Next 10 Exits: Reflections on Race and Resilience in Vallejo, California

Trauma + Cultural Pride = Art of Healing

According to the 2010 Census, Vallejo, California has the most racially diverse zip codes in the U.S. As a third-generation Korean Chinese American growing up in 1960s-1980s Vallejo, the Elizabeth Ching's lenses have been shaped by race and resilience. Now-defunct Mare Island Naval Shipyard brought good paying work during World War II; this was why so many different racial and ethnic groups lived in this small city, current population of 122,000. After the closing of the Naval Shipyard, hospitals are the largest employers in Vallejo.

The flip side of trauma can be healing or trauma-informed art. Ernest J. Gaines, author of "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," lived much of his life in Vallejo. Perhaps that is why so many hip-hop artists like E-40, Baby Bash, SOB x RBE, R & B artist, H.E.R., plus athletes C.C. Sabathia, C.J. Anderson, and Natalie Coughlin are Vallejoans.

"Strength through Diversity" is on a plaque at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, yet our current society is much more segregated than during the author's youth. The ten exits in Vallejo are memory markers of the intersections of race and resilience of each of the four racial groups which are almost equally divided to comprise approximately 25% of Vallejo: African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Latinx, and White populations. Those ten exits from the I-80 Freeway East, serve as historical markers of growing up in 1960s to the 1980s in Vallejo.

Elizabeth Ching identifies as an Asian American who is not on the Black-White Dichotomy of how Race is often discussed. She offers essays, poems, paintings, and drawings which deal with identity, race, health disparities, and making art as a survival skill in navigating challenges as a person of color in the U.S.

Vallejo is a microcosm of the U.S. because of its racial diversity. Each of the 10 exits chapters is devoted to Vallejoans of different heritages. As a Native Vallejoan, health care educator/artist, come on Ching's journey through "Ten Exits".