Wing Luke Asian Museum grand opening

May 31, 2008

*As Written*

Good morning, and thank you Mary for the kind introduction.

This is a truly exciting day! Not just for Asian-Americans who care about their cultural heritage -- but for all Washingtonians and visitors to our state.

It will be a great place for all of us to visit and bring our children and grandchildren � all to learn about the vibrant Asian-American culture that is such a big part of this city and state.

I believe the new Wing Luke Museum not only will be an important museum in this region -- but will be an important resource for historians and educators across the nation and world.

As the largest pan-Asian Pacific-American resource of its kind in the nation, this facility will only grow in stature in the years to come.

Just as important, the new Wing Luke Museum will strengthen the Asian-American Community in our region, as well as build new bridges to the wider community.

The roots of this museum are remarkable and worth mentioning today.

The museum actually took root out of a great tragedy � the death of Wing Luke in a plane crash east of the mountains in 1965 as he was returning from a fishing trip.

The Chinese-American community and others donated money to mount a search for the plane.

Some of that money was unspent, and to honor Wing Luke � the money was used to start the Wing Luke Foundation.

This led to the formation of a nonprofit, which in turn led to the opening of the first Wing Luke Asian Museum -- in a tiny storefront near here in 1966.

It was appropriate then � and it�s appropriate now -- to honor Wing Luke in this way. As a Seattle City Council member, he felt that preserving history and culture was very important.

So I�m very pleased to see that the museum offers new space and expanded programs for community meetings and events as well as public space for the neighborhood and for theatre performances.

This is real community building, and the Wing Luke Museum will be the heart of it.

I�m proud and pleased that we in state government were able to appropriate $5.5 million to help pay for the cost of this facility. It was money well spent.

I look forward to coming here with my husband and daughters when I have more time to learn about and enjoy what this facility has to offer.

Congratulations to all who played a role in bringing the new museum to reality.