rosa between 8:30-9:00 AM on May 18. If you're interested, please call Nancy Wang at 576-0533 to sign up.

YOUTH GROUP EVENT

The RECA Youth Group will be meeting on Sunday, June 2 at the RECA Center at 3455 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa. They will spend the morning doing some clean-up work at the Center, followed by an afternoon at the Scandia Family Fun Center. For more information, please contact Mark or Azy Heydon at 575-9541.

The first-ever RECA Youth Cultural Camp for youths aged 11 years and over will take place from June 17 to June 28 (Monday through Friday), from 9 AM to 4 PM. Location is the RECA Center, 3455 Sebastopol Road , Santa Rosa. Cost is $200 per youth. Staff will be Azy Heydon, Shirley Lew, Thien Tran and interested parents. Activities will include Chinese language classes, functional sewing, hula dances, making new friends, cooking Chinese food, creating Chinese art including calligraphy, talking about cultural differences and similarities, etc., etc. We hope to have a full house of 15 young people attending this exciting new venture.

Our second annual Children's Chinese Cultural Camp for children 5-10 years old will be held July 15-26 (Monday through Friday), from 9 AM to 4 PM, at the RECA Center, 3455 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa. Cost is $200 per youth. Staff will be Jean Walker, Nancy Wang, Judy Cheung and interested parents. Activities will include learning to use the Chinese language, tai chi, singing, dancing, new friends, cooking, eating, arts and crafts, listening to Chinese stories, and talking about cultural similarities and differences, etc., etc. We hope to have another full house of 15 children for a learning adventure as fun as we had last year. No, we actually plan to have even more fun!

Our RECA language classes have been so popular that our Center cannot hold all of the people who want to enroll. Each Saturday, our little building holds about 60 people counting staff. Also, many people have conflicts with schedules, especially sports events for kids.

Hsiu Chuen Armstrong, the teacher for the young beginning Mandarin class, has offered to start a Tuesday evening class in September, meeting each Tuesday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Although this is the dinner hour, we were hoping it would be the best time for parents and children: too late and the children get tired, too early and the parents are not home from work. There is still time to adjust the starting time, so if you are interested, but want the class earlier or later, please let us know.

The age of the class is projected to be for young beginners. However, both adults and the parents of young children have indicated strong interest. Pre-enrollment is very important in this class so that the teacher and administrators can prepare the curriculum according to students who are enrolling. If two teachers are needed, we will have to know in time to arrange for an additional instructor.

Early enrollment forms are available from Judy Cheung. Fees will be the same as the Saturday morning classes:

Additional family members: pay the 3-member price plus $75.00 per person per semester. Prices are for registered members of RECA. Non-members add $50.00, or join RECA for $25.00 per year per family or $15.00 per person.

The schedule has not been set yet. However, we will be attempting to have 16 sessions each for two semesters: September to mid-February and mid-February to the end of May. First day of Tuesday classes will be September 10, 2002.

For further information and early enrollment forms for Tuesday class or Saturday morning classes, contact Judy Cheung, 704 Brigham Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95404, 525-0912. Enrollment forms are also available here.

Do you know someone who wants to learn some basic "survival" English to get around, or to improve his knowledge of English? RECA is considering whether to offer a class or tutoring services to help those who want to learn English. If you or someone you know may be interested, please contact Judy Cheung at 525-0912.

English classes are currently available through a number of local organizations, including Santa Rosa Junior College, Lewis Adult Education Center, Adult Literacy League, and the Sonoma County Library Adult Literacy Program. You can find the telephone numbers for these organizations in the "Education" section of the Community Services pages (blue edge) in the Sonoma county telephone book.

Coming up in August is our 3rd Annual Multi-Cultural Poetry Potluck. Saturday, August 10th is the date set for this year's event. RECA joins with Poets of the Vineyard, the Sonoma County chapter of California Federation of Chaparral Poets and Artists Embassy International, which is based in San Francisco, to present an afternoon of poetry and socializing. We begin at 1:00 p.m. with a sumptuous potluck with dishes from around the world and the opportunity to meet with people interested in poetry and other arts from around the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.

After eating, we have a poetry read-around. Each person who wants to reads one poem until each person who has had a turn. Then we start another round, reading until we run out of time.

So get ready! Write your own poems to read, or find favorite poems by classical or contemporary writers to read. If you don't want to read, poets always need an audience. Poems in any language are acceptable, but English translations are appreciated by most of the audience.

For updated information, call Judy Cheung, 707-528-0912.

