Spirit of inclusion welcomes Chinese descendants to Good Old Days.

In 1906, Gerry Low-Sabado’s great-grandparents were burned out of their homes in the Chinese fishing village located where Hopkins Marine Station now sits in Pacific Grove. Her family – direct descendants of the Chinese who landed at Whaler’s Cove on Point Lobos in 1851 – never spoke of the painful past, and Low-Sabado grew up in Monterey unaware of any of it until later in life.

Once she learned about her family’s past, she advocated for recognition of the history of Chinese immigrants to the Monterey Peninsula. And uneasy with some aspects of Pacific Grove’s annual faux-Chinese Feast of Lanterns event – created in 1905 by Caucasian residents – years ago she spoke with organizers about making changes she felt would make the event more respectful. It wasn’t a popular request then, but she says organizers are more receptive now.

The uneasiness was still in Low-Sabado’s mind when Pacific Grove Councilmember Ken Cuneo extended an invitation to her and other descendants of Chinese immigrants to march in the 2017 Good Old Days parade. Her first reaction: The so-called “good old days” were not so good for the Chinese.

“For some people, this is still a hurtful story because their village was burned down,” she says. “There still aren’t good feelings about it.”

As she struggled to decide whether or not to accept the invitation, political rhetoric about excluding immigrants grew. Low-Sabado changed her mind: In the face of exclusion, she would accept the parade invitation in a spirit of inclusion.

At 10am on April 8, Low-Sabado and three other descendants – two of her sisters and a great aunt – will march down Pine Avenue, with the Monterey Bay Lion Dance team and a banner introducing them as the “Monterey Peninsula Chinese Fishing Village Descendants.”

“I’m proud of that banner that will help shout out that we are still here,” she says.“We can be the change the world needs to see today, by both Pacific Grove welcoming us, and [us] coming to join with Pacific Grove, and – in a sense – reclaim our history.”