Pacific Grove ponders issuing an apology to Chinese American community

In 2014, a plaque was placed on the site of Pacific Grove's Chinese fishing village once stood.

Pacific Grove may be the next city to acknowledge and apologize for its history of racism towards its Chinese residents.

The city's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force approved sending a proposed resolution detailing the apology to the Pacific Grove City Council for consideration on May 11, during Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Picturesque Pacific Grove is located on the California coast south of Monterey. The Chinese fishing village at Point Alones, which began in the 1850s, was nearly burned to the ground in a highly suspicious 1905 fire after the residents resisted eviction. 

Task Force Secretary Kim Bui, read the resolution aloud, detailing how a growing anti-Chinese sentiment resulted in the attempted eviction of Point Alones residents in 1905, followed a year later by the fire, during which “hundreds of spectators watched, cheered the flames and looted” residents’ belongings. Remaining residents were not allowed to return.

The resolution goes as far back as the Chinese Exclusion Act and the racist covenants that prevented Chinese from buying property. 

It goes on the cites the Feast of Lanterns, a local celebration that featured racist depictions. The event was canceled because of strong objections by residents. The proposed resolution ties the history to the current anti-Asian sentiment that has surged the past two years.  

The task force wants the city's apology as a “learning moment for the public to move away from prejudice and racism towards inclusion, equity and justice for all.”

"An apology for grievous injustices cannot erase the past, but admission of the historic wrongdoing committed can aid us in healing the pain of the past and solving the critical problems of discrimination and racism facing Pacific Grove and the broader U.S. today," states the resolution.

The task force and its supporters are hoping the apology will get approved by the City Council May 11 as part of the city's observance of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, and be read by the mayor at the city's annual Walk of Remembrance on May 14 that concludes at the site of the former Chinatown, now a valuable piece of property featuring a trail alongside the rocky shoreline.

The Walk of Remembrance "is an authentic event that celebrates the actual history of Pacific Grove and it is also an inclusive event. And the Feast of Lanterns was unfortunately not any of those things," said Klarity Coleman, the former Feast of Lanterns president.

"If we can't make significant change here (in Pacific Grove). I'm really worried for the rest of our country. We have a great opportunity here and now with this instance to set a tone and create a larger change that's going to continue,"  said Coleman.

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