IE Archives

The International Examiner‘s archive page was updated in 2016 thanks to support from 4Culture. Archivist Jacqueline Wu organized and scanned over 1,000 issues of the International Examiner dating back to 1974. Volunteer Anakin Fung helped finalize the archives webpage. The update restored the digitization of missing issues and allowed for select content to be integrated in the International Examiner‘s website at iexaminer.org. PDF’s for every issue are downloadable below.

At the same time, a book titled, “Four Decades of Life, Politics, Activism, Arts and Culture in the Asian Pacific American Community,” compiled the most important articles published in the last 40 years as determined by a diverse steering committee. The book was made possible by a grant from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Neighborhood Matching Fund.

IE Issues by Year

 

Four Decades of Life, Politics, Activism, Arts and Culture in the Asian Pacific American Community

The International Examiner community newspaper began in 1974 and was the only non-profit publication primarily aimed at Asian Americans in the country. While it initially began as a newspaper for the Chinatown/International District of Seattle, it quickly evolved as a newspaper for the Asian Pacific Community in King County. Its birth and evolution coincides with the emergence and growth of the pan-Asian American phenomena in Seattle.

The development and growth of the paper primarily lies with a group of local Asian American college students and those who had recently graduated from college. Their goal and that of the International Examiner was Asian American empowerment: To provide the local Asian American community with news and articles about important issues and events relevant to their lives. That is, to control, dictate, and self-determine what issues and events were important and relevant for the Asian Americans. It provided Asian Americans an avenue to identify, write, and convey issues that affect the Asian American community from their own perspective, and the ability to define, and thus control, what was relevant. Indeed, the existence of the Examiner is an act of empowerment as well as a process of building a unified Asian American community with an evolving identity.

Over the last four decades, the International Examiner captured the major events and issues in the Asian Pacific American community as well as the emerging arts and culture scenes. In doing so, the paper has played a significant role in the process of building a unified Asian American community with establishing its evolving identity.

In 2015, the “Friends of the International Examiner”—Emma Catague, Ron Chew, Doug Chin, Frank Irigon, Gary Iwamoto, Michelle Kumata, Sharon Maeda, Maria Batayola, Bob Santos,  Dick Woo, and Jacqueline Wu—selected the the most significant articles from the International Examiner‘s 40 year history. The following collection of articles were painstakingly selected by “Friends of the International Examiner,” a steering committee comprised of Asian Pacific American community historians, educators, media/communications persons, professionals, activists, business persons, and students. Their selections were further narrowed due to space considerations for publication in a book funded by the City of Seattle’s Neighborhood Matching Funds Grant Program. While not every contributor who has ever worked with the International Examiner appears in the following articles, they represent the spirit of the overall and longstanding contributions made by and for the community through our newspaper.

International District

“The Stadium Impact Story” By Mayumi Tsutakawa—June 1976 (Volume 3, No. 6)
“Filipino History: Surviving a Depression and a World War” By Nancy Ordona Koslosky—August 1976 (Volume 3, No. 8)
“Garment Union Okays Funds for Chinese Contracts” By Ron Chew—October 1976 (Volume 3, No. 10)
“Alaska Cannery Workers Await Court Ruling on Historic Discrimination Suit” By Ron Chew—November 1976 (Volume 3, No. 11)
“Time is Running Out: Inter*im Seeks Site for a Children’s Mini-Park” By Mark Mano—July 1977 (Volume 4, No. 6)
“A Mural for all Seasons” By Dean Wong—July 1977 (Volume 4, No. 6)
“Judge Reverses Earlier Decision: Community Volunteers Keep Milwaukee Hotel Open” By Gary Iwamoto—October 1977 (Volume 4, No. 9)
“Chris Mensalvas: Daring to Dream” By Gary Viernes—May 1978 (Volume 5, No. 4)
“Dan Woo: The Passing of a Community Leader” By Ron Chew—January 1987 (Volume 14, No. 2)
“The Pig Roast Tradition” By Vera Ing—September 1990 (Volume 17, No. 8)
“District BIA passes City Council” By Dean Wong—July 1994 (Volume 21, No. 13)
“A Place to Call Home” By Carina A. Del Rosario—November 1994 (Volume 21, No. 21)
“I.D. Vice: Community and police struggle to control a boom in gangs, drugs and prostitution in the International District“ By Lisa Charlie Ritts—January 1999 (Volume 26, No. 2)
“Golden Arches at the Gateway: Fear of a McDonald’s in Chinatown” By Melissa Lin—February 2000 (Volume 27, No. 3)
“Development in the International District” By Melissa Lin—April 2000 (Volume 27, No. 7)
“The Eastern Hotel: Then and Now” By Nhien Nguyen—June 2000 (Volume 27, No. 11)
“International District Loses a Living Legend: Friends and Family Say Goodbye to Florence Eng“ By Connie So—March 2001 (Volume 28, No. 5)
“Main Street Housing Project to Accommodate Low-Income Families” By John Wu & Nhien Nguyen—September 2004 (Volume 31, No. 17)
“Preserving History Through Food: Phnom Penh Noodle House” By Minh Nguyen—March 2013 (Volume 40, No. 5)
“665 S. King St. fire: Salvaging the past, rising from the debris” By Travis Quezon—January 2014 (Volume 41, No. 1)

