 I'm putting a link into the chat box right now for today's event, which will contain information about the library as well as information about our presentation. And if I could get a confirmation from an audience member in the chat that they see me and hear me just fine that would be really helpful. Yay, thank you. Yay. I feel so seen and validated. All right, let's jump in. It's three o'clock so let's do this. We are so lucky today to have our partners and soulmates from NPS and we love doing events with us with them. And this is a special API presentation. Thank you to the unseated land of the aloney tribal people and acknowledge the many raw material only tribal groups is the rightful stores in the lands and where we work and reside in the Bay Area. The library is committed to uplifting these names and community members and providing reading lists and all sorts of factual and useful information. And you can find that in the chat link. I also want to condemn the horrendous violence against Asian and Asian Americans that has been happening recently in our communities are state and nationwide, both the reported and invisible crimes that have occurred. The library stands in solidarity with our Asian community neighbors colleagues and anyone distressed by these attacks. The anti black and anti Asian racism both uphold white supremacy and we are all harmed harmed by these racial structures. The library believes everyone has a stake in dismantling white supremacy in favor of true racial democracy. And in that chat you can find the library's racial equity commitment. And we definitely stand by our motto of libraries for all. To open up we have three locations open now Mission Bay Chinatown and our main and main Children's Center for some browse and bounce, as well as our to go service so please keep your masks on for now, and protect my library family and all of our families out there working. We are celebrating author Vanessa who will be are on the same page author for May and June. No, sorry. May and June. Yes, that's correct. And on the same page is a bi-monthly read where we encourage folks to sign up and read the same book together. Vanessa will be in conversation with Elisa Ferraris on May 24. And there's a book club on May 23 you can come to. If you don't follow Chinatown pretty on Instagram, do it right now. Amazing Instagram, celebrating all of the amazing and stylish seniors from six different Chinatowns across America and British Columbia. And I will be at the virtual library so come check that out. All of these are events coming up. I'm going to breeze through because we do have a big, big presentation. But you can come back and see me later tonight we have author Lewis Gordon in conversation with Justin from the before Columbus Foundation celebrating his new book freedom justice and decolonization and that'll start at 6pm tonight. So many events friends. Also this week, celebrating our first total SF book club total SF is Peter Hartlock and Heather Knight from the Chronicles happenings all around town celebrating the joys of San Francisco. And we will be hosting a Leo bowls with her book home baked, all about her mom and the stoning of San Francisco, a lot of great history. We have summer coming up if you can't believe it. June is already here. I'm amazed that it flew by so quickly. But I wanted to point out this amazing two authors that we have coming up which is Marlon Peterson is our main focus and celebrating his book bird and cage and abolitionist freedom song and joining Marlon will be Casey Lamont and moderating will be our poet laureate tango, I said Martin. I encourage you to read burden caged beautiful book beautifully written and more and I love love love Casey Lamont books heavy if you have not read that one, definitely check it out. But join us for this combo it's going to be a good one. And like I said summer is upon us so we have our fabulous summer stride everything. And we are so excited to be able to bring you all sorts of events we're still going to be virtual. And stay tuned for all of those events. All right, I am going to stop sharing. And I am going to introduce our amazing guests today. I'm going to spotlight them all first so everyone is had. We're going to all be together hello. So good afternoon if I haven't introduced myself I'm an ESA on your librarian from SFPL. And we're so happy you're here today to join us for this month's nature boost. We partner every month within PS and wait till summer because it's going to be every week. And this month is an AAPI inspired nature boost. Please let us know in the chat. If you are enjoying the program we will have time for Q&A and you can put those in the Q&A. And we are so proud of our partnership with the National Park Service Golden Gate National Park Conservatory and the Presidio Trust. And like I said you will not believe what we have in store for summer with our wonderful soulmates of the natural world. We are our missions aligned so much I just love it. So today's program is part of our AAPI celebration we have Jackson Lam, Rebecca Au, and Sabrina Oliveiros. And she's in spirit Lou Salales, CM. Hopefully I pronounced that one right. And she's in spirit back here but we have her in our hearts. And we thank you all for being here and I'm going to hide myself and I'm turning it over to you. Thank you all. Thank you so much, Anissa. And like you said, the public library is one of my favorite partners to work with this is my second event with the public library. And a lot of my colleagues have worked with you all before so it's so wonderful that we get to do this virtually because I think there's, we can reach people in many different ways. You can come to our sites, which we're going to definitely talk about and we hope that we inspire you to come visit us wherever we are and we'll talk a little bit more about that a little later. But, you know, thank you for welcoming us into your homes or wherever you're watching this from I don't know maybe you're at a Starbucks somewhere watching this. But we're really, we're really grateful to be here with you all. I think Anissa told us that there were over 117 registrations. And we got a little nervous about that but then we thought about it and that's probably just all our, our family aunties and uncles and you know friends and family and colleagues so we're good, we're nice and you know that's just all our people supporting us. Thank you for supporting us even if you don't know us personally hopefully there's a chance for us in the future to get to know each other better in person, if and when that well not if not if when that happens when it's safer to do so. I also want to give a bit of a shout out to our outreach team at Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I'm using all the acronyms you'll see them a little later, but the outreach team has done a really great job and I always enjoy working with them. Yeah, and with that I'm going to pass it over to my other colleagues who are just going to do a quick intro of themselves and Becca if you could put up the presentation. So, please go introduce yourselves and say hello and then I'll jump into my part two. Thanks Jackson, and welcome everyone thanks for being here today. My name is Rebecca out, and I work at the National Park Service as a volunteer and youth program coordinator. Now you'll learn more about my own personal history and background with the outdoors and recreation so I won't go into too much. And so I'll pass it to Sabrina to introduce herself. Hi yeah I'm Sabrina, I'm a park guide at San Francisco maritime National Historical Park. And today I'll be talking briefly about one of our ships and the Filipino and Asian connections you can find