1. 20 The Mesa Paper August 2013 21
FROM CCCSAA -- MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Keith Mar and Kathleen Baggarley-Mar:
dedicated to preventing and healing the wounds of
discrimination and abuse
“Contrary to common belief, a child
senses it early on,” says Keith Mar, a
prominent Santa Barbara psychotherapist,
citing child development research on
racial differences.
“At age two or three, a child begins
to notice. At age four, he is able to place
different groups in a racial hierarchy.”
“In other words, a child begins to
internalize the spoken and unspoken
messages: which groups are more or less
valued in society,” he explains.
Keith himself would know.
Growing up in both racially diverse
and mostly white neighborhoods, he and
his brothers endured taunting and bullying
because of their race on a regular basis.
With distinctAsian looks, Keith is
stereotypically viewed as a “perpetual for-
eigner,” --one that is likely to be seen either
as Chinese or Japanese, the usual lumping
together of those ofAsian descent. He is
likely presumed not to speak English.
Keith relates that just recently, a
solicitor comes to his door and without as
much a “Hello” or other pleasantries, the
man asks him “Do you speak English?”
Of course, when Keith does speak in
of American colloquialism, he will likely
hear a surprised, “Oh, you speak English
very well.”
Keith, in fact, was born and raised
in California, a 5th generation Chinese
American* whose maternal great great
grandmother named Lily Lam was born in
the Almaden Valley, southeast of San Jose
in the 1860s.** Arranged by matchmak-
ers, she was wed as a “picture bride.”
Today, Keith is a licensed Mar-
riage and Family Therapist (MFT) and
a clinical member of the Asian American
Psychological Association.
His youth in central California
Born May 1951 in Fresno, Keith is
the son of a Chinese American couple
Thomas Mar, a grocer, and Ruby Lew,
homemaker. He has two younger brothers
Dave and James.
His elementary schooling began at
Franklin then Holman, on to Cooper Jr.
High for his 7th through 9th grades.
When the family moved to Bakers-
racial taunts persisted.
“It is a somewhat surreal experience,”
he states. “There’s a sense of disorientation
and a lack of comprehension about why
you are being victimized. It certainly leaves
you feeling a lack of place.”
Keith cites research that shows that
bias,often unconscious, occurs in all
groups --on issues of race, sex, religion,
among others.
To expound, he draws from a favorite
quote by Morris Dees:***
There should be no shame that we
have prejudice on such matters as race,
orientation or religion. What is shameful
is our failure to examine them.
“Bias is true even in the academe,”
notes Keith.
“A fascinating 2012 study in
Yale demonstrates the power of uncon-
scious or implicit bias in the gender
arena,” he states.
He says that according to the New
York Times, science professors at Ameri-
can universities judged female undergrad-
uates less competent than male students,
even with identical resumes.”
In the study, professors were asked to
applicants, half of whom was named John;
the other half, Jennifer.
The result showed that bias was
pervasive, “probably reflecting uncon-
scious cultural influences rather than
overt or intentional discrimination,”
points out Keith. Women were less likely
to be offered mentoring or a job. When
offered a job, the salary was lower.
Still, the most shocking: just like their
male colleagues, the female professors
were as biased against women students.
Finding his career
After high school, Keith enrolled
at Porterville Community College for a
general course of study.
Preparing for a junior transfer to Cal
State University Chico, he realized that
most of his electives were in psychology
and human relations. “So I became psy-
chology major by default,” he points out.
“I did not have a career choice in
mind at all,” he shares. “Unlike today’s
generation where campus tours are a
must, I had given so little thought to my
academic career that I did not even know
where Chico was when I was accepted!”
He soon found a “wonderful psychol-
ogy department” at Chico campus. “My
career interests began to crystallize.
He fondly remembers Clarence Mahler,
the professor emeritus, counselor and depart-
ment chair for thirty years, whose expertise
was group counseling in schools, and led
a group counseling program for clergy in
Northern California for ten years.
“We would meet at his home and
learn to lead counseling groups in a real
group, where we talked about real issues.
It was at once a transformative, intimidat-
ing and exciting time,” he notes with a
To celebrate their roots and for good citizenship,
Central Coast Asian Americans unite
In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon
bombings, many got to thinking about im-
migrant assimilation into the mainstream.
