Story and photos by ROSE SHIMBERG

A bright red Tori gate marks the entrance to the Japanese Peace Garden, a pop of color in the cool spring morning.

Stone lanterns and evergreen trees dot the hilly landscape but the garden’s true beauty is yet to bloom — the pale pink blossoms of a sea of cherry trees.

A pair of bridges bookend the tranquil space and although the pond they traverse is dry, visitors still stop for a contemplative moment before reaching the other side.

The garden is just one of many in Jordan Park’s International Peace Gardens, where over two dozen countries are represented. But it alone fell victim to an act of hateful vandalism in October 2021.

It was just one incident in a series of anti-Asian attacks and threats in Salt Lake City, which have been on the rise since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

After speaking up about the issue and spreading awareness, community members quickly mobilized to clean up the garden, showcasing the strength and solidarity of a connected Asian American community.

Trey Imamura was the first person to see the hateful message. Imamura was there on behalf of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), which brings volunteers together twice a year to clean up the garden. As co-president of the Salt Lake Chapter, he went to see what supplies would be needed for the cleanup.

Imamura said he was shocked and upset at what he found. But he wasn’t sure if he should report the crime.

“From what I’ve gathered, there’s a very Asian American mentality where it’s like, keep your head down, keep grinding away, don’t make a fuss,” he said. “But I had some friends who were like, ‘absolutely not! Cause some noise and make a ruckus.’”

One of those friends was Amanda Lau, a director of the Asian Link Project. She said she found out about the vandalism through Imamura’s Instagram story.

“Immediately when I saw that, the first thing I did was I told Carrie about it. And that’s when she got to work,” she said in a Zoom interview.

She was referring to Carrie Shin, cofounder of the Asian Link Project. Shin started the nonprofit organization with her husband in response to the rise in anti-Asian attacks nationwide. They had heard about a group in Oakland, California, that ran a chaperone program for elders who were fearful to go out alone. Shin wanted to provide that same support for the people of Salt Lake City.

“That’s how it started, with the chaperone project,” she said in a Zoom interview. “And we started gaining a little bit more trust with other people that were telling us of vandalism and coming forward with their stories.”

Naturally, the directors of the Asian Link Project immediately offered their help when they heard about the garden.

Shin helped put Imamura in touch with Jason Nguyen, a local reporter at ABC4. Imamura also contacted Utah Sen. Jani Iwamoto, whose connections with the sheriff’s and police departments helped initiate a rapid cleanup.

Asian Link Project director Lau, who also works at the Salt Lake City Council office, said it meant a lot to see councilmembers Darin Mano and Dennis Faris speak about Asian American hate and vandalism happening locally.

“It was really moving for me to see that action took place quickly, loudly and proudly,” she said.

Thanks to the community’s swift response, the graffiti was gone within 48 hours, with the JACL cleanup taking place that same week. Asian Link Project volunteers made sure to join in on the effort.

“We had so many hands on deck and so many eager people to help, which we appreciate,” Shin said. “Sometimes these things take a little bit longer.”

She spoke from experience dealing with multiple instances of anti-Asian vandalism. When the window of Pho 28, a Vietnamese restaurant, was defaced in 2020, it took a lot longer to repair the destruction.

“They had to go with vandalism and damage on their window for about a year and a half until we were able to get that fixed,” Shin said.

These repeated attacks have shown that the vandalism in the garden was not an isolated incident. And the perpetrator still remains a mystery.

“This stuff just happens here, too,” Lau said. “And it goes underreported all the time.”

The Asian Link Project has big things in store for 2022, particularly the Asian Festival in July, where it will collaborate with local businesses and volunteers.

“With the surge of attacks, any exposure to racism, anything of that nature, we will always be available and we have our response plan,” Shin said. “But we are focusing on a lot of cultural events as well. We want to bring people together. We want to introduce people to Asian culture. We just want to make it normal.”

The Asian Link Project was not the only group that assisted Imamura and the JACL. The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) offered its support as well. It had previously partnered with the JACL to coordinate events such as vaccine clinics for senior community members.

The Salt Lake City chapter of the JACL also stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Imamura himself moderated a 2020 event cohosted by BLM Utah founder Lex Scott and Japanese-American civil rights advocate Floyd Mori. The event aimed to educate young people about BLM.

“At the end of the day, we have to work together,” Imamura said. “No matter if you’re JACL, OCA, Black Lives Matter, we’re all here to create a just and equal society.”

He was pleasantly surprised by the outpouring of support he received after word spread about the garden. People he never expected to reach out checked in on him and made sure he was OK. For Imamura, this exposure is critical in preventing these things from happening in the future.

“I had the ability to report and say ‘OK, this happened in my community and I’m upset by it.’ If someone says, ‘Wow, I’m upset that you’re upset, that hurts me because you’re hurt,’ I think my job is done,” he said.

He uses the Japanese word kakehashi to inform and guide his work as a community leader.

It directly translates to bridge but can be used to mean “building bridges.” This is exactly what Imamura hopes to do by spreading awareness of issues affecting not only the Japanese citizens of Salt Lake City but the Asian American community as a whole.

Without its bridges, the Japanese Peace Garden would be impassable. And if it weren’t for the community’s consistent care, the wooden structures would have rotted into the earth long ago.

“Instead of drawing lines in the sand,” Imamura said, “let’s build bridges, you know?”

Filed under: Arts, Entertainment, Culture, Asian American, Media, Nonprofits, Organizations, Politics, SLC's West Side |