By Chris Jochim, CHCP Vice President of Education

About 100 members of San Francisco's Asian American Elderly Humanitarian Society were accompanied to San Jose by Kansen Chu, a member of the California State Assembly from 2014 to 2020, and his wife Daisy Chu. They arrived in two chartered buses to visit two locations in San Jose’s History Park: the Chinese American Historical Museum (CAHM) and the Japanese Friendship Garden. Later they would visit the Chinese Cultural Garden in Overfelt Park and San Jose’s Rose Garden. Serving as CAHM docents were three CHCP Board members (Chris Jochim, Brenda Wong, and Liz Chew) as well as CHCP Student Intern Allie Fuller and CHCP member Bauchin Lin Jochim.

They expressed great appreciation and satisfaction with the presentations they received in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. (Aren’t we amazing?) With an average age of 78, they also appreciated the use of CAHM’s recently repaired elevator. Moreover, they decided to use the Lillian Gong-Guy Plaza as a place to have lunch before heading to the Japanese Friendship Garden. In a kind gesture, they shared their simple but delicious dim sum items with CHCP volunteers: yum, yum, yum. It was a joy for us to sit and visit with this group of adventurous seniors on one of the many outings they have during the year.

The following are excerpts from SONA's 6/28/26 Press Release:

By Anna Eng and Grant Din, SONA Communications Co-Chairs

NATIONAL ARCHIVES IN SAN BRUNO THREATENED WITH IMMEDIATE CLOSURE;
ACTION ALERT TO COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Save Our National Archives (SONA) is working to prevent the imminent closure of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) San Francisco center in San Bruno, California and also opposes the closure of its site in Chicago, Illinois. The NARA website states that the San Bruno facility will be closed within three years and we understand the move could begin as soon as this August, 2026. SONA has been involved since 1998 to ensure continued public access to these vital archival documents at the San Bruno location. These are invaluable resources, important to the region and the communities documented in them and should not be removed from the region and moved anywhere, in effect cutting off researchers and public access to these vital sources of American history.

[...]

Direct access to the physical documents and artifacts often belonging to families and communities in these case files is critical, as are the expert staff in San Bruno who are extremely knowledgeable about the holdings and how and where to locate items. Many of the documents are large and fragile, and digitization is unfeasible and would damage them. Within these archives are personal family photographs, family letters, maps of home villages, original wedding, marriage, and birth certificates from countries of origin, tribal artifacts of Native Americans and Native Hawaiian communities, and other sources of community history.

Long-standing agreements between the National Archives and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services were made to ensure that historical documents and artifacts important to family history will be made available to the public and not moved from the San Bruno location. This must continue to hold true. To make these materials inordinately inaccessible to the American people would be a violation of the Freedom of Information Act and to make them disproportionately unavailable to the communities from whose histories they document would be a violation of the 14th Amendment for Equal Protection under the Law.

With concerns that files may be moved soon, SONA has launched an immediate letter writing campaign to contact the Archives and is asking writers and organizations to CC their Congressional representatives and ask them to take immediate action. (If possible, email a copy of your letter to us at saveournationalarchives@gmail.com).

Please express your opposition by writing to:

Edward Forst, Acting Archivist of the United States
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001

email : ArchivistOfTheUnitedStates@nara.gov

[...]

For more information and additional sources, please follow us on:  FacebookSONA

To read a KQED article from June 26, 2026: follow this link.

A new mural of Wong Kim Ark now appears at the place of his birth in San Francisco Chinatown. This mural on the corner of Sacramento Street at Grant Avenue is created in partnership with Twin Walls Mural Company and Vogue, and honors the American-born Chinese laborer whose landmark Supreme Court case established the principle for birthright citizenship in the U.S.

The following is an excerpt from 05/29/26 NextShark News:

By Carl Samson

The city of Santa Ana, California, dedicated a memorial monument Saturday [May 23, 2026] to its historic Chinatown, a Chinese immigrant community that the city ordered burned down nearly 120 years earlier.

Remembering the community

The memorial sits at the northeast corner of 3rd and Bush streets, facing the original Chinatown site. City officials say the monument tells the story of the community and is meant to educate residents while standing as a symbol of dignity, recognition and reconciliation.

Mayor Pro Tem David Penaloza led the unveiling ceremony, along with Councilmembers Thai Viet Phan, Benjamin Vazquez, Jessie Lopez, Phil Bacerra and Johnathan Ryan Hernandez. City Manager Alvaro Nuñez, members of the local Chinese American community and other residents also attended.

Act of violence

In the late 1800s, more than 200 Chinese immigrant workers settled in part of downtown Santa Ana, a population that peaked at as many as 800 residents. They built irrigation canals, drained swamps, worked in agriculture and helped construct Orange County’s railroad infrastructure.

The city eventually declared Chinatown a “public nuisance” and ordered it burned, later building a new City Hall on the site. The fire, sanctioned by the Santa Ana Board of Trustees, destroyed the community on May 25, 1906. In 2022, the City Council formally apologized to Chinese immigrants and their descendants.

Why this matters

The burning is one of many episodes of anti-Asian violence rooted in the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first federal law to bar a specific ethnic group from immigrating. Such histories shaped where Asian Americans could live, work and own property for generations. Formal acknowledgment of these injustices remains rare for many AAPI communities, making physical markers a step toward public memory and repair.

By Jue Lin, CHCP Director

On Sunday, May 24, 2026, the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project hosted a presentation and panel discussion titled "Chinese Americans' Fight for Civil Liberties: A Legal History of Resistance and Civil Disobedience" at History Park, San Jose. Community historian David Lei led the presentation, joined by a distinguished panel of scholars and activists: Dr. Anna Eng, historian and lecturer at UC Berkeley and SF State, and CHCP Advisory Board Member Connie Young Yu, author, historian, and community activist. Lei's talk explored landmark court cases brought by Chinese Americans, such as Yick Wo v. Hopkins, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, and Lau v. Nichols, and their lasting legacy on the civil rights that all Americans enjoy today. These include birthright citizenship, equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment, public education, and political asylum. More than 65 community members attended the event. A video recording of the talk is available below:

By Kan Wong, CHCP Director

The South Bay AANHPI Heritage Festival held at History Park San Jose was a vibrant tribute to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) cultures in the South Bay. With over 800 attendees, the day was filled with energy—from the opening Lion Dance performance from THD to interactive Chinese crafts celebrating the Year of the Horse for children. Visitors explored and learned about the services and offerings from local community nonprofits and artists, while over 250 people discovered the rich history and legacy of San Jose’s five original Chinatowns and the historic Ng Shing Gung altar at the Chinese American Historical Museum. The festival also featured a lively panel discussion on Asian American Studies programs, sponsored by the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj), in which panelists and the audience exchanged ideas on how Asian American Studies can enrich cultural identity and inspire civic activism. The afternoon also included Asian cultural performances organized by Mosaic America.