through it. Oh, perfect. So these are these are some of our profile pics. Sabrina, the person that you see on the far right Lou is unable to join us today she did a lot of work on the back end, helping us put this presentation together. And she works at San Francisco maritime so you see those little acronyms that the National Park Service loves acronyms so Goga stands for Golden Gate. SAFR stands for SAFR stands for San Francisco maritime. I'm being honest, my first time to San Francisco maritime was just two weeks ago so I know not a lot of locals like to go to their their parks, their local parks but hopefully by the end of today's presentation, you will be inspired to do so. I personally work over on Alcatraz Island so that profile picture of me is on Alcatraz looking over at the sunset. So it's a wonderful place to work. And perfect so our program today we're in the introduction right now and this is the order that we're going to present in. And then we also have a Q&A session at the, at the very end. So there are features there's a chat feature and a Q&A feature that should be at the bottom of your screens. In case you're using zoom. If you're using if you're watching from YouTube I think it's slightly different but if you put it in the chat over there it will make its way over to us. And the questions will be moderated and so we'll have an opportunity to answer your questions at the very end but go ahead and just drop them in whenever you have a question. We may not get to them until the end, but that's how we're going to do it today. And also feel free to participate in the chat as well it looks like there's already people chatting up we're happy with that. So hopefully this all works out all right. Okay, next slide please. All right. Oh actually, I first of all I was going to mention I have my notes right here. Thank you Anissa earlier for acknowledging the rise in anti Asian sentiment that's been happening and some of the hate crimes that have occurred in our hometown in the Bay Area. And I hope that our presentation today, which is entitled where are you really from talks, you know can can speak to that effect a little bit. And many of us in the API community I've heard that I've personally heard that we actually had a bit of a discussion amongst all of us the presenters about whether or not that's, you know, should it be, should it be controversial, where are you really from. What does that, what does that imply and why are often our answers of where we're from met with the second question, where are you really from. Yeah, it makes this question are we American enough, what makes Americans American enough what does it mean to be American. So these are all questions that are swirling around our heads. I'm not necessarily an expert at these things. I have some subject matter expertise. But really we're all thinking about this and chatting about it together so we do want to create a dialogue and thinking about these things that are very complex and complicated and there are no simple answers to all of it. So I'll jump into my portion of the presentation. So I'm going to start a timer because I do not want to go over my time. Normally this takes two and a half hours because I'm smashing two presentations together, but I'm going to try to do it in 10 minutes so if it seems like I'm going fast and talking fast and I'm speeding through things. That is because that's exactly what I'm doing because I don't want to take up too much space and allow my co presenters and also you all to be part of this presentation as well. So I'm just going to briefly go over some Chinese American history. A lot of it starts here in the Bay. So there was the major motivation for coming to America on the mid 18th century was because of gold mountain so you've probably heard this before or if you haven't that's probably Chinese Americans across the Pacific and ships to come to America specifically the Bay area to make their fortune in gold. Next slide please. But in addition to gold, there are there happen to be other opportunities as well so it wasn't some of it was by choice and some of it was not by choice. So other major industries that Chinese Americans worked at were on the railroads and also as domestic servants and also in agriculture, which if you if you look at specifically, especially for railroads and agriculture. Those were some pretty major things that still provide a lot of revenue to the state today. Agriculture specifically, there were a lot of techniques from the Pearl River Delta in in Guangzhou which is where my families from that were brought over to the Bay area because the delta areas are pretty similar. And so a lot of the levees and the ways to grow crops, a lot of that was done, or at least the knowledge and also a lot of the work was was Chinese Americans. Next slide please. So I'm not going to have time to go over all this, but what what we'll see over the you know this next couple minutes is talking about how it's not necessarily one thing. It's many things that come together and the ones that are the the all the laws and the that are listed here are all the ones that came together to really create an environment where it was okay to be racist against Chinese people and other Asian people. All together who got lumped in, even if they weren't Chinese and we'll hear more about that from Sabrina a little later about how it was just assumed that if you were Asian that you were just Chinese and you got lumped in with everyone. But this is the these are all the things that that happened politically and legislatively that created pretty terrible environment for Chinese people. Next slide please. So, in addition to the laws or some people would say what what it's sort of a positive, not positive in the way but a positive feedback system where there's discrimination which leads to laws that are more discriminatory which leads to more discrimination so on and so forth. And so, in addition to the laws there were always this other ring of Chinese Americans in the way they dress clothing the music the hair styles. I myself have you can't really tell but I myself have long hair. And some Chinese Americans at the time were forced to cut it. Also religion culture language food these were all things that made made it easy to discriminate because are easier to discriminate because it was outwardly so that you know you could say oh these people are different from us they're they're not us. They're not Americans. And in the In the the cartoon that you see there. You know it's talking about how, or you can see the commentary which is hey these these people are taking our jobs what are we to do. And so, there was a lot of that sentiment growing and being mirrored and amplified by public officials, which did not help the situation. Next slide please. So these the race based legislation be specifically targeted Chinese Americans. So the first three the cubic air ordinance to San Francisco queue ordinance the queue is a not not the line it's spelled the same way but a queue is the way you can wear your hair, and then also the laundry ordinance. There were a lot of competing laundry facilities Chinese people had some there are other people had others but this laundry ordinance specifically targeted Chinese Americans and all of that led up to a national legislation called the Chinese Act which started in 1882 and I'll talk about that a little later. Next slide please. Alright, and if it feels like I'm jumping back and forth a little bit it all comes together a little later. So, after the exclusion act was passed. There happened to be a plague, and this resulted in a quarantine in Chinatown. So I know it's really hard to see the picture because it's a