Ellen Somekawa, Executive Director, Asian Americans United, Philly
Casino was going to be built at the Chinatown in Philly. Everyone thought it would be great. The only question was how much CHinatown wanted in exchange for having this on their border. They organized. December 2010, the license was revoked. The people voiced their fight against Chinatown to drive casinos out of Chinatown.
Fight against predatory gambling. The business is about impoverishing their clients and addiction. Their motto is Play to Extinction — play until there is no money left to loose. Home equity, future earnings, assets. particularly in philly. this preys on the poor, people of color to maximize their wallets. The money goes straight to business. Gambling addiction is number 1 concern of Chinatown and which is why they protested.
Chinatown was a place for immigrants to build their dreams, build their lives. It was a place where they built to have public space, green space, a park bench. it didn’t make sense to have a casino there.
Signed petitions. door to door. Gave them to politicians. City council didn’t care. Said it was ok to build. They might as well have put a sign up that said, “We dont care about Chinatown.”
The city did a lot to protect white washed casino riverfront. 25% is of poverty line is in Chinatown.
We take this as a victory that the casino, but another casino is up less than a mile away from Chinatown and there’s talk to put in a trolley. They have targeted Asians and it’s calculated. Mayor is pushing for a second casino to be built by Chinatown again.
There may be a cover that this is about organizing, but it’s more than that. Here are our guidelines:
1) we need to build our fighting capacity. we need to build new leadership all the time. commit to youth leadership. help people come to consciousness and political awareness. young people must train next generation coming after them.
2) take time to help people treasure their neighborhood, the relationship to each other. organizing isn’t just righting what’s wrong, but building what we want to see: a school, community garden, connection among people,knowledge of elders in our community, value cultural differences. if neighbors don’t care about each other, what happens when they are threatened to be “the other?” we need to find joy and love in the struggle. part of what keeps us going is the joy and relationships we create through our work.
Alex Tom, Chinese Progressive Association, San Francisco
“Check Please! Hidden cost of dining at low road restaurants in San Francisco Chinatown”
Story behind the cheap prices of Dim Sum…
Since 2001, CAP has organized workers to win back stolen wages and collected over $3 million dollars
— fought against wage theft (where employers are basically stealing part of their employees wages) in clothing, restaurants, particularly Golden Dragon restaurant and wihtin a day got their wages back. New on Sang Poultry Market — got their wages back in 8 mo.
This is “hot shot” organzing, but it’s not foundation building. if you really want a base, you can’t always be doing this kind of work and start at the bottom. not just the angry people, it has to be a collective among many kinds of people.
Advocated for and created job training and placement programs
Passed policies to benefit low-wage workers (even tho they got their 3 million wage theft, but it’s not “winning” because we were basically given what was already owed to us. that’s not winning)
—Prop L – raised SF minimum wage to highest in country ($54 million transfer of wealth/year)
— paid sick leave
Focused on restaurant: highest concentration of low wage Chinese immigrant workers
Lack of data on Chinese workers, health and work leads to survey project
— wage theft happens all the time in Chinatown and anywhere there are high concentrations of immigrant workers
Formed the Chinatown Restaurant Worker health and Safety Project
Department of Health Checklist for Food Safety Inspectors — but they care more about the consumer than the worker — e.g. employers cut their finger and bleeds while doing food prep. They care more that the consumer will eat that person’s blood rather than caring as well that the worker is always overworked and regularly cuts their fingers.
Wage Theft
no minimum wage, 50% of all workers, 70% kitchen workers
no overtime 76% of those working overtime
Unpaid wages (back wages) 1 in 12 workers
8 millin or more every year lost to Wage theft in chinatown restaurants and that money is kept by the owner
family of 5-7 live in one room
“Being a dog would be better than being a person in the United States,” said a worker. They don’t feel human. These are the conditions we are talking about.
Organizing a community: You have to push a community but they also have to be ready. It’s a balance.
Formed Progressive Worker Alliance
Pictures of organizing….
what is our role?
asians are all racilized to be silent, subservient, the model minority student, worker, etc…this is a common thread
asians are what maintain the system where are used us as the wedge. we are dehumanized and have to be the agent of change to transform and reimagine the sytem
we are needed everywhere to keep on fighting!
Esther Wang, CAAAV – Organizing Asian Communities, New York
CAAAV…Committee Against Asian American Violence a grassroots membership based group that organizes diverse working class and immigrant asian communities to build self determination, change concrete conditions, and to participate in a broader movement for social, racial, and economic justice.
–speaking about the hx of CAAAV–
shifted to focus on grassroots community organizing and how systemic forces impact immigrant communities
ORGANIZING Model — 5 Strands — basebuilding, leadership development, campaigns, alliance, building, organizational development
What’s happening in Chinatown (focusing on the one in NY)?
hx of an immigrant community which is incrasingly under attack
bordered by luxury neighborhoods; NYC is some of the most expensive realestate in the world
garment factories are leaving hte US and other factors driving the economy are now financial and realestate industry which are located in NYC specifically right in Chinatown so there is a lot pressure on those neighborhoods
New developments are occurring; building of new condos — gentrification of Chinatown; are built for people other than the people of Chinatown.
Other housing issues: landlord harassment, no hot water in winter, raising fees on tenants legally and illegally, eviction and displacement, Landlord neglection (intentional) leads to fires, land/realestate speculation
Prioritize building leadership from the grassroots– engage the tenants and work with them on the housing issues. help them fight their issues with campaigns, rallies, etc.
Engage in policy work — strengthening rent laws for example.
SHORT CLIP of showing organizing and advocacy work being done.