Healing Hate: A Community Event Mourning the Theft of Seattle's Sadako Peace Statue

by Soumya Gupta

For decades, the statue of Sadako Sasaki, also known as "Sadako and the Thousand Cranes," in Seattle's Peace Park has been a moving tribute that captures the spirit of hope and resilience. It commemorates a young girl who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima only to succumb to leukemia 10 years later.

Her story, symbolized by the one thousand origami paper cranes she folded in the last three months of her life, was sculpted in 1990 by artist Daryl Smith and erected in Seattle Peace Park that same year. It became a universal emblem of peace and the wish for a world free from nuclear weapons. Despite its message of peace, the statue experienced multiple incidents of vandalism and was stolen on July 12.

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) reported on July 16 that the five-foot-tall bronze statue had been stolen after being cut off at ankle level. The investigation is ongoing.

Members of the Japanese American community and allies are conducting a "healing event" in response to the theft. University Friends Meeting, a Quaker church, will host the gathering on Friday, Aug. 2, from 11 a.m. to noon in Peace Park.

The event, which features speeches, discussions, and a brief ceremony to commemorate Sadako Sasaki, is being sponsored by the Japanese American Citizens League, Tsuru for Solidarity, Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee, and From Hiroshima to Hope, who work towards fostering equity and social justice for the Japanese American community by celebrating its history and legacy.

The Japanese American Citizens League, founded in 1929, is one of the country's oldest community organizations promoting Asian American civil rights and positive change. Tsuru for Solidarity and the Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee both work toward empowering and providing resources to survivors and descendants of Japanese American detention camps in the U.S. From Hiroshima to Hope works to honor victims of the 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

"We will not stand for this act of vandalism — and possibly hate," Stan Shikuma, one of the healing event organizers, said in a University Friends press release. "The Japanese American, Quaker, and U District communities are in deep pain following this horrific act. We invite law enforcement and public officials to help us by restoring the statue and uplifting the park."

Event organizers have encouraged attendees to bring origami cranes in memory of Sasaki folding 1,000 cranes before her death in 1955. Sasaki's statue at Peace Park held a single crane aloft.

Organizers are inviting the public, to speak about Friday's event as well the statue's history on social media — using the hashtag "#IStandWithSadako."

Peace Park was built by peace activist and Quaker Dr. Floyd Schmoe. After being honored with the Hiroshima Peace Prize in 1988, Schmoe used the prize money to build a public space to commemorate Sasaki. Smith, over the years, has also made several restorations to the statue, after multiple incidents of vandalism. The statue is said to have been valued at $25,000, according to the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.

Sadako Sasaki has also been commemorated at the Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima, Japan, along with thousands of children who fell prey to nuclear radiation from the atomic explosions. According to the Center for Nuclear Studies at Columbia University, as many as 200,000 people perished in the atomic explosion in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with many thousands more dying in the months following the disaster.

"Today, we must stand up for Sadako, a real child who died from war and violence, and whose story must never be forgotten, said Mary Hanson, president of From Hiroshima to Hope, in a press release. "We stand up for this missing statue, because Sadako's story reminds us of the creative spirit and inherent value in all victims of war and violence."

This article is published under a Seattle Human Services Department grant, "Resilience Amidst Hate," in response to anti-Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander violence.

📸 Featured Image: (Left) The "Sadako and the Thousand Cranes" sculpture in Peace Park before thieves vandalized and stole the statue on July 12, 2024. (Photo: Lei Ann Shiramizu); (Right) All that remains from the theft of the Sadako sculpture at Peace Park. (Photo: Stan Shikuma)