Community Roundtables

MY UNFORGOTTEN SEATTLE

Third-generation Seattleite, historian, journalist, and museum visionary Ron Chew joins the Portland Chinatown Museum in a virtual Community Roundtable to discuss his new book, My Unforgotten Seattle, with Amy Wang, Book editor for The Oregonian. In this deeply personal memoir, he documents the tight-knit community he remembers, describing small family shops, chop suey restaurants, and sewing factories now vanished.

HONOR AND DUTY: THE CHINESE AMERICAN WWII VETERANS BY E. SAMANTHA CHENG

A roundtable discussion of the newly released book, Honor and Duty: The Chinese American WWII Veterans, which highlights the experiences and contributions of Chinese American men and women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII, an era when anti-Chinese feelings and laws still existed. Featured speakers include: E. Samantha Cheng, journalist and documentarian; Fang A. Wong; Frank R. Shirer; and Fred Lee.

THE FLYING TIGERS: CHINESE AMERICANS IN THE PACIFIC DURING WORLD WAR II, PART 2

This roundtable provides an intimate look at the life and service of Dr. Julius Sue and his early experience in Portland's Chinatown with his family, his service in WWII as a group surgeon with the Flying Tigers, and his subsequent career as a medical services provider to veterans and immigrants in Los Angeles' Chinatown.

THE FLYING TIGERS: CHINESE AMERICANS IN THE PACIFIC DURING WORLD WAR II, PART 1

Siblings Ruth and Fay Lee share stories of their father, Pak Lee's military career and experience as an aircraft mechanic with the Flying Tigers, and their family’s legacy of multi-generational links between China and the United States.

BLACK LIVES MATTER IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA: WHAT ASIAN AMERICANS CAN DO

This facilitated discussion about civil rights history in Portland, and how Asian American communities can support the Black Lives Matter movement features the Honorable Charlotte B. Rutherford, a third generation Portlander, a respected Portland activist, former civil rights attorney, and retired administrative law judge. Her parents were key members of the Portland chapter of the NAACP. In the 1950s, Otto G. Rutherford and Verdell Burdine helped pass the 1953 Oregon Civil Rights Bill.

PORTLAND'S HISTORICAL AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES

Retired Portland State University Professor Darrell Millner discusses the development and displacement of Portland’s several historic African American communities beginning with the first successful business community in Old Town to current efforts to revitalize and sustain what remains of the Albina District in Northeast Portland.

UNDERSTANDING WHY “ALL LIVES MATTER” IS THE WRONG RESPONSE TO BLACK LIVES MATTER

This discussion centers around the editorial issued by the Chinese American Citizens Alliance that "All Lives Matter” is not an adequate response by Asian Americans to the Black Lives Matter movement. Panelists included members of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance and Portland Chinatown Museum.

COVID-19 AND ANTI-ASIAN TARGETING

This roundtable discusses the rise of anti-Asian/Asian American sentiment and rhetoric both locally and nationally, as well as strategies for how to respond, and featured panel speakers working directly with Portland’s Asian American communities: Dr. Patrick Lee, Oregon Health & Science University; Carolyn Lee, Equity & Inclusion Coordinator, Portland Parks & Recreation; Jairaj Singh, Community Outreach Manager, Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO).

ASIAN AMERICANS PBS SERIES DISCUSSION

The Portland Chinatown Museum community comes together for a lively discussion and response to the powerful new PBS five-part documentary film series, ASIAN AMERICANS.