November 2, 12:00 pm
Join St. Paul’s, Bremerton; Christ Church, Tacoma and the Multicultural Ministries Office for a Stations of the Cross gathering on All Souls Day (November 2) at Chinese Reconciliation Park. The Rev. Arienne Davison will lead us in praying the stations as we bear witness to the Chinese exclusion in Tacoma while connecting it to present-day threats and violence against migrant communities.
There is parking at the park and along the waterfront (requires short walk). We will be going station to station throughout the park. Most of this trail is wheelchair accessible. There are a few stairs, and some areas of the trail that are not as wide. The park includes paved and gravel trails that are flat or close to flat. There are some benches and places to sit along the trail but if you’d like to bring a camp chair with you, you are most welcome!
More Info
On November 3, 1885, a large group of Tacoma men rounded up all the Chinese people still in the city (about 200 people, including both individuals and whole families) and marched them out of town. The next day some Tacomans ravaged Chinese businesses downtown and burned shops and lodgings that formed the Chinese settlement along the waterfront. This dramatic set of actions was the climax of growing anti-Chinese sentiment in the region and beyond in the 1880s, the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) to stop Chinese immigration into the United States. In the western part of the country, Tacoma was not the only venue of violence; but Tacoma’s use of orderly force to drive out of the city all Chinese who had not left earlier, when tensions were mounting, set an example that became known as “The Tacoma Method,” remembered for its seeming avoidance of physical harm to the Chinese. (From Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park website).
