Here we are in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., which was founded on July 16, 1790. Its geographic location on the Eastern Coast, between the North and South, bordering both Maryland and Virginia, and sitting on the north bank of the Potomac River has placed it as the center of many historical happenings and events. Even more remarkable is its political geography where one can presently find 174 foreign embassies as well the headquarters of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Pan American Health Organization, and other institutions of higher learning, politics, and power.
The national capital has had a long and complex history, from the early forced removal of Native people to its symbolic role as a site on which in many civil and human rights and social justice battles have been fought. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom during which Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his now iconic "I Have a Dream" speech took place here in DC on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial overlooking the Reflecting Pool in 1963. And in 2009, the country welcomed its first president of African and multiracial descent, President Barack Obama, who now makes his home with his family in the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue.
This is just to say, consider the social histories and rich cultural heritage of the location of our 38th Annual Conference while taking in sights and sounds of Washington, DC.
While making your way around, do take the time to explore such neighborhoods as U Street, once known as the District's "Black Broadway" where much musical history took place, or Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown where a once thriving community of Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans can be remembered through the neighborhood's architecture and remaining bakeries and restaurants. While gentrification has transformed many of the District's ethnic, racial, and immigrant communities and neighborhoods, we are also seeing new waves of immigration and new ways of urban negotiation between people that make for a vibrant and interesting experience.
While you are here in Washington, DC, spend some time at the National Cathedral, the sixth-largest in the world, as well as the numerous monuments, memorials, and museums found on the National Mall. The National Museum of American History, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Museum of Natural History, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Freer Gallery of Art, and the National Air and Space Museum are just a few of the museums affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. The United States National Archives should also be noted as it holds many of the original documents dating back to the founding of this country.
At a glance, Washington, D.C. has much to offer, from repositories rich with historical information to top institutions of higher learning to accessibility to those individuals and agencies connected to inner workings of power. I hope you all take the time to not only engage in critical and constructive dialogues in each of your conference panels but that you spend time networking and getting to know the local ins and outs of this area.
Our theme of "Who Counts and Who's Counting" signals the importance of Washington, D.C. as a physical, cultural, and social nexus for policy decisions that will shape the 21st Century. With the 2010 Census signaling the dramatic changes that are affecting all ethnic and racial communities in the United States, who is doing the counting and how we construct the discourse and policies of who counts will be central to the future of all residents of the United States and will shape global relations around the world. We hope you will participate in this important dialogue; welcome to NAES 2010 in Washington, D.C.!
Dr. Larry Shinagawa, NAES 2010 Conference Chair