Happily, earlier this year before the
tragic incident, local Asian Americans
have been coming together in Santa Bar-
bara -- for historical, socio-cultural and
good citizenship goals.
Consider some statistics:
Asian Americans comprise 4.8% of
the U.S. population. They are sometimes
characterized as a model minority because
many of their cultures encourage a strong
work ethic, a respect for elders, a high
degree of professional and academic suc-
cess, a high valuation of family education
and religion. They have historically been
the target of violence based on their race
and ethnicity. (Wikipedia)
Asian Americans are the highest-
income, best-educated and fastest-growing
racial group in the U.S, with Asians now
making up the largest share of recent im-
migrants.(Pew Research)
In the Central Coast, however, one does
not see very manyAsiansAmericans, except
in the school campuses of UCSB and SBCC,
and as tourists in downtown Santa Barbara
and other key cities of the area.
California Central Coast Society of
Asian Americans (CCCSAA) is now in
its birthing process -- “to celebrate our
similar geographic origins with diverse
cultures but strong ethnic ties with the
vision for ourselves and our future Asian
Americans to better appreciate our com-
mon cultures, ethnicity and geographic
origins to be better, more tolerant and
globally-oriented U.S. citizens.” It aims
to make its constituents more productive,
relevant and responsible members of the
American society.
Thus, its call to residents of the
Central Coast -- in the Tri-counties, the
North counties who are of Asian descent
including the Northeast, the Southeast, the
In May, CCCSAAhad a registry at the
Mesa Spring Fest, then a celebration dinner
series of charter membership meetings.
The potluck lunch was held at EF Interna-
tional Language Centers (a big supporter
of CCCSAA) on Chapala St.
Keynote was by Prof. John S.W. Park,
Ph.D., chair of the Dept. ofAsianAmerican
Keith Mar
*Early Sino-American maritime trade began
in the mid1600s when the Chinese “established
Spanish galleons that sailed between the Philippines
and Mexican ports,” both colonies of Spain.
But the beginnings of Chinese American his-
tory generally refer to the time when Cantonese men
came during the Gold Rush. The laborer migrants
later built the transcontinental railroad.
Today, there are 3.6 million Chinese Americans
comprising 1.6 % of the general population, often
alluded to as the ‘model minority.’
** named after the New Almaden Quicksilver
Mines, a mercury mine during the Gold Rush.
***A book publisher, Morris Seligman Dees,
Jr., co-founded and was chief trial counsel for
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), that sued
organizations in discrimination cases. Earlier, he
had defended a Ku Klux Klan member who was
acquitted but he later regretted his role. He became
one of the principal architects of using civil lawsuits
against an organization for a wrongful acts --secur-
ing court judgment for money damages and to seize
assets (money, land, buildings, other property) to
pay the judgment. In 1981, Dees successfully sued
KKK in Alabama --winning a $7 million judgment
for lynching victim Michael Donald’s mother, which
bankrupted the Klan. It was the last recorded black
lynching in the U.S.
The first of a series of
CCCSAA charter member-
ship meetings held July
13th in Santa Barbara,
here showing from left,
seated: the Murphy Family
- Shamus&Julie with daugh-
ters Lela and baby Shay,
the speakers: Bank Execu-
tive Terease Chin, UCSB
Prof. John S.W. Park,
Carpinteria Councilmember
Wade Nomura; stand-
ing: Megan Murphy and
Nicole Halverson of host
EF International, Kathleen
Baggerly & Keith Mar, Lydia
Alcantara, David&Amy
Rhiger, Mei-Ling Mason,
Helen Wong and
Roxanne Nomura.
beam in his eyes. “I had a life-changing
counseling class”
During a mock counseling session,
he had an epiphany: “This is something I
may be able to do well.”
Since then, he knew he had found his
calling, “I have always wanted to be of
service --to help people see their worth
and reach their potential.”
-
enced in his career choice by his mother.
“She was a curious person who always
wondered what makes people behave in
certain ways,” he notes.
His early experiences with discrimi-
life-long fascination with human motiva-
tion and behavior.