cover of a magazine from 1900. What happened. What you, what's difficult to see there is that there is a quarantine a border there's a rope that's strung across the edges of Chinatown, just on the outside borders and you can imagine you know your neighborhood whichever neighborhood you're in so you know for example if you live in the Marina district, and they said hey, there's a there's a quarantine here we're going to quarantine this entire area. And you'd expect that to apply to everyone but this this quarantine didn't apply to everyone it didn't apply to non Asian looking people. So if you're Asian yet to stay in but if you were anyone else you can freely go back and forth as you wanted. Next slide please. So this quarantine was actually challenged in the courts. I'm not going to read the whole thing but what ended up happening was the judge decided in favor of Juho who brought this up to the, the federal courts, it had to go all the way up to the courts. It said it was not enforced on other residents other than the Chinese. It threw out the quarantine on legal grounds. And it exempted white occupied buildings for whatever reason. And what what ended up, what it ended up doing was making more people come together in smaller areas so increased risk of transmission, which affected everyone but especially Chinese people forced into these places. It kept them from being able to get help. Next slide please. So as we as we know now, the plague and this disease that was coming through San Francisco didn't come because of Chinese wasn't Chinese people that brought it it was, it came on rats and so this is the same. So when I say plague I do mean that plague when we say the plague it's a bubotic plague or the black plague. And this is the plague has affected people it's still around today, although it's a lot more treatable today. But this is the same plague that you've heard about in Europe and medieval Europe that took out about a third of its population. The plague still exists today and back in the turn of the century it came aboard ships when when rats were still ways on it, and how it ended in, or what the result was in San Francisco, once they realize that hey it's not Chinese people it's not rats we just have to control the rat population. All these things happened. So houses were disinfected the boardwalks were created were replaced with concrete. There were 350,000 rats that were trapped and about half of them are more than or yeah a little about half of them tested positive for plague. And so once they control the rat population. The plague numbers and the way it affected people went way down so surprise, it was threats. Next slide please. So again just, you know, as a review of all that over these, these four years. It was rats from cargo ships, it was density populated but poorly maintained and the building owners were not Chinese, most of the time. And once the rats were controlled the plague stop spreading. Yeah, but even though that this we understand that now back at the time, even though the plague, eventually went away, the hate against Chinese people persisted for many many years afterwards. Next slide please. I'm going to skip this one I don't have time. Next. So with the resurgence of the plague and in separate times there's also a resurgence of xenophobia. And this is also something that we see today the resurgence of xenophobia xenophobia is just the fear of other people. And so creating a scapegoat and something to point out to say, this is the reason why we're in such, you know, bad conditions or dire straits. Next slide please. Um, so I, I'm going to touch on this so briefly I wish I could do it more justice but I would implore everyone to go to Angel Island not only is it a beautiful place to go. But there is a lot of history there about the military, but also the Angel Island and the Chinese Exclusion Act the reason why there were a lot of buildings built there is because that became the Ellis Island of the West. And it created an entry point and immigration station for people coming across the Pacific to to be screened. And it turns out that a lot of people who were screened for a longer amount of time, meaning if you were Asian looking that you could be held for months at a time. So that building still exists people were held there for so long that they started scratching poetry into the walls so definitely go see that it's it's wonderful exhibit. So and I already talked about the plague so. Next slide please. What does this all come together. So the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882 and it's the first law that specifies national origin. And it's, it's a foundation for many of the laws today. Whether they're good or bad, but it specifies national origin. It was the first time this ever happened. And it wasn't until so this act which was only still a post the last for a couple years was renewed time and time again repeatedly until 1943. And the reason why it was reversed and the only reason or not only reason why it was reversed is bad idea to begin with was because of World War two. And so they figured out that hey there's we have a lot of friends across the ocean and some of them live here too. And it was finally reversed in 1943. But as we know that wasn't the last time there was discrimination against Asian Americans, not too long after this. The, how I forget that the court, I think it was order nine 9066 about Japanese internment. I don't have time to talk about Japanese internment but that we have a specific site in California. Manzanar to talk about that more so please go visit that as well. So you can see how all this comes together. So, you know, there's this politicization and racialization of a disease which affects all people not just Asian Americans. So, you know, I am talking about COVID. And there were a lot of people, even today, but some, there are a lot of people that we would consider leaders saying things that were scapegoating Chinese Americans. And this, you know, speaking to these implicit biases that we all have myself included, but it leads to racial profiling and it leads to incidents, like we see in the news almost weekly about people being targeted and and hurt unnecessarily. Just because they are perceived to be dangerous in some in some fashion. So, there's a lot of ties that we can bring together there are a lot of things that I wish I had more time to talk about but this is really just a quick overview of, you know, what has happened historically in San Francisco, leading up to today. So, with that, I'm going to pass it off to Becca who's going to share a slightly more personal story. And something that is a little more specific also to her experience and her travels so thank you all. Thank you, Jackson. And as you so poignantly put it being Asian is not a disease and we are also not a monolith. And in my slide here. This is an image I took from the 2000 US census the federal government defines Asian American to include persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent. So, the Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander includes Native Hawaiian Samoan Guamanian, or tomorrow Fijian Tongan or Marshallese peoples and encompasses the people within the United States jurisdictions of Melanesia Micronesia and Polynesia. So this Asian and Pacific Islander, what we know at API category was separated into Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. So as you can see, there are over 40 countries in Asia and, and there are even more ethnicities than countries on this map on the screen, it's actually incomplete, I wasn't even able to find a complete image of the map online with the Asian continent and Pacific Islanders. And no matter what