I’ve walked past the Mukai Farmhouse many times over the last 10 years and have seen it in various iterations. For a while, it seemed dark and neglected. Then it had a blue tarp over its roof, a half-finished project that never seemed to get done. Then a fence went up.

This weekend while walking past it, my son and I marveled at its beauty. The roof project has been completed. The gardens were recently spruced up. Most noteworthy, the fence is down. And I found myself thinking about all that house represents.

It stands as a symbol of multiculturalism, when Japanese-Americans became a part of our country’s tapestry. It’s a symbol of one of America’s darkest moments; while the Mukais were not interned, they were forced to leave their home and move to Idaho because of the anti-Japanese hysteria on the West Coast during World War II. And today, it’s a symbol of something else — of the change a small group of people working in tandem with government agencies can bring about. It’s a symbol of the best of civic activism. The folks who got that house back into the hands of a functional nonprofit were smart and tenacious: They turned to the judicial system; they had government partners; they rallied community support. And it worked. A historical jewel, a symbol of America’s rich heritage and our darker, fear-driven moments, has come back into the public domain. It no longer has a wall around it.

I’ve been in a funk since Nov. 8, but seeing the Mukai Farmhouse on Sunday lifted my spirits and reminded me of the power of civic activism and the twists and turns of our historical narrative. There are many chapters still to be written, and some of them will be good.

— Leslie Brown