Thirty-two people participated in the four-day bus trip from November 8 through November 11. The trip is patterned after J2M trips of the Pacific Southwest Conference and the Sankofa Journeys in the South.
Sites visited included:
• Chinese Reconciliation Project – during the visit participants were told the story of the Chinese being ousted from Tacoma in 1885 due to anti-immigrant feelings and job fears amid an economic depression
• Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, a 1,000-bed facility that houses people waiting to be deported
• Yakama Nation tribe
• Minimum security prison in Portland
• Broetje Orchards, a 6,000-acre apple farm owned by Christians who give away 75 percent of their profits, as well as provide housing, day care, private schooling and college scholarships for their employees (lower photo shows two of the employees packing apples)
• Wing Luke Pan Asian Museum
• A visit with three survivors of Idaho camp, where Japanese were interred during World War II
• Worshiped at Emerald City Bible Fellowship, an Evangelical Covenant Church that is involved in numerous justice and compassion ministries
Unexpected events during the visit to the Yakama Nation at Celilo Falls, Oregon, brought painful history and hopeful present together. Krisann Jarvis Foss, director of North Pacific Conference Ministries, listened as a tribal member stood by a lake formed by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam and told of watching the water rise to permanently cover their land. The woman’s words grieved Jarvis Foss, whose relative had helped build the dam.
Later that evening, however, Jarvis Foss and other members of the group received a special honor when they attended a powwow honoring veterans. “Hospitality is an enduring Indian value, and I wasn’t surprised that the Yakama people were so warm to us visitors,” says Three Stars, an Oglala Sioux. “Still George Lee, the arena director at the powwow, raised the bar. He brought us up to the front for recognition and honored all of us by sending us out on the floor with the head woman dancer and an honor song for us. That particular honor is not done lightly. I’ll always remember that spirit of generosity.” (Top photo was taken during the powwow).
In another digression from the schedule, Karina Whitmarsh of Lakebay Covenant Church in Washington was supposed to hear a presentation at the Columbia River Detention Center in Portland, but wound up instead sitting in the waiting room comparing and contrasting experiences with several people of different ethnic groups. Whitmarsh, who is Mexican, said the group “talked about many things in relation to racism, disclosing personal stories, hurts, anger and hope that as Christians we have the gift of reconciliation. This was the highlight of my journey, one I will always remember.”
Three Stars says she became even more aware of “hidden racism” and the need to combat injustice, but like others on the trip, was inspired by the stories of people who had endured hard times, yet continued to work for reconciliation. She was moved by Roy and Mary Okada, who are members of Kent (Washington) Covenant Church and lived through being forcibly displaced to live in the Minidoka Internment Camp in Hunt, Idaho, during World War II. The couple shared their experiences with the group. “They are amazing people,” Three Stars says.
Participants say they hope other people will consider taking part in future trips in order to be challenged, surprised and awed.