part of Asia, or Pacific Island we're from, we enjoy nature, recreation parks and open spaces in many ways, whether in cities or rural villages and towns. There's, there's a plethora and appreciation of nature that Asian cultures embrace. So, in my part of this presentation, I'm going to talk from my own personal experience about some of the lands that I visited firsthand throughout Asia, and the different kinds of open spaces and recreational activities you can participate in there. As Jackson, Sabrina and I all work in the National Park Service, it's, it's really, it's really important to tell these stories. And so, pictured here are my own personal pictures. There's Japan, Vietnam and Hong Kong, all places I visited that offer picnicking boat rides hiking and many different ways to enjoy the outdoors and scenery that you might all already be familiar with, even if you've never visited. So Vietnam is my birthplace. And it's one of the first Asian countries I returned to as a child and adult. My parents and I immigrated from Vietnam when I was one year old, and since then have visited everyone's every couple years. My parents grew up in Saigon, which is now known as Ho Chi Minh City, where I was born. So whenever we visit Vietnam, I go to Ho Chi Minh City, where my family lives. And right away, I realized that there were very few open spaces there unless it was connected to a zoo or promenade attached to a museum. It wasn't until we left the city to explore the outskirts and head up north towards Hanoi, which used to be the capital of Vietnam, where we were able to see more open wild spaces full of rivers, mountains, caves and wonderful peoples who enjoy living there. The pictures I have showing here are from a trip that I took with my dear mother. You can see her and I on the very far right. And among the pictures starting from the left, we visited Phong Nha Kee Bang National Park, which is very famous. You might have heard about it from National Geographic Articles. It's a protected area in north-central Vietnam bordering the Hinh Namo Reserve in Laos. Phong Nha Kee Bang is noted for its cave and grotto systems that's just miles and miles of mazes and caves just underneath the country. It's composed of over 300 caves and grottos. Then in the next picture is Ninh Bin, which is a small village along the Song Dai River. And just northeast is a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars known as Ha Long Bay, which I think Jackson has visited as well. And as I mentioned before, the last picture on the right was taken in a small mountain town called Sapa, which is the ancestral home of the mountain dwelling among people of Vietnam. So while my birthplace Vietnam is a beautiful country that offers spectacular views and scenery, and also contains eight United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization sites, also known as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Very unfortunately while I was visiting I couldn't help but feel a bit disheartened to see how tourism has affected countries like Vietnam. Many local Vietnamese people, my family included, depend on tourism for the economy and their living. However, with that comes with a large level of pollution and trash to their public lands that I hadn't seen before in any other country I visited. While it made me very sad. I also couldn't help but feel heartened and inspired to know that I was born in Vietnam, and had the privilege to immigrate to a land that puts such great emphasis on protecting our natural spaces. And as I return to Vietnam now and forever I will continue to share that same sentiment with my own family, and talking with them more about ways how we can care for and appreciate our lands in our own unique ways. Nature really has a great way of connecting us all in that way. And so with that I left Vietnam feeling so fulfilled and thankful. Open spaces are truly places where we can find our bigger purpose no matter where. Here's a note from my partner who doesn't speak Vietnamese to our tour guide after that trip. He reads, I don't know what's going on. I don't even speak Vietnamese, but the guide seemed nice and everyone else laughed a lot. So I assumed he's funny too. He offered snacks, which was delightful hotels were also very nice. And yes, it was truly a delightful place and full of amazing people. Another delightful Asian country I've had the privilege to visit is South Korea. I stayed in Seoul, which is the capital of South Korea and a city that I believe is leading the way in urban park design. The city is home to places such as Dongdaemun a large commercial district with shopping centers and traditional markets. The city is hilly, full of multiple layers and often walked instead of taking the very reliable public transit system that ran underground. The picture on the left is from one such exploration. While walking up the stairs nearby my Airbnb I found a park with tennis courts high above the city. It's also different from Golden Gate Heights Park here in my own neighborhood in San Francisco. Also on the right the World Cup Park otherwise known as Nanjido Park was once a 15 year old landfill that consisted of 92 million tons of garbage, and it took six years to stabilize and then an extra year on top of that to build the park. It's now a place with planted oak trees, wild pear trees and other plants that could be used as food by animals. The city government even created an artificial wetland to promote biodiversity in the park. And I'm sure to some of you who are living in the city or in cities can can relate to that. And one other amazing feature of the city is the soul trail which is a stretch of eight walking and hiking courses that are connected to form a circle around soul city. Together they form the soul trail. It's over 97 miles long and contains hiking trails of various difficulties that cut through forests, villages, mountain ranges and streams. This path contains stories about the history of soul and its cultures. You will also stop at temples and other various historical sites. I myself live in San Francisco and the crosstown trail also has the spirit of that taking us through the city and into different historical sites. I'm curious to hear from you all as we've been talking for a while. I'd love to hear what are some of the stories that walking trails in your area city town or village tell you. Feel free to share with us in the chat and we're very excited to hear. In 2016, I took the soul trail through Bukkonsan National Park. My partner and I are pictured here meandering through the rocky trail containing granite peaks and a fortress located in the park. The story it told us was one about a beautiful and vibrant city full of happy citizens. And even though, unfortunately, South Korea was constantly invaded, it persisted to preserve its culture and natural landscape and beauty for the enjoyment of all, especially its citizens. While we were hiking up this trail, we were often passed by local Koreans who happily jaunted up the trail. Some of us, some of them seemingly older than myself and my partner. And just running up these trails with big smiles and picnic lunches in their packs. It was truly an amazing experience and you can see in the lower right hand corner, there's a picture of us in front of the park sign, which is reminiscent of a lot of the park signs that we have here in the United States. And so I needed to have that picture in front of the sign for the memories. So you got some people in the chat who have shared. They really love your photos and also thinking about the, how trails connect to a great and larger area. Myles says some trails. Tell us be careful. Don't fall into the bay or the Pacific