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MY: I think the city of Alameda became a sanctuary city in, I believe it was 2017, I think. But it coincided with Buena Vista pivoting also to doing ministry with immigrant migrant families. And through the partnership with Interfaith Movement For Human Integrity, which is the partner organization, the congregation also began to host families living at the church. And the church became a sanctuary congregation, and it coincided with the city also declaring itself a sanctuary city, which I think, you go back to 1994 with Prop 187, there's some history of us working with the city on different things. So we were very much there to support the city taking that position. I was very proud to see Alameda become a sanctuary city in that regard, and Gala King was a key lay member on our committee that was moving the immigration industry forward. And she now works for the Interfaith Movement For Human Integrity as their regional organizer and coordinator for that matter. But those were ministries that followed the Palestinian ministry and then there was also a Disability Ministry that Austin Tam developed as one who came to own his own disability, which he says is invisible because he's got a cognitive disability and ADHD, which people can't tell initially. But his feeling that Asian communities need to be more educated around it because culturally sometimes we want to put people away in closets when they have disabilities. And so he wanted to do education within the congregation, but also he's been an advocate in the community as well. To me it's so ironic because he is the son of Niel, who we started all of our work with, and after his passing, I think Niel passed the torch to Austin about his voice in the community, and he actually became elected to the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, and is a very strong force and voice in Democratic politics in the area.

PW: This is Austin now?

MY: Yeah, it's Austin.

PW: Well, stop for a minute and tell us about Austin, who he is and how did your lives intersect?

MY: Well, Austin, as I mentioned, Niel started coming to church with his son Austin, Austin was in junior high at the time when he brought him to church, and Austin became involved with some of our youth activities or youth work, and just kind of was nurtured in the congregation. And at one point became our office manager and then really his life began to expand where he has these gifts that he has around organizing, and he became one of our staff to be an organizer on the staff. And he's been very much there on housing issues, he's convened the Renters' Rights Coalition at the church, and has been very much active with that voice. But also a voice for disability awareness and disability advocacy, both within the congregation and also in the community as well. And that's how he got elected to the Central Committee as a disability advocate, them needing to be inclusive of that kind of voice as well. And he's been very vocal on the Palestinian issue, immigrant rights, everything that the church has espoused, he's been very much there. But it's ironic because I think he inherits that legacy from his father Niel, and his place at the church and giving voice and organizing other people at this time and place.

And the last thing I want to close with is with the naming of the school district office, district office in the Marina Village area, the Niel Tam Educational Center, Austin and I and others in the community were involved in working with the district to get that center named after Niel because of all that he went through in terms of the challenges when he was the center of controversy, and then him becoming a beloved person not only in our church but in the whole community. As a leader in the school district and becoming on the school board after serving as principal for several years, to give him honor and to pay respects to the work that he forged for the Asian community, but for all communities in the community as well. And so we were able to celebrate that a couple years ago, looking at my notes, about 2019, I think it was, that the district office was named after him. So there's a plaque there with his picture on it, and some background about who he was. And we just felt so good when we saw that take place and the district honor him, and give homage to his legacy.

PW: This is the whole district main office, right?

MY: The main office, yeah. And it actually followed on, you know, the monument name change movement that's been going on, initiated by Black Lives folks, but in Alameda there was a move to rename Haight Elementary School, which was the elementary school closest to the church, because Haight had been known for his anti-Asian views in the state of California, his anti-Black views, and actually got elected as a governor of California in 1867, I believe it was, and so he resided in Alameda. And so Haight school became subject to question and scrutiny by an activist in town, Rasheed Shabazz, who grew up in Alameda and went to Encinal High School, he's a local historian who's been doing a lot of research, and he proposed changing the name of Haight based on who Haight was. And the school board supported that by acclimation, and there was a process to rename the school. And that's when we first brought up the idea of renaming it Niel Tam school. That didn't fly because it was better for them to rename it Love School, because it worked better with, instead of "Haight," it's "Love."

PW: And that's H-A-I-G-H-T.

MY: Yeah, H-A-I-G-H-T, but it was a better sound. But it did raise the awareness around the need to recognize Niel, and so that kind of shifted into the campaign to name the district office in his memory.

PW: I have one last question to you.

MY: Yes.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.