I was inspired to paint this piece, which you can see a few paragraphs below, because of a story my friend and art patron, George Ow, Jr., wrote for the Santa Cruz Sentinel. I can say I have shaken the hand that has shaken the hand of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In honor of African American History Month, I post the entirety of his piece here.

Martin Luther King and Me: A Chinese-American Point of View by George Ow, Jr.

I graduated from high school in 1960. It was a good time for my family and other Chinese-Americans. We had a family grocery store where all seven of us kids would work and my mother and father did well enough to keep us well fed, clothed and housed. We could even go to college by living at home and working at our store the first two years while we went to Monterey Peninsula College, and later, Cabrillo. The old anti-Chinese laws had been eliminated and my China-born dad was now able to become a U.S. citizen and own land. There was no doubt in my mind that we lived in the greatest country in the world, and we were very lucky to live here because relatives in China were starving to death under a harsh and incompetent Communist government.

  George Ow, Jr. 

While things were much better for me than for my father's generation, the playing field was not level. If you were not white and male, most high-paying and even mid-level jobs were not open to you. I remember being a kid in Chinatown, near where Mobo Sushi and the Riverfront Theaters are now. Black men and Chinese men, my relatives, were there. I knew as a 5-year-old that they wanted to work but couldn't get jobs, not because they couldn't do the jobs, but because of their race and skin color. You could be the smartest, hardest-working, most qualified applicant, but you weren't going to get a chance at the job. That's just the way it was, and the law was with those who chose to discriminate on the basis of race, sex and religion. My family would always operate our own businesses as a defense and survival mechanism. In terms of housing and buying property, it was perfectly legal and socially correct to write into deeds covenants restricting ownership that barred people who were black, Asian, Mexican or Jewish from most neighborhoods. You could have the money, but you weren't allowed in - except as a servant. In terms of travel, especially if you were black, you would routinely be told you weren't welcome in a restaurant, motel or barber shop. If you lived in the South, you took your life in your hands if you tried to change the status quo by trying to vote, or to integrate schools, lunch counters, water fountains, train and bus waiting rooms.

16" x 22" gouache, "George Ow, Jr. Reaching for Dr. King's Hand" by Belle Yang

But times were changing. Against great odds, against social norms, against the law and police power - the battle against the status quo of discrimination and unequal treatment was being waged. Dr. Martin Luther King came to Monterey Peninsula College in 1962. I was 19 and sat in the front row of a packed gymnasium and felt the excitement of the change coming. He touched me with his hand, his logic, his words. You felt it was really going to happen. I never felt that my situation was ever close to the discrimination and lack of opportunity faced by blacks in America. But because of the civil rights movements led by King and fought by courageous people of all colors, I was going to be handed my civil rights like a gift. I was going to be able to move from second-class citizenship to first-class citizenship if I worked hard enough and smart enough.

I know that I live the wonderful life that I do because of civil-rights warriors who fought for me. I know that my children and their children can aim their sights even higher, and maybe even take their civil rights for granted, because of things that happened not that many years ago. But I cannot take these rights for granted. It just wasn't that long ago when the restrictive covenant on the house I live in was enforceable, when I couldn't marry my wife, when I couldn't dream of doing what I routinely do now.

 Emmet Till was murdered at 14

I remember seeing the shocking pictures of Emmet Till's brutal murder in Life Magazine. I remember the years and years of agony and violence as schools began integrating in the South. I remember the Birmingham church bombing that killed the four young girls. I remember when dignified Rosa Parks said, 'No more.' I remember the violent deaths of Violet Liuzzo, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, Medgar Evers and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They seem like yesterday to me.

I want to thank these people and those who risked their lives by going to the South in the '60s - and I know some of you are here in Santa Cruz. You did a great thing for me, my family and the country. You challenged a system set in place for hundreds of years, backed by law, police power and terror. The dangers you faced, the beatings you took, and the deaths of your friends, changed history. I thank you with every spark of consciousness and with every fiber of my being. I have, and will always remember your bravery and selflessness.

Many aspiring people, including many people with brown and black skin, are working hard to acquire education, housing and jobs. We have the opportunity to carry on the work of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement right here in Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz native George Ow, Jr. is a businessman, publisher, philanthropist and surfer. He and his family provided the statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Cabrillo College.