A Truth Not Being Told

Dynamic activist Gerry Low-Sabado, who lives in Fremont, travelled 90 miles to Monterey to show me her ancestors' village. (Post one.) She first led us to Point Lobos, a point not only of nature but history, she said. Her great grandmother's photo is in the Whaler's Village. (Post two.) Her great-great grandfather floated over from Canton, escaping the chaos and poverty that accompanied war. (Post three.) Gerry researched her ancestors, and so had lots of information to share when CSU-Monterey Bay expressed interest. A documentary came from that research, and bolstered Gerry to spread the word.(Post four.) 

“I thought that there’s a truth here that’s not being told. That didn’t sit well with me. I just thought, ‘Well, I’ll just tell people about the story and then they’ll want to tell the story.’”

But it often didn’t go that way.

“People didn’t want to look me in the eye or talk about that history. They didn’t want to bring it up. Who wants to say, ‘Yeah, we burned down their village?’ At the same time it’s a fact. This is what happened. I’m just trying to tell the story.

“Some of my relatives thought, ‘It’s old history. Leave it alone.’ Other people thought, ‘What are you doing? Trying to cause trouble?’ I wasn’t sure what I should do.  There’s part of me that’s a fighter that wants to do what I think is right. But in the long run the relatives who still live on the Monterey Peninsula might suffer. So I had to consider that."

In the end, she decided to fight…but to fight with kindness.

“I don’t feel like I should be called a bad guy because I’m telling the truth. I’m just a normal person, a normal American person.  Chinese people are normal, do the same things you do. I can speak English. My daughter got married at a winery. “ She smiled. “Part of it is teaching them that we’re working for change, we’re working for kindness. “

(To be continued. Next: Correcting History.)