The historic Lone Fir Cemetery is nestled in inner Southeast Portland, and it is one of Portland’s second-largest arboretums. However, many Portlanders are unaware of an important and tragic legacy of one of the cemetery's most visible burial plots: Block 14.
Block 14 - located on the busy corner of SE 20th and Morrison - today looks like an empty field, which sits in stark contrast to the rest of Lone Fir’s expanse of headstones and memorials. But at one time, the site was crowded with headstones bearing Chinese writing. At the easternmost end, a shrine and funerary burner allowed mourners to make offerings to the deceased in accordance with Chinese traditions for honoring the dead.
This week, the Commission heard from the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Portland Lodge about the history of the Lone Fir Cemetery and the actions taken by Multnomah County starting in the late 1940s that resulted in the bulldozing of the site, which included the removal of the headstones and shrine, as well as the disinterment and loss of the remains for 265 Chinese Americans for the construction of a transportation operations building and parking lot.
The Chinese American Citizens Alliance Portland Lodge also presented plans of a new memorial and education center to commemorate Block 14 and honor the Chinese Americans buried at the site. Additionally, a formal apology from Multnomah County was requested to acknowledge the history of Block 14 on behalf of the Chinese American Community.
Commissioner Brim-Edwards extended her appreciation to the community-led effort to create a memorial at the site and acknowledged the need to repair the harms to the Chinese American community, stating the following:
“I went to Washington High School - now Revolution Hall - not far from the Lone Fir Cemetery, and it's been on my regular commute route for over 50 years. What’s clear, having driven by or walked by the Cemetery, is the County’s actions have completely erased evidence of Block 14 and the presence of the Chinese cemetery.
“It’s also hard not to acknowledge the juxtaposition of the treatment of two different groups of Portlanders, given the very careful tending of the adjacent grave sites of prominent white Portlanders who are buried in the Lone Fir Cemetery.
Apologies have the ability to advance healing, and I’m fully supportive of Multnomah County making a formal apology to the descendants of those buried at Block 14 and to today’s Chinese American community living in Oregon. Apologies can be difficult to make, but they are important as they make us closely examine the facts and past actions that led to community harm. Apologies can evoke feelings of shame and humility, but that is exactly why an apology is so powerful.”