Our Chinese New Year Festival on February 23 at the Veterans Memorial Building in Santa Rosa ran the smoothest ever, thanks to well-coordinated entertainment by President Nancy Wang interspersed with enticing raffle giveaways by co-emcees Tom Boylan and Mary Lowe to keep the event lively. By the way, congratulations to Bob Gong, owner of G&G Supermarket, for the winning raffle 6-day 5-night vacation to Hawaii!

Chinese New Year co-emcees Tom Boylan & Mary Lowe congratulate Bob Gong, winner of our grand prize raffle to Hawaii.

RECA's own members provided the talent for the program, which included an ancestral respect ceremony headed by Phi Phil Dang, a beautiful traditional dance by Liling Davis, martial arts by students trained at Li's Tai Chi and Kung Fu Academy, and the children performing the fan and aboriginal dances. Of course, Chinese New Year wouldn't be complete without our cavorting lion team and impressive 26-person dragon procession led by Sean Fong's magic ball.

Guests rated the buffet dinner with a thumps-up. Most of the entrees were catered from Royal Garden Restaurant in Montgomery Village. The kids in particular loved Clo the Cow and ice cream cups from Clover-Stornetta Farms and lollipops by See's Candies.

An event of this magnitude (over 600 people) requires a tremendous number of volunteers. A heartfelt "THANK YOU" to RECA board members and committee chairpersons (there are too many assistants to mention!) for their hard work: Hubert Tsang (supplies); Shubert Yee (beverages); Winston Lee, Frances Lok, Jean Gee (decorations); Mirin Lew, Irene Fong (reception); Kevin Ablett, David Chung (kitchen); Jan Lew, Mah Jong Group (servers); Judy Cheung, Shirley Brummell (RECA table). A special acknowledgment to Meiji Chou, Henry Tang, RECA Youth Group, Patti Sullivan and the Families with Children from Asia. Also, much appreciation to Reed Walker for designing our attractive program cover and typesetting all the ads.

Kudos to everyone involved for devoting your time and positive energy into producing a wonderful fundraiser. Give yourselves a well-deserved pat on the back!

RECA's potluck socials just keep getting better! RECA and JACL (Japanese-American Citizens League) have been alternating hosting yearly potlucks for the past 4-5 years. This year we also invited the Filipino-American Association of Rohnert Park (PAARP). RECA worked closely with them last September on a joint ballroom dance fundraiser.

As you can imagine, there was a cornucopia of tasty Asian dishes at this event held on April 27 at the spacious 4-H Center in Rohnert Park to accommodate a packed house of over 100 people. The program, emceed by Social Chair Mary Lowe, started off with the top two winners reading their essays from a contest sponsored by JACL. The contest asked high school students to compare the experience of Japanese Americans during World War II to the anti-immigrant sentiment directed toward Arab-Americans after the September 11th terrorist attacks. It was sobering listening to these intelligent speakers (Melissa Poulsen of Analy High School and Nancy Hwang of Casa Grande High School) articulate their thoughts to an attentive crowd.

Melissa Poulsen's first-place essay may be found on page 5. Here are excerpts from Nancy Hwang's second-place essay:

"My close friend Mariam is one of the warmest, gentlest people I know. Yet, after the events of September 11th, she is terrified. Why? Because Mariam is Muslim, and her family is from Pakistan. Since September 11th, her mosque has been vandalized, her friends mugged, and her mother taunted. Many Americans have taken their sadness, frustration, and anger out on innocent fellow Americans, like Mariam. However, hate crimes do not, and cannot heal our pain.

Isn't the U.S. a symbol of equality and justice? A "land of opportunity?"

One would imagine that after the Japanese-American internment of World War II and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, hate crimes and discrimination would be nearly eliminated. Yet, this is simply not true. Since September 11th, nearly 1,700 hate crimes have been reported. The terrorist attacks have served as an excuse for some Americans to commit crimes of hatred. Yet, there is no excuse for Surinder Singh Sidhu to be called Osama bin Laden, and beaten with metal poles in Northridge. There is no excuse for Saif Ataya's five-year-old daughter to be called a terrorist on her own schoolyard in San Francisco. There is no excuse for us to continue committing the crimes of our past.

During the Second World War, 130,000 Japanese-Americans were interned, relocated, and evacuated to ten concentration camps called "relocation centers." Yet, there was no reason for these Americans to be discriminated against, just as there is still no reason for fellow Americans, or anyone to be discriminated against. We cannot allow what happened to Japanese-Americans to happen again.

