I was standing onstage at the University of Puget Sound, preparing to give a talk about anti-Chinese violence in the American West, when a man I'd never met stepped up beside me. He was introduced as a member of the Tacoma City Council. Without preamble, he turned to the audience-and then to me. "I tell my kids reconciliation begins with an apology," he said. "On behalf of the city of Tacoma, I am sorry."