Kathleen, his professional and life
partner
While in Chico, Keith met Kathleen
Baggarley, a Masters in Fine Arts student
and an accomplished ceramicist from Con-
cord in the East Bay of San Francisco. She
became a lifetime secondary credentialed
art teacher and taught high school in Tur-
lock, a town between Modesto and Merced.
The two hit it off nicely, began dat-
ing, and later married on July 6, 1985 in
Santa Barbara.
Prior to their marriage, in 1975,
Keith had come to UCSB for his graduate
course in counseling psychology with a
University of California graduate fellow-
he began work with Asian American EOP
(Equal Opportunity Program), counseling
an all Asian American student clientele.
“It was pivotal for me,” Keith relates.
“It was an awakening as I truly began to
explore my cultural roots and embrace
my Asian American identity.”
It became a turning point as he began
to recall his earlier experiences with
his friends in Porterville-- Filipino and
Mexican kids, many relegated to poverty
-- “on the other side of the tracks.”
Meanwhile, Kathleen was inspired by
Keith’s passion and decided to enroll at
obtaining her own Counseling Psychology
Masters diploma.
A focus on compassionate healing
Keith and Kathleen are both psycho-
therapists in private practice. They run
their Aspen Center for Therapy.
Since 1979, the modest, good-natured
couple have been pioneers in helping
survivors of sexual abuse and their fami-
lies heal from their trauma in the Santa
Barbara county area.
-
sive child sexual abuse treatment program
in Santa Barbara County that year.
child sexual abuse prevention program in
the Santa Barbara classrooms on a county-
program of its kind in California.
Since 1985, Keith and Kathleen have
served as adjunct professors at a number
of colleges, universities and graduate
Institute, Antioch University, SBCC and
UCSB extension. They shared their ex-
pertise in workshops and conferences with
local, statewide and national audiences.
In 1993, the Mars served on a fact-
Anthony Seminary sexual abuse scandal,
a big shock to local residents. This event
happened long before such cases against
the Catholic Church exploded on the
national scene.The panel’s report and rec-
ommendations for addressing the problem
garnered national attention.
“Our outreach efforts included send-
ing a letter to all of the former students
of the seminary,” cites Kathleen. It was
reported that 900 letters were sent to former
students from the 1960s through the 1980s.
“I will always vividly recall a phone
call from one of the survivors who said
that the letter saved his life. He was liter-
ally moments away from taking his own
life when he read our letter and changed
his mind,” Kathleen recalls a heart-rend-
ing moment of their panel work.
“Many of the victims waited liter-
ally for years to tell their story about the
abuse. It was tremendously gratifying to
offer them the opportunity ... to not keep
this secret any longer,” she points out.
Following their time on the panel,
they served on the board of directors of
an organization that funded the therapy of
clergy abuse survivors across the nation.
Beyond the area of child abuse, Keith
-
ticultural psychology, teaching graduate
courses on the topic.
He works with a diverse clientele
of white clients and people of color and
places a priority in providing cultur-
ally competent therapy for everyone he
serves.
In 2008, Keith received a commenda-
tion from then mayor of Santa Barbara,
Marty Blum,“inrecognition of his accom-
-
tions to the community and for the special
assistance he has provided to his clients
and so many who are in need.”
With his warm and cheery personal-
ity, Keith easily creates openness and trust
in his clients, a key to his effectiveness as
a professional for the past thirty years.
“I still remain as passionate as ever
about working with people. I feel privi-
leged that I get to play a part in the heal-
ing and growth of those I am fortunate to
work with,” says Keith. “ I am in awe of
people’s resiliency and humbled by their
courage and strength.”
Keith and Kathleen have devoted their
joint professional careers to making a differ-
ence in the lives of their numerous clients,
goals. They continue to do so to this day.
They are now most valued charter
members of the inchoate California Cen-
tral Coast Society (CCCSAA).
in spoken word poetry, “an oral perfor-
mance of poetry that is intended to be
heard and not read.”
In 2001, Julie Rong and Ashley
Park’s review of this Asian American
community art form showed that it has
become a “grassroots political movement,
an agent of social activism, and above all,
a deeply personal form of art.”
