This neighborhood is
referred to as Chinatown
or the International District.
Parts of it Little Saigon,
Manilatown,
Nihonmachi, Japantown.
It was all of those things.
It was also an African
American community.
There was a Native American (clicking)
presence,
an Italian American presence.
This neighborhood has always been
multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-cultural.
The community came together to create The Wing Museum
in this neighborhood.
The museum was named after Wing Luke,
who was a immigrant who came here
and rose
to political office
as the first Asian American
elected to the Seattle City Council in 1962,
and he was very active
in Civil Rights,
supporting Native American
fishing rights,
open housing.
Wing Luke was part of multi-cultural coalition building
in a movement to address social inequality.
We're living now through a time
of great turmoil,
and people refer to it as
a reckoning, inflection point.
Public safety,
social justice,
Black Lives Matter,
I'm fascinated by the notion of making sure
that all of this work is undergirded
by an understanding that it's building
on work that happened before.
I remain optimistic
really because I see
hope in the eyes of
this next generation,
who are as committed as my generation
and the generations before to the idea
of community-based solutions.
After we make it through this pandemic period,
people will wanna return
and this will be one of the places
that will provide that
emotional and physical connection
for people
longing to
come together
to work to build a better community.