Ocean. And also, this is for Sabrina. Some trails in the Presidio remind us our ancestors who went to Philippines for war. Interesting that you've mentioned that miles. I just wanted to let you know, Becca. Thanks for pointing that out. I appreciate it. Yeah, because I can't see the chat while I'm presenting. Thank you all for sharing. As you can see, you know, nature really connects us all. And I really appreciate you echoing those that sentiment. And moving on another Asian city and country that merges the natural landscape with its urban landscape seamlessly is Hong Kong. I visited family while I was there and felt immediately connected to the landscape. It felt so much like home except more public transportation and less cars. In fact, a lot of my family members don't own cars in Hong Kong. And Hong Kong's urban areas contain dog parks, sporting fields, cultural and historical monuments, museums, and one such as the giant Tianan Buddha that's pictured here. If you look at the picture in the upper right hand corner you'll notice a wayward sign in the foreground that points to other cultural and historical landmarks, such as the Statue of Liberty in the United States, and the statues around the world. Then you'll also notice the giant Buddha statue in the background. The giant Buddha statue is meant to symbolize a harmonious relationship between man and nature, and it took 12 years to complete. To get to the giant Buddha, we took a train to a bus, and then height and almost six miles to the statue and back. The journey took us from the heart of the city in the shopping and nightlife district of Tsim Sha Shui in Kowloon towards Lantau Island, Hong Kong's largest island that is full of tall mountain peaks. And I think Disneyland is also there, although we didn't visit. Hong Kong had so much natural beauty and we spent a lot of time hiking and relaxing on beaches, such as Repulse Bay and Victoria Harbor. So much of Hong Kong reminded me of my current home in San Francisco. I took these two pictures at one of these places and I'm curious. Can you guess where each colored stairways are located? So I'm just going to pause a little bit for those guesses. Okay, since we don't have too much time, I'll share. So, yep, on the right there, on the left there is me in front of the Maraga steps in San Francisco. If you've never visited, it's beautiful. There's also hidden steps all around Golden Gate Heights. And on the right is me at Kowloon Park, situated in the shopping district in Hong Kong. So as you can see in the city, both in San Francisco and in Hong Kong, we integrate art and culture and nature into our cityscapes. It's truly incredible. So, as an Asian American, reflecting about how my ancestors use land in open spaces for our livelihood, and to help tell stories about our history, and how it informs our culture has always been at the core of who I am. Whether it's my place of birth, such as Vietnam or my place of work, which is the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, my identity as an Asian American helped shape how I view public lands and open spaces. I truly believe that we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, but we borrow it from our children. As a volunteer and youth programs coordinator at a recreational area, National Park site and beloved treasure of this community, I'm proud of the fact that I'm also an Asian American whose roots are in the belief that we all live harmoniously with nature. My work as a volunteer provides us gifts of food relaxation appreciation and time with family and loved ones. And with my job, it provides a greater sense of community belonging and strong commitment to public service. My work with volunteers and youth engages them in public service to inspire a multi generational and multicultural approach to land management. That is the power of this place, and that's why it's so enjoyable for me. The pictures that you see here are pictures from various service events that we have, such as Martin Luther King Day of Service. What you'll recognize the picture in the middle is the trail that leads down to Sutro Baths, and you'll see the Ocean Beach picture here as well, which is a site that I live close to. It's near and dear to me. So with that, I truly appreciate you all for listening to my personal story and before I end my presentation my question for you all to ponder is, can you think of a time when you visited an open space or park anywhere in the world. That that made it feel welcoming or enjoyable for you. I invite you to think on that while I pass it off to my wonderful colleagues Sabrina from San Francisco maritime to share stories based on her roots as a Filipino woman working in a park dedicated to maritime heritage. Thank you everyone. Oh thanks Becca. I'm actually going to begin my part of the presentation by answering the questions that you just asked. And I think of a time when I visited a park, what made it feel welcoming or enjoyable for me. I remember the first time I went to San Francisco maritime the park I work for now when which you can all see in this photo. Like I think many people I immediately marvel that the hundred year old ships of the views of the code day and the Golden Gate Bridge, and based on that alone I knew I would keep coming back. But what made that visit more enjoyable and even more meaningful was that I saw very small and specific things on the ships that called out to me. So, now it's my turn to ask you the audience, another question. I'll show you a photo and then please feel free to answer the question in the next slide in the chat. What do you first think of when you see a ship like this. And in the next slide, we have the photo of that ship that's both on Hyde Street here. And if I weren't showing you this photo in the middle of a program specifically held for Asian American Heritage Month. For example, you were just walking around Fisherman's Wharf and saw it. Would you guess that it has anything to do with Asian American native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander history. Okay, I see some answers now and we'll get back to that in a while. Because certainly I did not I did not think this ship had anything to do with Asian American history. But as I found out during my first visit and many more explorations after it turns out that it most certainly does. Next slide please. It became a museum ship. Bulkuta had a long and storied career starting in 1886. She was a cargo ship rounding Cape Horn, the last vessel to fly the flag of the Hawaiian kingdom, a pretend pirate ship, and even a set for an Oscar winning Hollywood movie. But from 1904 to 1930, Bulkuta was a Salmon packet known as the Star of Alaska. You can see the name on the black and white photo on the side. During this period, the Star of Alaska was part of the Alaska Packers Association sailing fleet. This fleet transported supplies needed to fish and operate Salmon canneries way up north, and also carrying the canned products back down here to San Francisco. And aside from sailors and fishermen, the ships transported the people who worked in those canneries. The majority of those workers were actually subjected to a form of economic slavery called that teenage, and they endured truly inhumane conditions while living on the ship and working off it. It's a long story, but more for the point for today, many of these cannery workers were Asian. Next slide please. This chapter of the ship's history is featured in an exhibit below decks in Bulkuta. And the photos here show two parts. The first represents the food supplies brought aboard for the Asian workers. I point this out specifically because it was personally what grabbed my attention in my first visit. I