Local

“The Community’s Way of Saying, ‘Thanks, Denise'” By Gary Iwamoto—April 1978 (Volume 5, No. 3)
“It Could Be a ‘First’ Dolores Sibonga Tries for City Council“ By Gary Iwamoto—August 1978 (Volume 5, No. 7)
“Port Shelves Union Station Proposal” By Vicki Woo and Ron Chew—December 1978 (Volume 5, No. 11)
“Sibonga and Hara Win City Positions” By Ron Chew—November 1979 (Volume 6, No. 11)
“Jury Convicts Dictado of First Degree Murder” By Ron Chew—May 1982 (Volume 9, No. 10)
“Cannery Union Elects First Woman President in its History” By Ron Chew—October 1982 (Volume 9, No. 19)
“A History of Asian Community Media” By Mayumi Tsutakawa—June 1983 (Volume 10, No. 12)
“Willie Mak goes on trial” By Ron Chew—September 1983 (Volume 10, No. 17)
“‘While we must forgive, we must also remember'” By Ron Chew—February 1986 (Volume 13, No. 4)
“Judge rules Malabed, Baruso liable in Domingo, Viernes Case” By David Takami—January 1990 (Volume 17, No.2)
“‘Big hitters’ sought for nursing home fund drive” By Dean Wong—May 1990 (Volume 17, No. 10)
“Velma Veloria first Asian American woman in state Legislature” By Soya Jung—November 1992 (Volume 19, No. 21)
“Gary Locke is new King County Executive Locke becomes most powerful Asian American official in state“ By Carina A. Del Rosario—November 1993 (Volume 20, No. 21)
“Kip Tokuda wins state legislative bid, Paull Shin loses Congressional try” By Carina A. Del Rosario—September 1994 (Volume 21, No. 18)
“Spokane Democrats settle with community” By Scott Watanabe—July 1995 (Volume 22, No. 13)
“Making Asian American history” By Paul Dudley—November 1996 (Volume 23, No. 21)
“Pike Place Board overrules Hmong farmers Showdown with the City Council?“ By Lisa Charlie Ritts—July 1998 (Volume 25, No. 13)
“Boycotting Wolfgang Puck Betting on the power of word-of-mouth“ By Erika Hayasaki—August 1998 (Volume 25, No. 15)
“Four Asian Pacific Americans prevail in legislative races” By Lisa Charlie Ritts—November 1998 (Volume 25, No. 12)
“Queer in Asian America” By Chong-suk Han—October 2000 (Volume 27, No. 19)
“Supporters of Syrian family gather outside the INS building to protest detention” By Chong-suk Han—April 2002 (Volume 29, No. 7)
“Seattle war resister taught to go against the grain” By Nhien Nguyen—April 2003 (Volume 30, No. 8)
“King County election office take a major step to provide Chinese language assistance” By Doug Chin—July 2003 (Volume 30, No. 14)
“Racial tension boils over on campus” By Diem Ly—April 2008 (Volume 35, No. 8)
“The Pacific Islander community More than island mentality: They’re dreaming big“ By Bopha Chan Sanguinetti—April 2009 (Volume 36, No. 7)
“The Central Asian community: A minority within a minority” By Nina Huang—June 2009 (Volume 36, No. 12)
“Eastside Story” By Collin Tong—April 2011 (Volume 38, No. 7)
“Small Town Life: For many APIs growing up in small Washington towns, the alienating and sometimes painful experience can strengthen a sense of identity and purpose“ By Sian Wu—July 2011 (Volume 38, No. 13)
“Why Pacific Islanders are dropping out of school … and what role we play in it” By Chieh-Hsin (Jessie) Lin—August 2011 (Volume 38, No. 16)
“Family says Filipino American man beaten to death was a hate crime” By Nan Nan Liu—December 2011 (Volume 38, No. 23)
“A Generation might be lost without new blood: Reviving a 60-year-old veterans group serving Asian Pacific Islanders” By Ron Chew—April 2013 (Volume 40, No. 7)
“UW dumps Southeast Asian recruiter: Administrators sending a negative message to Southeast Asian students” By Jacqueline Wu—December 2013 (Volume 40, No. 22)

