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Transcription: {SPEAKER name="Miu Eng (Interviewee)"}
[00:42:27]
-- so I, you know, I just thought, like, I was really lucky to, um, you know, you look, the thing about immigration laws that has happened today --

[00:42:34]
Eng: And it's like, how's this possible that the clock has turned back so much?

[00:42:41]
Eng: You know and, and, you know, whereas we were lucky enough to, you know, have the law change in our favor, favor. And --

[00:42:50]
Eng: As a result, you know, my life is just, um, completely different because of that. It's all, you know, sometimes you look at, it's like, is it fate?

[00:43:01]
Eng: Is it just, you know, kinda, luck of the draw, really. So --

[00:43:08]
Meghelli: Then, did you ever hear any stories since your father, I mean, if not your father, your grandfather, when he first came, was still during the time of the Chinese exclusion?

[00:43:16]
Eng: Oh yeah!

[00:43:17]
Meghelli: Did you ever hear any stories of the impact it had on his experience or on your family at all or was that something that --

[00:43:28]
Eng: Um, we hear, um, our grandfather was not very, I don't know, he was very quiet and so we didn't really talk to him very much.

[00:43:40]
Eng: And you know, we're kids, we didn't really think about, oh, we should know, talk to him, ask him, what his experience was.

[00:43:47]
Eng: But, um, we do know, you know, people who, um, who have, quote quote, paper names.

[00:43:55]
Eng: You know, where, you know, they're not really a Lee, they're actually, you know, a Wong or something.

[00:44:03]
Eng: You know, and, um, so that's, that's about the extent of it.

[00:44:09]
Eng: And, you know, another thing, these long separations, you know, these families, that, you know you just --

[00:44:15]
[[silence]]

[00:44:19]
Eng: So all, and I think, the whole generation of these Chinese men being here, you know --

[00:44:26]
Eng: They, not having a family, I think, um, change the prospects because --

[00:44:32]
Eng: I mean, sometimes, it's really the woman that will hold a family together.

[00:44:37]
Eng: And you know, it's like my parents, you know, my, they both work but my, it was my mother who saved the money.

[00:44:47]
Eng: You know, who, sort of, um, kept a handle on, you know, make sure that the kids have the things that they need --

[00:44:55]
Eng: was, you know, the father's role is just, go out and get a job, that's pretty much it. You know, very little parental involvement. At least for his generation --

[00:45:06]
Eng: You know, they didn't feel that they had any more responsibility than putting food on the table.

[[00:45:13]]
Meghelli: The experience of working with Eastern Wind, um, did that, in a sense, raise, did it inspire any curiosity in you to be interested and learn about Chinese American history? Um, because that, for instance --

[[00:45:33]]
Eng: It did

[[00:45:34]]
Meghelli: You know, like, like, this, The Chinatown History Project, um, was one of the very earliest, um, examples of the documentation of D.C. Chinatown history and so, in that regard, it's actually, you know, a really important and so I'm just wondering whether being involved in Eastern Wind, kind of, had an impact on your world view?

[[00:46:00]]
Eng: Oh yes. It had to have. Um, I think, had I not been involved with it, my level of awareness would probably be very low. You know um, even the history of, you know, building the railroad, or the exclusion act, or Angel Island, or, you know, all the um, discrimination that people went through. So, definitely, um, it raised my level of awareness. I remember, you know, going to New York because one of the photographers came down and took pictures, and then there was a demonstration in New York City so, you know, we all, you know, drove up there and were part of that whole demonstration group. Um, but I think once, so that was really more the college years, but once I started to work it really was, sort of, um, total emersion in learning my job, um, and really try to make a success of it. Um, feeling that, um, there's a lot of headwinds, you know, against my chosen profession, that if I didn't work hard and make a living out of it then I would've, um, then I should've listened to my mother. Uh, you know, should have found a profession. So it was really more of um...