We are all Immigrants

“Of course, we couldn’t all come over on the Mayflower. But I got here as soon as I could, and I never wanted to go back.”

Anton Cermak

We are America

“Speaking different tongues, we nevertheless meet here today as brothers…Henceforth we have one country, one hope, one destiny”

Justice Nathaniel Bennett

These are our Stories

“One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say,

You’re not as alone as you thought.”

John Steinbeck

Read a Story

Latest Stories

Karen Weliky

Life Through Her Eyes

For 98-year-old Bertha Lee Saiget, Portland’s Chinatown is more than a mark on a map or a tourist destination. Its history is her life, and she has borne witness to […]

Sankar Raman

A Return to Her Roots

For as long as she could remember, Shirley Yee was enchanted with Cantonese opera. The emotion of its music, the grace of its performers, and the complexity of their  

Sankar Raman

Creating Peace Amid Conflict

Djimet Dogo will never forget seeing the boy, no more than 8 years old, who had been whipped by a soldier until he was bleeding from the chest.

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Featured Stories

Sankar Raman

Following Music to Freedom

It has always been music that has guided Ahmad Fanoos’ life. “My whole family liked music,” he explains. “And it was part of my life from a very early age.”

Sankar Raman

Finding Strength in a Complex Heritage

“Being 100% American means fully accepting your heritage — whatever it is,” Mitzi Loftus says, reflecting on her experience growing up in Oregon

Sankar Raman

Gaza Is Full of Dreams

Living in Gaza — one of the most dangerous places on earth — the Al Ghussein family learned years ago that where there is smoke,  

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Live! Stories

Nothing Else But Miracles

Samir was a teenager in love, his days full of farm chores, school and walking his girlfriend home. When war came to his corner of northeastern Bosnia,  

Saved Twice, Once in Body, Once in Spirit

Emmanuel was a Sunday school baby, the son of a preacher, who grew up in the church, sang in the choir, and read scriptures for the services.  

A Story I Never Signed Up For

Rama could not escape the war all around her – the sounds of bullets, the sights of suicide bombings, the constant fear of being caught in the middle of an […]

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Latest Podcast Episodes

Finally Free to Make Music Again

Ahmad Fanoos spent the first 57 years of his life searching for the freedom to play music.  In Afghanistan, where singing and playing music were banned under the

Sankar Raman

You Know What, This Is Me, Okay?

Franke Tokem Powell was born in Central Africa, in the city of Douala, Cameroon. Growing up in the 90’s, Franke did not feel that he’d ever be  

Sankar Raman

Patriotism Despite Incarceration

Janice Okamoto was just a baby, only a few months old, when she was sent to Minidoka with her family. Her father was a musician, and like all the

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Latest Conversations

Sankar Raman

Conversation Series: 200% American

Mitzi Asai Loftus and her son Toby talk frankly about her memories of growing up in Hood River, Oregon; her childhood incarceration  

Sankar Raman

Here From the Very Beginning

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri is one of the nation’s leading scholars of Islam in the United States. In this conversation, he sat down with writer and educator Flamur Vehapi  

Rani Bagai

Living In a Gilded Cage

In the early 1900s, Rani Bagai’s grandparents arrived in California ready to start a new life. But citizenship requirements and prejudice against  

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Featured Movies

To Bear Witness: Closure

On a journey to come to terms with their losses, a group of Holocaust survivors from Portland, OR, travel together to six of the locations where concentration camps

To Bear Witness: Reconciliation

A survivor of the genocide in Rwanda when he was a teenager, Emmanuel Turanturanye has a theory about why he is alive: to tell rest of world what happened

To Bear Witness: Building Community

After the Khmer Rouge killed her husband, Saron’s mother gathered her three small children and made her way to a refugee camp in Thailand and, finally, to America.  

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Live! Music

Temple Romance – Live on Stage

Temple Romance goes to South Indian classical flute melodies blended with a strong string and chorale harmonies. Bala’s inspiration for this piece is derived from  

Magic Gem – Live on Stage

Magic Gem takes a classic Western melody and adapts it to an Eastern classical vibe using the Chinese erhu, played by Jerry Lin. 

Hit the Strings – Live on Stage

Hit the Strings is based on a Middle Eastern musical scale and features the Japanese koto played by Masumi Timson. Many cultural influences flow between  

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What We Carried

Jim Lommasson

Painted Letter #2, Berlin, Germany

Eva Rickles: This is the second letter from Peter, expressing the joy he felt to receive my parents’ response to his first letter written from Shanghai. 

Jim Lommasson

Painted Letter #1, Berlin, Germany

Eva Rickles: Jou and Peter’s Departure (Text below the letter) This picture depicts the exodus of friends of my parents who had to flee from Germany in 1938

Jim Lommasson

Photographs, Budapest, Hungary

Eva E. Aigner:  Our apartment became a house marked by a Jewish star, during the Holocaust. We were taken to the ghetto from here.

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