National

“Minority cannery workers eligible for discrimination money” By Ron Chew—January 1978 (Volume 5, No 1)
“This is an American battle” By Lori Taki—May 1984 (Volume 11, No. 10)
“Cannery company agrees to settle longstanding discrimination lawsuits” By Ron Chew—July 1985 (Volume 11, No. 13)
“‘I feel today that justice has been served'” By Stan Shikuma—February 1986 (Volume 13, No. 4)
“Victory Party:’They were not wrong, they were right'” By Ken Mochizuki—August 1988 (Volume 15, No. 15)
“National and local groups to remember Vincent Chin” By Danny Howe—June 1992 (Volume 19, No. 12)
“Marine’s racial harassment case a modern-day tale of David vs. Goliath” By Robert Shimabukuro—February 1994 (Volume 21, No. 4)
“Labor activist Philip Vera Cruz left a legacy of inspiration” By W. John Delloro—July 1994 (Volume 21, No. 13)
“In these times: Japanese American railroad and mine workers receive redress: Bill Lann Lee takes action on accumulated evidence“ By Chizu Omori—March 1998 (Volume 25, No. 6)
“Cambodian organizations in U.S. take a stand against deportation of genocide survivors: Two years later, Cambodian Americans still fear deportation of loved ones“ By Chip Tan—July 2004 (Volume 31, No. 14)

International

“Chinese Vice Premier visits Seattle” By Ron Chew—February 1979 (Volume 6, No. 2)
“An opportunity to free Philippines from stifling grip of one-man rule By Ester Simpson—January 1986 (Volume 13, No. 2)
“South Korean president visits Seattle” By David Takami—May 1986 (Volume 13, No. 9)
“‘It is not enough that Marcos has been removed'” By Tracy Lai—September 1986 (Volume 13, No. 18)
“‘The cry of sugar workers'” By Stan Shikuma—August 1987 (Volume 14, No. 15)
“Stories from India ‘crying out to be told'” By Wm. Satake Blauvelt—November 1988 (Volume 15, No. 22)
“Tibetans Struggle for Survival” By Scott Watanabe—January 1995 (Volume 22, No. 1)
“Local Indonesians commemorate victims of May Massacre” By Shalin Hai-Jew—June 1999 (Volume 26, No. 10)
“What Happened at No Gun Ri?” By Chong-suk Han—January 2000 (Volume 27, No. 2)
“The Legacy of War: Unearthing Laotian history, hope and healing” By Nhien Nguyen—May 2006 (Volume 33, No. 9)
“The trade of Asia’s girls” By Dori Cahn—March 2009 (Volume 36, No. 6)

Arts

“State of the art ‘People have a gift of looking, but not everybody has the gift of seeing’“ By Ken Mochizuki—April 1986 (Volume 13, No. 7)
“East looks West: Four Asian American Modernists” By Matthew Kangas—June 1986 (Volume 13, No. 12)
“Artist Val Laigo ‘To paint involves a commitment'” By Ken Mochizuki—March 1987 (Volume 14, No. 6)
“George Tsutakawa: ‘I look forward to many more productive years'” By George Tsutakawa—June 1989 (Volume 16, No. 12)
“Fay Chong: ‘I am more articulate with the brush than with the pen'” By Alan Lau—April 1990 (Volume 17, No.8)
“Shimomura redefines America through ‘Stereotypes and Admonitions'” By Sian Wu—March 2004 (Volume 31, No. 6)
“Blue Scholars offers accessible hip hop through originality” By Ian Dapiaoen—July 2004 (Volume 31, No, 14)
“‘Rolling in the Dirt:’ Alan Lau gets down and dirty with art” By Judith Van Praag—June 2005 (Volume 32, No. 12)
“Asian Pacific Cultural Center re-opens” By Charysse Reaser—September 2005 (Volume 32, No. 16)
“Seeing Stories: The jewelry of Ron Ho” By Susan Kunimatsu—January 2007 (Volume 34, No.1)
“Kimsooja: A needle woman piercing the fabric of life” By Kazuko Nakane—December 2013 (Volume 40, No. 22)

History

“A history of an urban ethnic community: Asian Americans and the development of Seattle’s International District” By Doug Chin & Peter Bacho—October 1984
“The history of the International Examiner“ By Gary Iwamoto—May 2015