saw the woven baskets, mats and walls, and I simply went, hey, I know what these things are. Even if they weren't strictly Filipino or Southeast Asian or East Asian, they certainly looked and felt very close to home. But once I looked closer, the warm and fuzzy reaction ended there. I thought of home, but as I found out the space shown in the second photo was where the Asian workers were forced to live in. Next on this slide shows a few recreated monks, but records say there were 73 total and hundreds and hundreds of men were crammed in this area. This space was specifically called the Oriental Quarters. That's because in the late 1800s, Salmon cannery crews were almost exclusively Chinese. And so these crews became known as quote unquote China Yangs, and the Oriental Quarters were also known as Chinatown. The 1900s went on, however, Japanese and Filipinos also became part of the cannery crews. And there are also in smaller numbers, Guamanians, Mexicans, blacks and native Alaskans. And by the time that this ship, the Star of Alaska stopped sailing in 1930, though of course Salmon cannery operations continued on well into the 20th century. Filipinos had come to dominate the workforce. Nonetheless, through the 1920s, the name Chinagang stuck. Next slide please. So the three photos here show some of the jobs that these cannery workers did. There are some of them loading provisions onto the ship. Some of them are building the cans and the crates that they would pack the Salmon in. And the largest photo shows a man placing the fish into what we now call a Salmon Butchering Machine. But that machine wasn't invented with that name. And it's that particular history which makes the machine one of the most compelling artifacts that we have aboard the Balhuta Star of Alaska. Next slide please. You can see the machine's original name on the top part of the photo and also written on the design plan. But why was the machine named that? If you remember earlier, Jackson was talking about the Chinese Exclusion Act. Because Chinese laborers were banned from coming into the US, the canning workforce began losing their numbers. And in response by 1903, the industry began rolling out these machines. But they did do this just to automate and speed up production. They also aimed to replace the same people that the Exclusion Acts continued to face out. So years ago, when developing this exhibit, the Maritime Park collaborated with the local Chinese-American community on how to display this machine. Should the name be covered, removed, not used entirely, what would we think about it now? At the time, however, the decision was to leave it as is. And that's because this is unerasable history. Just because we should no longer say the name doesn't mean we should no longer talk about it. There's a lot to talk about. Because, for example, what's wrong with an invention named the Iron Chink? To me, it's not only because it dehumanizes an entire people equating them with a machine. It's also because, as I mentioned earlier, Canary Cruz became multi-ethnic. If we insist on using this name and take names like China Gang at face value, we also erase the humanity and the histories of all the other people who worked at Salmon Canaries, and who got there on ships like the Star of Alaska. Next slide, please. And that includes the histories of Filipino Americans whose work sustained Alaska Packers Association Canaries and others well into the 20th century. Even as the name China Gang existed, these men called themselves something else, Alasqueros. So have you heard of the autobiographical novel America is in the heart? Shout out, you can read it or borrow it from the public library. The author, Carlos Belosan, is an icon of Filipino American literature and labor rights. And he was also an Alasquero. On the page I photographed here, he writes of how, like many others, he was sold for $5 to work up north in the Canaries. And in one of the lines there, he says, it was the beginning of my life in America. So I had known of Carlos Belosan and I had known of Alasqueros. But I had not imagined that through this one section of one exhibit on this one ship, beyond my first initial reaction through recognizing the woven mats, and beyond a few exhibit panels about the China Gang. I'd never imagined that I would find a very tangible connection to essential pieces of Filipino American history on the Balhuta. Next slide, please. So Michael Leings at Maritime and I often tell visitors about Star of Alaska, because the ship is currently relatively the most obvious resource for talking about a piece of Asian American history. But despite its importance, I personally don't think it's the only piece that can or should be talked about, especially not when our parks mission is to tell the stories of America's maritime gateways and the development of the Pacific Coast. So the photos here show a very small sample of our resources with Asian or Filipino connections. On the top, that's a very, very post photo of Jackson, Becca, and me looking at the Grays Kwan, which is a modern reconstruction of a Chinese shrimp fishing junk. Same as the Balhuta, Herculee Sea, Aether, Eureka, and other historic vessels in High Street Pier. A boat like that was commonly seen in San Francisco Bay. And below is a screen grab of me with a painting of the Spanish galleon San Carlos, the first European ship to enter San Francisco Bay. That's a whole other history in itself, but there's an important connection here. If we wanted to talk about the maritime history and development of the Pacific Coast, we also can't forget the galleons that connected America, California, and Asia for three whole centuries, via Manila and via Hapulco. And for the larger photo, that's a photo of a fellow maritime ranger and monk outside the Oriental Warehouse near Pier 40. This warehouse was part of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which was the first company that provided regular mail trade and passenger service between the US, China, and Japan. The warehouse isn't part of our park, but our park has considerable museum and archival resources related to it, and to many other shipping lines that facilitated trade and immigration. In fact, Pacific Mail Steamship Company's docks, the area where that warehouse is at, once had a detention shed that was the precursor to the Angel Island immigration station. So if you recall some of the other topics that Jackson discussed earlier, like the first wave of Chinese immigrants to the formation of Chinatown in the Bibonic Plague, all these have to do with ships and the waterfront, and our parks resources can be a lens into looking deeper. Next slide, please. And these Asian and Filipino connections continue beyond maritime, look no farther than Jackson and Bekah's home parks. Earlier, someone in the chat, Miles, I believe, mentioned trails in the Presidio that remind people of soldiers who passed through the Presidio on their way to wars, the Spanish-American and the Philippine-American wars, which led to the colonization of the Philippines and Guam. So thanks for pointing out that, Miles, and I love that you pointed it out. And in this photo, we actually do see the troops passing through the long barred gate, same exact date we see now entering the Presidio to get to the Walt Disney Museum. But so, yes, the Filipino and Asian connections continue beyond maritime, and the same is true also if we go to Lower Fort Mason. Next slide, please. So this is right next to the Panmaritime Park and part of Goga, and this was once the San Francisco port of embarkation. Again, a depot and departure point for troops and supply ships heading across the Pacific, including during World War II and after