By ELLEN ENDO
Rafu Managing Editor
Monday, April 10, 2006 3:00 A.M.
Precautions were taken after artifacts were unearthed, says spokesperson.
A Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) spokesperson maintains that the Agency followed proper procedures in handling the century-old skeletal remains of 108 Chinese immigrants discovered recently during excavation near Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights.
Irvin Lai, 78, stands in front of the MTA excavation site in Boyle Heights where skeletal remains of 108 Chinese immigrants were recently unearthed. Photos by MARIO G. REYES, Rafu Shimpo
Initially identified as Asian after being unearthed by an MTA Gold Line work crew, the remains are now believed to belong to Chinese laborers who in the late 1800s helped build the railroad on the edge of the emerging downtown Los Angeles area. Also found were artifacts, including bowls, spoons, Chinese coins, opium pipes, Chinese burial bricks and jewelry.
Jose Ubaldo, MTA media relations officer, told The Rafu Shimpo March 29, that the Agency took precautions to ensure the remains were appropriately managed. Shortly after the discovery was made, the MTA brought in archaeologist Sherri Gust of the Santa Ana-based Cogstone Resource Management Company according to Ubaldo.
The MTA initially presented its findings at a Boyle Heights Community Center meeting, recalls Ubaldo. “As soon as it was confirmed that the remains were Chinese,” says Ubaldo, “we notified the (Chinese) Historical Society.” The remains were then carefully removed, and a special ad hoc subcommittee was formed to look into re-interment and preservation of the artifacts.
However, Irvin Lai, a past president and board chair of the
Chinese Historical Society of So. Calif., says the MTA took too much time
before acting. “They didn’t want to stop construction,” he contends. “We
found out (about the discovery) from an anonymous tip,” Lai asserts.
The MTA is constructing an extension of the Gold Line from
Union Station through Little Tokyo to East Los Angeles. A public meeting to
review the MTA’s actions is scheduled for April 27 at Castelar Elementary
School in Chinatown.
Meanwhile, an investigation ordered March 16 in a motion by
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich is looking into, among
other things, why the gravesite went undetected during the environmental study
and pre-construction phases of the $898 million Metro Gold Line expansion
project.
Lai contends that the MTA was informed of the probable
existence of fossils and potter’s field at First and Lorena Sts. nearly three
years ago in a 2003 environmental impact report (EIR). Lai also states that a
document found at the L.A. County Hall of Records dated June 19, 1923 indicates
there could be as many as 902 Chinese buried in the vicinity.
“These Chinese immigrant laborers helped build the rail
infrastructure that allowed L.A. County to prosper economically,” says
Antonovich, “and they were interred in a manner that lacked the proper dignity
and respect that should have been accorded to these workers.”
The Supervisor hopes that the investigation will help avoid
similar problems in the future. The MTA Board of Directors has 90 days to bring
back results of the investigation.
Lai, who has spent much of his 78 years as a community
activist, says Chinese immigrants were historically denied human rights. He
notes that the Boyle Heights potter’s field established by the city for those
unable to afford burial. While most people could be buried for free, Chinese
were charged $10 each.
“We know the names of (many of) those who were interred (at
the site), but all the grave markers are gone,” Lai states. “We’ve known for
some time that there was a graveyard somewhere (near Evergreen) but could never
find it.”
Antonovich’s motion also directs MTA Chief Executive Officer
Roger Snoble to develop a plan for the MTA to provide a dignified and fitting
burial for the discovered remains and work with the appropriate cultural and
historical agencies to devise a memorial.
“It’s about respect,” emphasizes Lai, who would like to see
the remains buried on Evergreen Cemetery grounds. “This isn’t just Chinese
history, it’s American history.
”In 1989 and again in 1991, evidence of what was once the
eastern boundary of L.A.’s Chinatown dating back to the 1930s was unearthed
during construction of the Metro-Rail Red Line in the Union Station area. Some
1,034 artifacts were systemically removed and catalogued at the time. The
collection currently resides at the University of Southern California.
[This article is reprinted with permission from Rafu Shrimpo.]