There is no excuse for why we cannot act, and bring an end of these hate crimes, and an end to the overwhelming fear of so many Arab and Muslim-Americans. Even if it is just through being a friend, we can each make a difference. Mariam does not deserve to be a victim, or live in fear. No one does."

Thank you to JACL members Marie Sukiyama and Judith Whitman for coordinating this part of the program. Afterward RECA's Liling Davis performed a wonderfully graceful Chinese dance while dressed in a beautiful traditional costume and headdress. Next, PAARP's talented 20-member choir sang popular American melodies as well as a Filipino tune "Ikaw Ang Mahal" ("You Are My Love"). To the chants of "encore!" guitarist Hermie Lalas graciously accepted, singing a Bee Gees favorite "It's Only Words." Many thanks to President Lorraine Datu as well as Christie Hao and Music Director Sheila Montemayor for organizing the group's appearance.

To let the crowd get up and stretch, Grace Fan and Meiji Chou, sisters of RECA President Nancy Wang, led exercise dance movements to invigorating cha cha music. Apparently, this is the latest rage to keep fit in Hong Kong. After another game and door prizes, alas it was time to go home. Another fun and fulfilling event with family and friends!

Special thanks to Lan Zhang and his four friends from Beijing and the RECA Youth Group, who helped with set-up and clean-up, and to Judy Cheung for taking care of supplies.

Congratulations to RECA member Carl Wong who was elected the new superintendent of Sonoma County Schools. Currently superintendent of Petaluma City Schools, he begins his new position in January 2003.

Despite The Press Democrat newspaper endorsing Yancey Forest-Knowles, principal of Bellevue School, Carl garnered 80% of the votes in the March 5th election. Many individual RECA members, like the Lok and Lee families, rooted for him by passing out campaign literature, staffing phones and/or walking precincts to let the public aware of his candidacy and a strong track record in education. Carl has a doctorate's degree in education and was backed by the California Teachers Association as well as by the trades union. He is pushing for a new technology school in Petaluma. His wife Vivian is principal of Yulupa School in Santa Rosa.

Those of you who have heard Carl speak will agree that he is very articulate, charismatic, progressive and dedicated to improving our educational system. Carl, we're proud of your success and look forward to your continued leadership in the community!

On March 22nd, about 10 members of RECA joined at least 50 other people at Roseland School on Sebastopol Road for a community get-together. Invited, were residents of the area, businesses and organizations based in the community, police and firemen who serve the locality, and city officials. It was an enjoyable evening with socialization, potluck dinner, talks and entertainment. The hits of the show were the two young boys of the Zhang family who went to the center of the floor and tried to do what the breakdancers did on stage. Although RECA was not part of the formalities, it was an enjoyable evening being part of the community.

On March 19th, 15 RECA members of all ages, from elementary school age to retired, met at Santa Rosa City Hall. We saw the city hall in action, then received a certificate declaring RECA's dedication and success in furthering community understanding of ethnic diversity by participating in various events and offering numerous presentations to schools and organizations throughout the county.

President Nancy Wang and Vice President David Chung receive an award on behalf of RECA from Santa Rosa Mayor.

The following is the full text of the essay that won first place in a contest sponsored by the Japanese American Citizens League, which asked high school students to compare the experience of Japanese Americans during World War II to the anti-immigrant sentiment directed toward Arab-Americans after the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Bearing Witness
by Melissa Poulsen, Analy High School

During the 1940s, my grandmother lived behind barbed wire, forced to spend her teenage years in an internment camp for no reason other than the shape of her eyes. Heart Mountain, just outside of Cody, Wyoming, became the extent of her world for three years. In 1999, my family journeyed to my grandmother's former internment camp to see and to try to understand the history of our heritage. What we found was a lone memorial in a cornfield, an unremarkable plaque identifying the site, along side the remaining wall of a mess hall. I could only imagine what Heart Mountain had looked like when it was an internment camp; with rows of one room barracks, the guard towers, barbed wire, and the hundreds of American citizens who had lived right where I stood. Standing in the cornfield I saw the ghosts of buildings and heard the voices of my grandmother and her friends. I saw young boys leaving their prison to fight in the war for America. I remembered my grandmother's descriptions of her life in Heart Mountain, and I contemplated the many other life stories that had taken place in this internment camp. Yet, only one wall, standing solitary in a cornfield, marked the past, a past of anger and fear, sorrow and betrayal. A past of racism and panic that crushed the general American liberties of thousands of Japanese Americans. One wall to mark a past that can be too easily repeated.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States has seen an exceptional revival of patriotism and community. American flags blossom at every window, and funds for victims have collected millions of dollars. Yet beneath the positive actions, there are whispers of hate and anger aimed not only at the perpetrators of the attacks, but at all Arab Americans as well. When broadcasters likened the terrorist attacks to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, they could not have been more correct; like the Japanese Americans, Arab Americans are increasingly subjected to their ethnicity, facing physical and verbal violence. Cases of murder and injury proliferate as well as the more prevalent racial profiling. The hate filled actions of September 11 have manifested new hatred in the hearts and minds of Americans.