that, the Korean War. So to end, it's like recently in the media, people have been referencing the Chinese Exclusion and Page Acts, quote-unquote hidden immigrant labor and various military operations, as factors that still shape damaging views about Asians and Asian-Americans. And there's this refrain that the historical experiences of Asian-Americans are largely left unseen or unspoken. I have limited experience visiting and working for parks, I can only speak for myself and my own experience, and to what little I know so far at Maritime and Golden Gate. But what jumps out at me is that in these two places at least, we have the means to explore some of these histories, the hard and the hurtful, but also the hopeful and the empowering. So reflecting on Becca's presentation and my own first visit, our parks might not be the place that people think they can learn about these things or necessarily want to learn about these things, but the fact of the matter is those histories are still right there. And that to me is the power and potential of these places. But thank you, Sabrina, for sharing that awesome history with us. We are at 3.58. We brought you all the way up till four o'clock. We are planning to do a little Q&A session. But I understand if people got to jump off real quick, that's all right. We're going to answer some of these questions that have come into the Q&A. Anissa, how much more time do you have, or do we have maybe 10 minutes, 15 minutes? Yes, Jackson, feel free to answer those questions. Okay. 10, 15 minutes sounds perfect. All right, perfect. So hopefully, through our presentation, we've been able to help answer some of these questions, which again, as I said at the beginning, I still think about, and after Rebecca's presentation and Sabrina's, and thank you all so much for being part of this process to chat. We really wish we could have done this in person, but we're really glad that we're able to do this. And hopefully we get to think about, we can flip the script on that question, where are you really from? Again, it's kind of a tongue-in-cheek thing, but where are you really from? Where do you belong? What is American and what is American enough? What is your place here? And Sabrina, this is Sabrina's answer when we asked that, which was what is our place and it's your national parks. These are your places. These are our places. And as we found out from all the presenters today, there is a lot of history. There's a lot of incomplete history that if we didn't share it, you know, would probably be lost and there probably are a lot of stories. So thank you again for joining us. So there was a lot of stuff that happened in the chat while we were going. I tried to keep up as best I could. A couple of things came into the Q&A portion as well. So if I missed something and it was in the chat, drop it into the Q&A portion. So from here, it looks like we have a couple of questions so far. The questions, I'm just going to read them out loud for everyone. And then Rebecca, Sabrina, or I will take a stab at trying to answer these questions. First one was addressed directly to Becca, when you're in Asia, do people ask you, where are you really from? Another question is, what are the unique challenges and opportunities as Asian and Pacific Islander Rangers specifically? So our jobs and careers and kind of a follow up to that is, how do we better welcome AAPI visitors to our parks? Yeah, so I'll let you all, Sabrina, Becca, you all want to jump in on those? I can answer that first question, Jackson, and thanks for that question. When I was in Asia, I actually wasn't asked, but it was implied. It was really interesting. There's this sense of colorism that persists still in Asia and Asian countries. There's this anecdote of when I was in Japan and at a restaurant trying to order food. The Japanese host there actually gave me the Chinese menu. And knowing, seeing me though, like, oh, you're Chinese, you must, you know, you look like you're Chinese, you must speak Chinese. But then I said in Japanese to them, like, no, I actually speak English. Can I please have an English menu? I'm from America and they were just like, oh, you know, just really polite gave me an English menu. But I actually get this a lot with my own Chinese family too, because I was born in Vietnam, but my family ethnically is Chinese. There's this thing where it's like, you don't look or you don't sound Chinese enough. But then to Americans, you don't look and you don't sound American enough. And then the Vietnamese people, it's just like a whole other thing. So growing up, I just, I didn't know which one I should identify with and I had to switch it up all the time. When I'm traveling through these spaces and even in Asia, it happened to me. So, yeah, thanks for that question. I'm curious if Jackson and Sabrina will have comments on that. Jackson, you have a story. No, I was going to say, Becca, I get that all or I feel that all the time. I'm not. I'm not Chinese enough nor am I American enough so what am I enough of. Yeah, good question. Sabrina. I don't think I've been directly asked that question, but I also in my experience, people can figure out what I am. It's like, for example, when I'm at the park and I have my name tag and I have a Spanish last name because Philippine history. So sometimes people are just surprised that. So it's like there's an assumption that I'm Chinese and then there are Filipino visitors and I hear them speaking Tagalog and then I greet them in Tagalog and they're surprised out of their minds why is this Chinese person talking to us in Tagalog. And, and strangely enough, there are also Spanish speaking visitors who just address me directly in Spanish and I can converse in basic Spanish but that's also weird to me because it's just like I feel like people often have to guess like where I'm from or what I am or whatever it is. Yeah, it's it's an interesting thing. And, yes, we're traveling through the world I feel like all of us kind of go through that same thing. I want to answer to the, I think Jackson the second question or the third question or one of the questions how do we better welcome a API visitors to our parks. And I feel like just being present, telling our stories being friendly showing up and listening, not just speaking but listening can can be very powerful and welcoming to communities. You know, just the three of us. We are all interpretation Rangers. And, you know, we wear the uniform we're out there we're smiling and just having our representation I think speaks really loudly to say hey this is for you like I'm here, you're here too. We're here with you. Yeah, I really think that the representation matters. And being out there. There was another program that I attended today earlier today, and especially outside of the Bay Area I think this is important in that it being Rangers in uniform. People resonate or age other Asian people say hey that's somebody who's, you know, not an older white male, you know, giving us a program it's somebody else and that is. I think that's refreshing to people. And it's also showing that we also belong you know being as part of the public servant that we are also Americans and we are serving as much as anyone else and sometimes in more so. You know, I don't necessarily want to say like oh yeah well we have to do more in order to you know get to the same but I am kind of saying that because I think a lot of people feel like they have to do that so yeah. Sabrina, you have anything to add to that. Yeah, I of course agree that representation and the front lines matter, but beyond that also representation in the interpretation that we do at the parts and the content and the offerings that we