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| Downtown Antioch was built over the former Chinatown. |
Hundreds of Buddhists convened in Antioch, California, offering prayers to reconcile the city's past treatment of Chinese with a future of of inclusion and tolerance.
On March 16, 200 Buddhists gathered for the "May We Gather" pilgrimage, intentionally scheduled on the third anniversary of the Atlanta mass shooting when a white gunman targeted female employees at Asian American massage parlors. The event also brought mainstream attention to the fearful trend already haunting Asian Americans.
In 2021, Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe formally apologized for the city's past treatment of Chinese.
After the California Gold Rush, thousands of Chinese remained and found work building the levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta where they eventually settled and built their own communities.
In 1876, the Chinesse residents were forbidden from being seen on the city streets. In response, the Chinese dug a series of tunnels connecting the various businesses.
The final blow occured when Whites set fire to the growing Chinatown driving its residents out. Instigators encouraged the mob under the guise of cleaning out the alleged sex and opium dens. With the Chinese driven out, the valuable riverside location became available for developers. It became Antioch's downtown.
The ceremony involved 200 Buddhists from China, Vietnams, Japan, Korea, Laos, Thailand, Tibet, India and Sri Lanka.
Event organizer Duncan Williams, a religion professor at the University of Southern California and a Soto Zen priest of Japanese descent, said thet organizers didn't want just a political reaction. He told the East Bay Times they wanted "a Buddhist response that draws on our teachings and practice," which aims to honor ancestors and heal racial trauma, past and present.
Most of the ceremonies took place in Antioch's Campanile Theater, a restored vaudeville and movie theater located a block from the former Chinatown. Antioch's dark history and the Atlanta shootings were part of the past but participants were also tying those events to the present and future.
For years, Antioch residents have reported racist and illegal behavior by local law enforcement including fatal shootings by police officers, reports KQED.
In 2023, an FBI investigation into criminal misconduct by Pittsburg and Antioch police officers uncovered thousands of racist text messages. Nearly half of the Antioch police department was temporarily put on leave after the discovery and the police chief resigned.
Ten law enforcement employees were eventually charged with federal crimes, including fraud, civil rights abuses and falsification of records.Cristina Moon, a Honolulu-based Zen priest, hopes the healing event would provide a new direction for the city. “Our relationship to what happened and the ways in which we can control how to act in the future.”
“It’s important we recognize what happened and acknowledge it’s uncomfortable,” she continued. “It’s about not getting stuck in a painful past but moving forward in a positive manner.”
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