Keith shares: “I feel I have reclaimed
my cultural identity by writing and
performing spoken word poetry. For me,
spoken word creates a safe environment to
topics such as race, gender and oppression.
“Ultimately, to me, it serves as
a bridge that creates an emotional con-
nection across cultures.
“Nothing is more gratifying than hav-
ing people say to me “I’m glad you said
what I’ve been feeling” or” I’ve never
thought about that before.”
More than just of the mind, Keith
explores movements of the heart.
Studies and The Center for New Racial
Studies in UCSB who spoke on: What is
theAsianAmerican story? He is an author
of three books on immigrants, including
one co-authored by his brother Dr. Edward
J.W. Park entitled Probationary Americans:
Contemporary Immigration Policies and the
Shaping of Asian American Communities.
-
migrants fromAsia has dramatically changed
with the switch from the basic humanitarian
policies that focused on professionals and
the high tech- skilled. He described the new
policies to be “much more calculating, more
exclude the poor.
The UCSB professor pointed out that
Asian immigrants in the category then
made up about 60% of the U.S. immi-
grants, and many of them “adjusted” their
status, outnumbering those who came
from foreign countries.
Dr. Park, who grew up in Los An-
geles, also related how his single mother
migrated from Korea, sponsored by their
Today, both he and brother Ed (also chair
of Asian American Studies, Loyola Mary-
mount U in Los Angeles) have doctorates
and devote their work in the academe.
Carpinteria Councilmember Wade
Nomura spoke on Asian American leader-
ship. He cited three basic characteristics
that a good leader must possess: adapt-
ability - able to change and not have
preconceived opinions; discipline- not
taking things personally and strong when
willingness to listen to all viewpoints.
“Freedom of speech, our First
Amendment right, is taken away if we do
not listen to what is being said, “ Coun-
cilmember Nomura pointed out. “Listen-
ing is practicing respect.”
He declared.“A public servant must
serve the public, and not be self serv-
ing.” He further stated: “Great leaders are
others --and protect the rights of others.”
Coming from one of the many Japa-
nese American farmer families in Santa
Barbara, Councilmember Nomura etched
-with his world-renowned Nomura bike,
his successful landscaping business, and
his trendsetting work with the Rotary
Club. He came with wife Roxanne, who is
also a very active Rotarian.
of Montecito Bank & Trust who is of Chi-
nese descent, talked about how CCCSAA
can collaborate with Santa Barbara Trust for
Historic Preservation (SBTHP) on its proj-
ects for theAsianAmerican community.
There’s Jimmy’s Oriental Garden
to help interpret the history of the Asian
American community in the Presidio
neighborhood. Sharing Our Common
Ground had a three-part community lec-
ture series discussing the Asian American
history in the Presidio and greater S.B.
areas. Its 4th Annual Asian American
Film Series had screenings at Alhecama
Theatre in July ( Somewhere Between, I
Am Bruce Lee, The Cats of Mirikitani )
www.sbthp.org, 805. 965-0093.
Born in San Francisco and raised
in Santa Barbara, Chinese/Filipino-Irish
Shamus Murphy shared his experiences
producer, he recorded in his documentary
“Anchor Baby.”His vision for Shamus
Entertainment is to one day “bring back
of the Flying A studio from the 1920’s.”
CCCSAA prime movers are Michael
Cheng, Terease Chin, Amy Rhiger and
Alice San Andres-Calleja.
The next charter membership meeting
is on October 15.
mikecheng3@verizon.net, 689-6700 or
themesapaper@gmail.com, 845-6870
CCCSAA presence at
the last of S.B. Trust
for Historic Preserva-
tion (SBTHP)’s film
screening of The Cats
of Mirikitani (L-R) left,
Michael Cheng, and
Shamus Murphy flanking
Jarrell Jackman, SBTHP’s
executive director with
another guest; below:
Terease Chin (L) with
Mesa neighbors Shail and
Joanne Mehta.
Top, Keith with wife and professional partner
Kathleen Baggarley-Mar and son Joshua, age 25;
Above, with their children Kaitlyn, 2,3 and Joshua.
Both live in town close to their loving parents..
(805) 964-1966, Kmar11@cox.net