have in our programs or in the resources that are out there and that we can talk about with the public, you know, people come for the experience and people also come for the stories that they can learn. So that's also part of our responsibility to not just be, you know, faces on the front lines but storytellers for those parts using the rich resources so that our parts. I think we have time to answer these two more questions. And I'm just going to go through them one at a time one was there was a comment about when I spent time in China back in the mid 90s I was struck by the trash. These days I'm very saddened by the increasing amount of trash I see in American national parks and in San Francisco. And I wonder if the Park Service is talking about how to combat littering in our national parks. I don't know if we necessarily need to have the. There are a lot of maintenance folks that might be able to answer this question but Yeah, there is. Is there over tourism in our parks and how do we combat that. I wanted to say it out loud but I don't know necessarily if this is this place to address, you know, a couple of things so I just want to say that Becca Sabrina you have anything to add for that one. I was going to say volunteerism. That's one of the things that our wonderful volunteers come out to do. And because Ocean Beach is one of my, the park sites that I support is so embedded into the community. We, not only just the Park Service, but I've seen community groups even during coven out with volunteers picking up litter so there's people who care about parks and open spaces and other is a lot of trash and it's very unfortunate I don't think it's a like Jackson said I don't know if that's a problem we can solve just with this presentation. But I want to encourage people who are who care about that issue to look into volunteering and and being a part of service with us. We definitely do do that work in the park and we welcome you. It's safe and everything things are opening back up slowly for us. We generally have a robust beach program habitat restoration on Ocean Beach. So yes, please visit our website at nps.gov and look for those volunteer opportunities. And yeah, happy to talk more about that in a different forum. And our last question is going to be the last one that we answer is getting a permanent or full time job in the environmental field can be long and unstable. How do you deal with family and cultural pressures when paving your career paths. I'll start trying to answer this question and then Sabrina Becca, feel free to jump in specifically about, you know, getting a job with the park service and dealing with the family pressures. So I never, I didn't grow up thinking like oh yeah I want to be a park ranger. I eventually became one. Because of some circuitous route and this is a story that shared amongst a lot of people of color that end up in the park service that it was just something they fell into and this is probably true of a lot of other careers to And specifically talking about the family and cultural pressures. There's definitely, you know when I was growing up, you know, my parents and none of my friends parents were like hey, the Asian ones were like hey, what do you want to do and no one never answered park ranger. No one ever answered. You know, it was a lot of the traditionally quote unquote successful fields of medicine or law or engineering something that that was a lot more stable and I've actually had to, I thought about that a lot and have come to terms with why my parents pushed those things forward presented them to me as opposed to everything else, including becoming a park ranger or something in the environmental field. And that's because they didn't see they didn't see Asian park rangers they didn't see, you know, environmentalists who were Asian. And so what they saw was oh well these other people who have come before us because I was born in China. We didn't have a long time in the United States. I came when I was one year old. They saw what success meant and success meant those traditional fields. Which is great nothing against those things but they weren't for me. And so, you know, to kind of answer the question about how to deal with those those cultural pressures. Know that they exist and they're not necessarily that you know a lot of people share those feelings as well. But if there is something that you want to do find the people who are already doing it. And chat with them like, you know, it's a great question. Chat with those people and everyone's stories going to be a little different. But I think there are a lot of shared commonalities amongst how we all, you know, three of us on this panel ended up here. And it takes a bit of courage. It takes a bit of, you know, going against the grain and telling your parents and, you know, family members and friends to say hey, I'm going to, I'm just going to keep going. Yeah. I know that that doesn't necessarily answer the question directly but I hope it kind of gets around to it and setting Becca and Sabrina up for a better answer. What do you want? Or would you like me to share? You can go ahead. So just to put it briefly, like my, it's been a challenge for me. My parents actually don't support my career. Unfortunately, and, you know, for reasons untold, my dad doesn't speak with me anymore because of that. Through that, like I persisted and I believe in what I do and I think that's, that's more important to me than the acceptance or the understanding from my family and like Jackson so eloquently put it like there wasn't representation of people that worked in parks that look like us and even when I was visiting Vietnam, where my parents are from, a lot of the folks who worked in the parks there, they're merchants and that's their livelihood or they're the community members there. There wasn't a national park service there for them to see. And so, because they were afraid, they didn't know that, you know, you're, what you don't know, you can be afraid of. And so I truly believe that it just takes a little bit of understanding and it just takes, you know, folks like Jackson and Sabrina and just all of us just being out there and speaking our truths and being proud of what we do. And I think really matters for, for especially for our young people as well, who are looking, looking to us and looking at these careers as a, as a viable career. So, thank you for that question. That was so wonderful. Can you answer that last question and it's there I think we've had it a few times is, are we open yet. Are you open. Sabrina go. So, parts of the maritime park are now open. Hide Street Pier is open every day from 10 to four last entry is at 330 and you can go aboard all four historic vessels. So there's fat and maritime museum will be opening soon. And so will the visitor center. Soon. Yay, let's all open again. And specifically for Golden Gate, I will say Alcatraz my site is has been reopened and mirror woods hasn't actually closed this entire time. I can only speak to our national park sites there are many other museums and parks that have their own protocols and regulations so definitely check their websites. Yeah, thank you all and thanks and Lisa and Lisa to, and until the audience members for joining us today I'm going to pass it back to Lisa. All right, thank you Becca, Jackson, Sabrina and friends out there in the audience for all your interaction and chat and conversation and questions. Please remember that this event is on our YouTube channel and in that link that I put in the chat box so many times. And we appreciate you being here and thank you everyone. And we'll see you next time for nature boost and summertime huge nature boost action. So join us.