Join us at the Museum for an engaging panel discussion celebrating the rich AAPI communities of Sonoma County! Hear from our guest speakers: Cheryl Boden, of Filipino and Pomo descent; Bruce Shimizu, representing a third-generation Japanese American family; Lance Lew, from a third-generation Chinese family in Petaluma; and Frank Yee, Marin County Chinese American and MLK Humanitarian Award recipient. The conversation will be moderated by Katheryn Nguyen, therapist and clinical counselor. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn and connect! This free event is presented in partnership with the Petaluma Old Chinatown Memorial Park Ad Hoc Committee.

Cheryl Boden has lived her whole life in Sonoma County, the land of her indigenous maternal ancestors. And for the past 45 years she has been a resident of Windsor, CA, where she lives with her husband, David, who built their comfortable home, and their son, Matthew. She is a proud product of Santa Rosa public schools; a graduate of Santa Rosa Junior College; Sonoma State University; and Dominican University of California, San Raphael, CA, where she attained a multiple subject teaching credential. Her earliest teaching experience was as a tutor/aide under Title IV Indian Education program in Santa Rosa City Schools. She is retired from public education as an elementary school teacher after many years of service. Cheryl is the daughter of a Southern Pomo mother and Filipino father who emigrated from the Philippines in 1929 to San Francisco, who then settled in Santa Rosa. She is a member of the Dry Creek Band of Pomo Indians and Filipino American National Historical Society, Sonoma. Her rooted alliance with these organizations reflect her identity and life experiences.

Bruce Shimizu is a fourth-generation Sonoma County native, having grown up on a chicken ranch in Cotati. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, is a member of the Chapter’s Speakers Bureau and is leading the Japanese Garden Project at Paradise Ridge Winery. Bruce is also one of the founders of Sonoma County Taiko, a local community based Japanese drumming group. Bruce’s life has been dedicated to serving the community and he believes in finding sustainable solutions to problems that balance the needs of the planet, its people, and creates prosperity for all.

Lance Lew is a Petaluma native who graduated from Petaluma High School in 1974 and whose family had settled in Petaluma when Lew's grandfather, Raymond Chin Hing, got a job in the Petaluma Grocery--the second Chinese-owned business to operate since the Chinese Exclusion Act. Lew pursued a career in the television industry, serving as the community and public relations director at KPIX in San Francisco and as the community marketing director for KNTV in San Jose. At KPIX, he served as the project manager for "Separate Lives, Broken Dreams," a documentary co-sponsored by the Chinese Americans Citizens Alliance that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Frank Yee’s family moved to Novato in 1959, when his father bought a small laundry. Growing up in Marin County, Frank felt the weight of being an ethnic minority early on in one of the wealthiest counties in California that was 99.9% white. It wasn’t until his graduation from college when he went abroad to learn Chinese that he discovered the richness of his heritage and embarked on a lifelong journey to understand the longest continuing human civilization in history. Today, he is not only fluent in two major dialects of Chinese but able to trace his lineage back to 35 generations, as genealogy is another interest of his. This endeavor began upon his retirement from teaching at City College of San Francisco, where he taught immigrants from all over the world for 37 years. These encounters allowed him to gain a deeper appreciation of the common humanity that all immigrants share, but also the struggles they encounter in a society that is often hostile to people of color. Frank’s sensitivity to racial bigotry saw his efforts rewarded when the organization he was involved with successfully prosecuted the first hate crime in Marin County in 1996, and subsequently earning him an MLK Humanitarian Award issued by the Marin County Human Rights Commission in 2004.

Life Goes On: Resilience of AAPI Families and Beyond