This last weekend, I drove up to Eureka to attend the groundbreaking for the Eureka Chinatown Monument. It was a gorgeous day and, despite minimal advertising, a ton of people showed up. One estimate claimed 200 people attended. With the recent events in Minneapolis and the presence of ICE in so many cities across the country, I think people were amped up to get out and support any and all efforts to combat the anti-immigrant and anti-diversity rhetoric that is everywhere these days. One of the speakers, Natalie Arroyo, spoke specifically about the politically-entrenched nature of anti-Chinese efforts in Eureka, which I think is something to look more into (and I’ve started looking more into that in recent weeks, so the mention was very timely).
Afterwards, I had lunch with a friend then headed over to the Historical Society to page through their City Directories for the names of the Committee of Fifteen and city councilmen who were in power during the Expulsion. I ran into some people who I had worked with previously and, strangely enough, one of the guys who wrote a thesis that I used in my early research on Eureka’s Chinatown. I had never met him before, he has just come by to drop off some materials to donate to the Historical Society. I got myself another book, and then went off to meet a friend for dinner.
This weekend reminded me of the things I missed from living in a small town – the walkability, the generative nature of running into people you know, catching up, and being able to help each other. The tasty food, the unique local businesses, the art. These were things I remember now from the time when I moved back to Eureka (after living and working in Southern Humboldt at a State Park) and before the pandemic hit. I miss it so much. The weather was uncharacteristically warm and sunny, which made it even more of a treat that it would have been otherwise. There’s still a lot that I don’t miss, but this weekend was a reminder that I need to make the time to come up and cultivate my community more. I already have plans to come up at least once this coming summer, maybe more. Five hours driving is a hop, skip, and a jump, especially through such beautiful landscapes.
When I got home, a preordered book from a few weeks ago had shown up: Eureka, by Victoria Chang. It was inspired in part by the author attending a walking tour of Eureka’s Chinatown back in 2022. I’m constantly impressed, proud, and satisfied of all the things that have come from and been inspired by the Eureka Chinatown Project. It is one of the major honors of my life to be connected to this work and I am eager to get back to it after a few years hanging out on the fringes. I have plans to help with transcribing a huge trove of historic newspaper articles collected by fellow Eureka Chinatown Project historian Alex Service, as well as chipping away at research into the Committee of Fifteen and their long-range connections throughout Eureka, Humboldt County, and California. The small amount I’ve done has already been very interesting so I’m looking forward to learning more.
A big congrats to the folks who put in so, so, so much time, effort, energy, focus and social capital into getting to this significant milestone for Eureka’s immigrant history. I am so excited to see what comes next.
(Photo courtesy of Mark Larson)
Katie Buesch 