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PW: I'm curious to hear about, like, Roy Nitta's organizing tactics. How do you go from, you show up at the meeting and not really being taken seriously, or Mr. Tam is being just completely taken down for the work that he's doing. So how do you move from that position to one where it's like, okay, take us seriously? What are some of the strategies that worked to turn...

MY: Roy had a way of working where you knew you had to be taken seriously.

PW: Okay.

MY: So he had a... I mean, he came from a union organizing background. And then one of the beauties of the community development program was the fact that it didn't have a cookie cutter model. So you worked with people in your community, whoever the assets are that you can bring to the table and utilize their gifts and skills to help move forward on what we believe is a possible transformative moment for the community, and a transformative moment for our faith as well. And so Roy had some great experiences in previous places that he worked, and he brought those gifts to this particular organizing effort. And he was very strong in convictions about how to get things done. So I think he was a moving force for us, and we were always thankful that the timing worked that he could be part of what was going on.

PW: I always find that people are the driving force of so much, and I love that you're calling out the names of specific people. Were there other leaders you wanted to describe more?

MY: Let me just give you an example for Roy also. Roy was very outspoken, so he would monitor school board meetings. And there was one moment in time where the existing superintendent was having trouble with an African American woman who was just really livid because of something that happened, I guess, with a child in the schools. And so he called me up and he said, "You know, we're having with this person. I wonder if you could help us have some conversation with her, what have you?" And he said, "Maybe Roy can help us." And when he said, "Roy," it was kind of tongue in cheek because he knew, because Roy was one that would come and be very adamant about things that needed to be done, just like this woman was. And so I told Roy, "Hey, the superintendent wants you to come and talk to this woman about some stuff that she's upset about," and he goes, he just smiled and started laughing and said, "Okay, I'll do it." So he went to that meeting that night and then the next day, I asked them how did it go, and he said, "You know, typical stuff. She's just really mad about what's going on, and she has a right to be mad, and we just talked about why we're both mad. And so we have a new supporter for the work that we're doing and we need to support her." And then, for him, he said, also, "The superintendent kind of owes me something, and I'm doing their work for them." And that was kind of typical of things that Roy did. So kind of bringing his gift to the community and to the congregation. And Roy wasn't particularly strong in the Christian faith. I mean, he would say that he probably didn't deserve to be... he would always make excuses like, "I don't deserve to be a Christian," or whatever. But he also invited people to come to church.

And, in fact, with Niel, Niel wasn't a member of our church at that time. But he invited Niel to come to the church because he knew intuitively that Niel would be a great person to be part of the church, and probably would embrace it, and somewhere he knew Niel had a Christian background. And so Niel started coming and brought his son, Austin, and started getting involved. And Niel, in fact, became one of the leaders of our church over a period of time. He became my worship leader, then he became my staff parish committee leader for a period of time. And at first people... I know people were a little bit taken aback because he had this image of being this troublemaker in the community, but he was the nicest guy. Taught chigong, did tai chi with people, was a reiki master, and he became very beloved over a period of time. And that's the kind of thing about transformation and faith and relationships that I experienced through that part of that organizing period. And Niel coming to the church and then becoming, over a period of time, kind of a beloved leader and well-respected not only in the congregation, but we could see in the community as well. Because he eventually got appointed to a position even though he got blackballed initially. [Laughs]

PW: That's beautiful. Does this Organization of Alameda Asians still exist?

MY: No. I think it went dormant. I think there was some morphing of OAA with the group, understanding it was the Asian American Democratic Caucus of the East Bay, and I think the energy from OAA kind of shifted to that organization, because Arnie began, I think Arnie was convening the East Bay Democratic Asian Caucus. And they were working on, you know, they were really focused on trying to get representation of Asians into different spaces of school boards, city councils, and as I mentioned, the county boards and so forth. And so they began to work regionally and continued up to the time he passed away.

PW: Until Arnie had passed away?

MY: Yeah, until Arnie had passed away.

PW: Tell me a little bit about Arnie Fong. He sounds like an interesting person.

MY: Arnie Fong was a pharmacist, longtime Alameda resident. And I'm not sure how he got involved with the Nial Tam situation, but he was one of the key people in the, what became the Nial Tam Committee, and so that's where I had a chance to meet Arnie. And then he joined the committee when we formed our community organizing committee, development committee, representing the community members. And Arnie was a dear soul, loved him. He also had, his wife, Jean Fong, was very involved with us as well. And Jean went on, I think, to work with Alice Lai Bitker, who was a county supervisor at one period of time. But they were Christians, I think, with the Presbyterian church in Chinatown, I believe. But their kids got involved in our basketball program at the church. And so Arnie also became very much a leader in our basketball program as a community member, because our basketball program was open to having community members come in and partner just like we did with other social justice issues. And I think all three of their boys played basketball with us, and so that even connected him more to our congregation and the community around Buena Vista. And I'd always often joke with Arnie because he'd be in places where he would say, "Oh, my church, Buena Vista," and I'd go, "Arnie, when did you become a member?" He said, "Well, I'm not really a member, but I feel like I'm a member," because he was really a member of a church in Chinatown. He was very much part of what I call the Buena Vista extended community, and Jean as well. Their children Todd and Jason played basketball for us.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.