Densho Digital Repository
Seattle JACL Oral History Collection
Title: HyeEun Park Interview
Narrator: HyeEun Park
Interviewers: Brent Seto, Bill Tashima
Date: December 14, 2021
Densho ID: ddr-sjacl-2-28-2

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BS: Okay. And then a follow up question to that would be, you said that you've realized from a young age, you couldn't really go to your parents for help on racial issues. So, was there anyone in your childhood that you could turn to? Maybe like a friend or something or a counselor that helped you navigate those, or was it just fully on you?

HP: No, I would say the vast majority of it would be on me, but my grandma, who was a... she's a tribal, was a tribal member. So was my maternal grandmother, adopted grandmother -- her name was Pearl Morrison -- and she was the only person I could talk to because she had always, like, "You know, I wanted to have more Indian friends. And I just, it's really hard to find that here." And she's also the only Democrat, like staunch stalwart Democrat. And when she was... that area that I live in is actually the congressional district that the governor of Minnesota came out of, Tim Walz, so that's his district. So, you were coming from a very rural, but also very weirdly, purple, bluish, more bluish area, so you kind of get all kinds. And it's like a large college town because it was known for its overpopulation of educational institutions from trade schools and technical schools to four-year and two-year university. So that's kind of how I was able to sort of try to cope a little bit, was I could relate to my grandma. And sometimes even when I was really little, I would literally write her letters, even though she lived like ten minutes away. [Laughs] And she kept those letters. I don't know where they are now, but I'd love to see them because we would send each other candy in the mail. Like, this is my favorite candy, this is my favorite gum. These are my -- sorry -- these are my favorite stickers. I mean, I was like seven. So having that relationship with her all throughout, just until the most recent election where she did vote for Biden before she passed away. So, I thought that was really cool. Because I had thought that I... she had really suffered with her health for a while and she was pretty, she was up there, in her nineties, but that doesn't make it any less painful losing that person in your life. But she lived a full life, and I did kind of wonder, I was like, she passed away. That's very sad, but also kind of a relief, because her quality of life wasn't very good towards the end. I'm sorry if you're hearing my cat. But I just was like, "I wonder if she voted?" And then I had asked, a while after, I was like, "Did Grandma vote in the election?" I was like, "Oh yeah, she totally voted." So I think that was something that I, she always encouraged that for me, my interest in politics, even though... oh, my god. Even though I was seemingly alone in that.

BS: Okay, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you.

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