Qing Ming, the Shrine Obscured, and George Sun's Frustration

Last weekend I tried to show an out-of-town visitor the Chinese Shrine at the IOOF Pioneer Cemetery. I could not find it. (See update below.) The last time I was by, a year or more ago, it had not been difficult to find. But this time it was. During the interval grass and other growth may have concealed it. Even with a map on the utility wrap, its location was not obvious, and if it is going to be part of our public history it should be more obvious and easy to find. It's still too much an instance of secret cemetery lore.

It was hard to navigate from this

This year's Qing Ming ceremony is this weekend, and there is still a ways to go on a full public history. Better visibility for the shrine might need to be a part of that.

Online, the SJ has a fascinating piece from the folks at the Mill, "Commemorating the groundbreaking life of a Salem Chinese American: Helen Ng Mun Tayne." I suppose it will be in the Sunday paper, and it will be very nice to see there. In it, there is an explanation that has been omitted from stories about the "Mayor of Chinatown," George Sun:

Helen Ng Mun Tayne was born on a hop ranch not too far away from Salem’s Pioneer Cemetery on April 28, 1906. Her father, Ng Lung Chung, rented the property from E.M. Croisan. As a first-generation immigrant from China, Helen’s father was not allowed to apply for naturalization or to purchase property in the United States. Ng Lung Chung, who also went by the name of Gong, was a skillful farmer. His 1910 harvest on the Croisan property produced what one newspaper declared “a phenomenal yield of over a ton of hops to the acre” — made even more remarkable because 1910 had been considered an off year for hop production. [italics added]

You may recall Hal Patton's 50th birthday celebration in 1922 at which George Sun spoke. His particular quote shows up on a different, downtown interpretive wrap, and in multiple places and texts elsewhere. It has become the go-to quote in the current retrieval of the history of Chinatown. But it is never actually interpreted, especially Sun's frustration at not being able to vote. That is a key part of the story, and should be highlighted, not glossed over in silence.

I like Salem because all people treat me nicely. Then my children all grow up. They can vote but I have been here so long, for fifty-four years next June, I ought to be a citizen. I ought to be voting too. I see some country- man come over to this country; he stay not very long, three or four years; he can vote. Why I be here fifty-four years altogether, why I cannot vote? I ought to be citizen too. They must make mistake, something wrong.

George Sun quoted at the Patton party
Interpretive sign on State and High

The reasons a person as eminent as the "Mayor of Chinatown" could not vote deserve a much fuller discussion whenever this quote is trotted out. The intended audience of those learning about Chinatown and local Chinese-Americans cannot be assumed to know the history of legislation and naturalization law. What exactly is the nature of the "mistake"? Shouldn't explaining this be part of the public history?

A glorious Cherry and memorial

Place of Reflection

Also last weekend, away from the crowds at the Capitol, the city's best Cherry, located on the Mill Race at Jackson Plaza at Willamette, was powerful and beautiful.

The tree in 2013

On Sunday the Seattle Times had shared a reassessment of one of the own front pages in 1942. This looks to be the start of an ongoing series. Maybe this is an incipient trend in newspapering, and it would be welcome.

Seattle Times, Sunday front page

100 years ago, Salemites experienced the first overt expression of KKK recruitment here. They had been active, but more in private. Here was a public appearance, complete with reputational laundering in a gift to charity. The morning paper was not very critical, if at all.

March 30th, 1922

The next day, the afternoon paper editorialized about the "mumbo jumbo," elements of multi-level-marketing and "maintenance of White Supremacy" under the guise of "pure Americanism." In the afternoon paper George Putnam led criticism of the second Klan, and the SJ might consider their own legacy, both positive and negative, in real ways split between the two papers, on that revival of the Klan.

March 31st, 1922

Coincidentally, the same two issues of the papers contained the announcement of our Klan-adjacent Walter Pierce for Governor. He later would win.

That these all are hardly academic matters recent graffiti at Englewood Park and a new report from the Secretary of State's auditors both clearly show.

Front page yesterday

Update, April 8th

The reason it's hard to find is the signage has an error.

It is not "to the northwest of this box"!

Facing the sign you are looking north, and to the northwest is left. But the shrine is actually to the right, to the northeast.

That's why it was hard to find.