Nearly a decade ago, activist Sue Kay saw Yin Yu waiting alone at a Hillman City bus stop. Kay had just attended Yu’s pop-up climate change and social justice event nearby and offered her a ride home. Today, Yu still thinks about this moment.
“It was just very sweet,” Yu, 39, said. “Now, I know that if I asked her to give another young person a ride — she’s always going to, just being a caring auntie.” Today, Kay, 78, still plays an auntie-like role in Yu’s life, from catching up over sweet treats to supporting her through grief, including Yu’s father’s death at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The friends have also bonded over their mutual love for Seattle’s Chinatown International District, where they work on community organizing with the CID Coalition, an advocacy group fighting gentrification and displacement in the neighborhood. Through their friendship, Yu hears Seattle stories she’d never read in history books, including what it was like for Kay to be one of Bruce Lee’s first female students, or playing as a teenager on the under-construction portions of Interstate 5, which divided her neighborhood . “She’s been around for these pivotal moments,” Yu said.
“It makes me feel connected to the history [and] the ongoing resistance of the neighborhood. ..
. She is my avenue to the stories that I am missing.” In turn, younger people like Yu have helped Kay, a longtime Seattle activist, deepen her understanding of social justice issues li.