Racism is caused by fear, insecurity, and anger. It feeds on the mentality that all people of one race or nationality think, feel, and behave the same way. Racism lives on rash generalizations that overlook the individual. The United States history is filled with countless accounts of prejudice. Even before we were a country, racism was alive and well in slave owners and other bigoted Americans. During the mid-1800s, racial tensions grew between immigrants and citizens of the United States, and can still be seen today.

The case of the internment of Japanese Americans resulted from both the attack of Pearl Harbor and our previous xenophobia. Japanese immigrants, as well as other immigrants, spoke a different language and often practiced a different religion than many of their white American neighbors. A common practice of schoolteachers was to change a child's Japanese name to an English one, to further "Americanize" the student. My grandmother's name was changed from Masako to Barbara, when her teacher could not pronounce her Japanese name. Her nine siblings received equally "American" names, which they use to this day. To "Americanize" Japanese American children, teachers took a way a little piece of their identity.

We often fear what we do not understand. When Japan bombed the United States, fear and anger washed over the American people. During the unsure times of war, people were rash and did not know whom to trust. In response to the paranoia that spread, many people began to racially profile the Japanese Americans. The similar appearance of the Japanese Americans to the Japanese enemy fueled many Americans distrust. They generalized that the Japanese American workers, shop owners, and proud taxpayers were Japan's people, and that these traitors supported Japan's government. Anger was reflected by many Americans who felt that all Japanese people were responsible for attacking our country, a nation that had done nothing to provoke such atrocity. Looking for a scapegoat, Americans found an easy target: the Japanese Americans.

Similar responses towards Arab Americans have surfaced following the Twin Towers terrorist attacks. Initially, people were shocked, asking what America had done to induce the actions. A great surge of nationalism then swept through America as people united in sorrow and anger. Thus united, many Americans began developing all- or-nothing attitude towards terrorists. The United States was primed for generalizations and prejudices. Out of the Nation's grief, animosity, and one-sided view began the racial profiling of Arab Americans.

Elie Wiesel once said, "For the dead and the living, we must bear witness." At the time he was referring to the Holocaust, and yet, in many ways his statement applies to all forms of prejudice and hate. Today the United States is faced with a situation almost identical to one of sixty years ago that ended in the destruction of Japanese Americans' rights. For both the Japanese Americans, and for future generations, we must learn from the past and not repeat it. If we face our racism and hatred, we may find that it is only fear.

When I visited Heart Mountain, where my grandmother was interned, I learned something about myself, about Americans, and about all humans. Walking along the boundaries of the internment camp and remembering my grandmother's stories of her experience, I looked up at the peak from which Heart Mountain received its name. From my vantage point, where my grandmother would have seen it from behind barbed wire, the mountain looked nothing like a heart. Only when I left the internment camp and saw Heart Mountain from the opposite side did a heart emerge from the rocky crevices. The Japanese American people, the Arab American people, and indeed, all humans are like this mountain; perhaps we all look different in one way, but in another way, where it really counts, we are the same.

RECA would like to congratulate Frances Lok, who recently received her GED (high school equivalency diploma) at the age of 72!

School stopped for Frances when she was 12 and the Japanese invaded Hong Kong. Two years later, her family moved to China for two years and she attended school there, but it was difficult to concentrate during the war. After the war, her family returned to the United States, and she married Lawrence Lok. There was no time for school while she worked with her husband to raise their five sons and help him get started in the hotel business.

After her husband died, Frances started to take classes to occupy her time and ease the loneliness. She started with a flower arranging class, then decided to try an English class for personal improvement. Teacher Billie Hobart at the Santa Rosa Junior College in Petaluma encouraged Frances to try for her GED. At first Frances thought that would be too hard a goal, but Billie persisted, and finally Frances decided to try. She found that school was much harder at her age than it was when she was young, but she achieved her goal after three years of hard work and determination. Now she has begun piano lessons as well, and next semester, she is planning to take some classes in computers and writing.

It just goes to show that you're never too old to learn!