Editorial: Ting memorial is about the past, and the present

“By common consent of all the nations and all the ages,” observed Mark Twain, “the most valuable thing in this world is the homage of men, whether deserved or undeserved.”

And, with that, ladies and gentlemen of Sonoma, I give you: the donor brick.

Donor bricks, sometimes referred to as recognition bricks, are ornate pavers on or near a philanthropically endowed public artwork or memorial graced with the names of the generous private individuals who’ve funded its glorious construction.

Or, in other words, it’s an effective fundraising tool for getting some local hoity-toities to pony up for a bronze-ish something or other in a park.

Donor bricks have been in the news the past few weeks as a local effort to fund the building of a small Depot Park pavilion to honor 19th century Chinese laborers has faced pushback from city leaders who say such bricks are inappropriate on city owned property.

That’s bad news for members of the Sonoma-Penglai Sister City Committee – the local nonprofit that’s been working the past five years to bring the Chinese pavilion, called a “ting,” to fruition – because they’ve raised $50,000, or 40 percent of their fundraising goal, on the promise of inscribing for posterity the names of its most substantial financial supporters on such bricks.

And the Sonoma City Council on Aug. 19 voted 4-1, with David Cook in dissent, to reject the use of donor bricks as part of the Ting.

Which means the folks in the Sonoma-Penglai Sister City Committee are going to have to make this unenviable phone call:

Riiiing…. “Hello? Yes, I’m calling from the Penglai Committee about the $2,500 donation you made toward the Ting. Thank you so much for your generous support! And about that promise we made regarding your family ‘becoming part of Sonoma history’ on the memorial? Well, it seems it’s a no-can-do on account of city regulations – but would you mind donating the money nonetheless?” (Awkward silence…)

It makes my having to return messages about newspaper delivery problems and misspelled names on the sports page seem like a day at the beach.

The City Council said they were not made aware of the brick fundraising campaign until recently and wouldn’t have approved the design if it had known the donor recognition was an element – city property belongs to all 11,000 residents and branding portions of it through the purchase/donation of a naming brick isn’t fair to the community as a whole, council members say.

As Councilmember Rachel Hundley pointedly observed in the Aug. 19 meeting: Donations should come from the heart, not from a need to be recognized.

And she’s right.

Who wouldn’t prefer that philanthropy was always a pure act of anonymous benevolence; that means are gifted because a cause is just.

That’s the way it should be.

But ask any fundraiser – it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to cough up $2,500 for a gazebo with no mention of his family slapped on a wall panel.

If that weren’t the case, we wouldn’t be talking about donor bricks in the first place.

Besides, when it comes to putting donor names on city-owned property, not only is the Pandora’s box in Sonoma wide open – we think we saw the Pandora Family named as a benefactor of a recognition bench along the Sonoma Bike Path.

More than a dozen recognition plaques currently inscribe shout outs to various community organizations on the Sonoma Plaza. Heck, the Vallejo Monument alone lists more than 30 benefactors at its Spain Street location on the Plaza, and the council was in glowing support of that project just two years ago. Robert Demler, former City Historian and one of the leaders in the drive to establish the monument, says the project would never have happened if recognition of its prominent financial and volunteer supporters wasn’t in the cards.

The four council members who say the donor bricks are inappropriate – and they are the only four people in the city to have voiced any objection to the donor bricks we have heard thus far – say the Ting Memorial is an especially poor choice for donor recognition, because the memorial is meant to commemorate the labor and suffering of the ill-treated 19th century Chinese immigrants.

To also commemorate 21st century Sonomans who have an extra grand to drop on a Ting, they say, is in poor taste.

It’s a noble argument to make.

But there’s an even better one: That the Ting’s purpose is actually enhanced by the bricks.

The North Bay Chinese immigrants of the 19th century built our railroads, dug our mines, carved our wine caves and shrimped our waterways; like many immigrants today, they toiled in the drudgery that Californians of European descent refused to do.

They were hard working and skilled laborers, with many earning enough to settle and raise families in the North Bay. But when immigrant communities find success, racism is rarely far behind – and state and national legislation of the late 19th century stripped the Chinese of many of their rights to travel and work, forcing a choice for many: return to China or remain and face a future of stark austerity.

Now, 140 years later, the City of Sonoma is trying to make amends – to recognize the injustices levied against the Chinese immigrants and honor their legacy in the history of wine country.

A brief glimpse at the list of donor brick recipients adds to the story. There are some familiar names – longtime Valley residents who are no strangers to calls from fundraising campaigns. But also in the mix among the donors cited on the Sister Cities website are many Chinese last names and, if one counts the donations listed that don’t buy a donor brick, there are dozens of Chinese or Chinese Americans who’ve pledged to make the Ting a reality. They’re listed alongside French, Greek, German, Anglo and Russian-sounding last names.

It’s a reflection of the cultural inroads that have been paved since the Chinese immigrants were sent packing in America’s darker moments – and a reminder that diversity can still win out over ignorance and fear.

Not only have descendants of those original Chinese Californians thrived, but newer immigrants from the east and west and across the world have come together to make Sonoma the place it is today. A better place. A kinder, more tolerant place.

Without the donor bricks, the Ting is a commemoration of suffering and injustice. With the bricks, it’s a story of triumph over those things.

The most valuable thing in this world is the homage of men, Twain observed. Whether deserved or undeserved.

In the case of the Sonoma Ting, it’s an homage deserved.

Contact Jason at jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.