Educating People About History

Statistician and activist Nancy Lo, Ph.D. was born in southwestern China, but escaped to Taiwan at age six. (See post one.) For most of her early days in Taiwan, she was sheltered with other Air Force families, only meeting the local children when she went to Middle/High School. (See post two.) Despite this foreign atmosphere, where she didn't always understand the language, she succeeded in going to the top university in Taipei.  And, while social pressure shunted her away from pure math, it also pushed her to attend Oregon State University (See post three).   She was an early pioneer of cross-cultural relationships in Oregon, marrying her classmate John Ferguson in 1967. She graduated with a Ph.D. in statistics. (see post four). Over the years, she's returned to work/visit relatives in China on numerous occasions. In addition to seeing pollution as an issue, she is concerned about the false "cloak of Communism." (see post five.)  Her concerns about the U.S. include excessive military intervention and our unbalanced immigration policies. (See post six.)

Nancy is not concerned about the relationship between China and the U.S. (“Right now it seems to be good.”) But, she is concerned about the relationship between China and Japan.

“I was hoping the U.S. would put some force on Japan, and ask them to apologize for what they did during WWII…For example, Obama went to Hiroshima in May 2016. I wish (Japanese Prime Minister) Abe would go to Nanking to visit the Nanking Massacre Museum.”

It will be very difficult for China and Japan to develop a strong relationship with this glaring wrong being unacknowledged. “Chinese are not going to get over with that until Japan does something.”

Since 1998 Nancy has lobbied on behalf of legislation involving the teaching of Asian history,  has organized conferences with San Diego State University and UC San Diego, hosted documentary screenings and book signings, raised funds to send teachers to China and hosted Global Alliance conferences on the preservation of WWII history. In 2002 she and a handful of people founded TheAssociation for Preserving Historical Accuracy in Foreign Invasions in China(APHAFIC.org.)

“Her commitment is one of such passion,” said Aaron De Groot, a San Diego High history teacher Lo’s association sent to China in 20017. “It’s not about retribution. Nancy’s group is just working to get the Japanese government to acknowledge the horrors that took place.”
“Right now, it’s (APHAFIC) basically educational. We wish we could get into the politics. It’s not so easy...the best we can do right now is to educate people about history.”

(To be continued. Final segment: Advice for new immigrants? Don't Shy from Representation.)