Inside the First Tatar Community Center in North America

I never expected that one of the most emotional days of my trip to San Francisco would happen not at the festival, but inside a quiet building on a side street. This is the home of the American Turco-Tatar Association (ATTA), the first Tatar community center in North America, standing since 1966. I sat down with Turan Apakay, Vice President and former President of ATTA, to talk about what it really means to be Tatar in America, 60+ years in. We talked about families who came from China and Japan after World War II, rebuilt their community from nothing, and somehow kept the language alive for four generations. We talked about peremech and pelmeni made in a kitchen that has seen everything. We talked about what Tatar identity means when you're thousands of miles from Tatarstan. If you're Tatar, part-Tatar, or just curious about one of the world's most resilient diaspora communities, this one's for you.