Recently, brooklyn 8th Avenue, Flushing University Point Avenue, and manhattan Chinatown East Broadway three Chinese ghettos have been exposed almost at the same time to be in the process of family shelter or single homeless shelter construction plan, the Three communities of Chinese communities and people have begun to protest and boycott action, the ongoing confrontation is escalating.
Immanuel, a special correspondent of the New York Chinese Information Network
After the East Broadway shelter project was publicly boycotted by the Chinese community, the Asian Equality Association (Apacific) announced its withdrawal from the project's translation services.
Feng Jingyun, project manager of the Apen-Pin Club, said in the media a few days ago that after withdrawing from the 91 East Broadway project, the Aying Club will devote its energy to the Flushing project. The nature of the Flushing project is a "family center" and is not intended to accommodate homeless people with drug addiction and mental problems, which is different from the nature of the 91 East Broadway project.
Previously reported:
Flushing wants to build a family shelter The scene directly hit the Chinese community and the parliamentarians to quarrel
But not only has this explanation not reassured Flushing's opponents— who still question the project's transparency and procedural legitimacy; it's harder for Chinese communities and residents in Manhattan's Chinatown to accept it — because the project at 91 East Broadway is located in the heart of a Chinese business center known as Fuzhou Street. A large number of Chinese businessmen from Fujian and Guangdong, as well as first- and second-generation Chinese immigrants from other Southeast Asian countries, have turned it into a bustling street lined with Chinese signboards, Chinese restaurants and small commodities.
Just before the outbreak of the epidemic, this "Jinhui Hotel" at 91 East Broadway was a hotel opened by a Chinese owner, and it was also a booming business with guests. During the epidemic, because there was no business, it was rented to the government as a temporary resettlement site. Chinese businessmen in the community were waiting for the government to introduce relevant policies to help the community recover, but they did not expect to wait for a new homeless shelter plan.
On December 9, 2021, a number of Chinese diaspora groups held a press conference at the Fujian Association in Chinatown, Manhattan, announcing the establishment of the "Coalition Against the Construction of Homeless Houses in the Chinese Community" and announcing that they would march to The City Hall on the west side of the Brooklyn Bridge on December 15, the day of the last city council plenary meeting of the year in New York. Also scheduled for Dec. 15, some brooklyn residents opposed to the 8th Avenue family shelter building are also organizing protests against lawmakers.
"The city government decided to build 91 East Broadway into a homeless house without informing us, is this not discrimination and what is it?" Yuan Hanzao, acting chairman of the New York Chongzheng Society, one of the initiators of the protest demonstrations, said: "People are good to be bullied, and horses are good to be ridden." We Chinese kind and law-abiding, but that doesn't mean we can be bullied casually. Therefore, I strongly urge the Chinese community in the United States to abandon the battle of the gateway and the dispute over the mountain. Unite and fight together to fight for the rights we Chinese deserve, so that the municipal government can hear our voice. ”
Zheng Zhenhe, first executive vice chairman of the Fujian Guild Hall in the United States, said: "The history of the development of New York's Chinatown is the history of the vicissitudes and blood and tears of our Chinese immigration to the United States. Hundreds of years ago, pioneers came here across the ocean to develop Chinatown with their hard work, build Chinatown, decorate Chinatown, and prosper Chinatown. After several generations of hard work, it has taken root and blossomed in the hot soil of Chinatown, and created its own beautiful home. We have a deep affection for this place, and the WhiteShow government's unauthorized decision to build a homeless house at 91 East Broadway is a wanton violation of our homeland. At a critical juncture related to the survival and development of Chinatown, we must bravely stand up and speak out. ”
Lin Yu, a young leader of the China Community and a former city councillor candidate, believes that the Chinatown community is recovering from the epidemic and urgently needs some policies that benefit the people and businessmen rather than some superficial political projects. The municipal government should reflect on the root causes of current social problems and reflect on the failure of its own work.
"New York is the richest city in the world, but there are so many poor people, and they have stepped into the abyss of poverty — drug addiction, homelessness, which is a great irony," he said. Is this the American Dream? The government should reflect, it should look at the community, to understand the source of the problem, and I think these problems are not single – the problem of crime rate, the problem of drug use and the problem of homelessness are all linked. Solving these problems requires responsible, long-term planning, coordination at all levels of government and bipartisan cooperation. Comprehensive implementation plans are needed rather than black-box operations behind closed doors by a few people. ”
In response to the case built by the homeless people at 91 East Broadway in Manhattan, one of the organizers of the protests, Chen Jianrong, executive chairman of the Lin Zexu Foundation in the United States, told the New York Chinese Information Network reporter that compared with the two shelters in Brooklyn and Flushing, the problem in Chinatown may be more serious and the situation is more urgent.
"The builders and operators have made it clear to us that this shelter, converted from a hotel, is for homeless people with mental illness, not for victims of domestic violence or families affected by disasters such as fires and floods. Although the construction party promised to hire 24-hour security guards to patrol downstairs, how tense would the atmosphere be? Chen Jianrong said: "East Broadway is a commercial area with Chinese merchants, and we need to recover from the epidemic, but this is undoubtedly worse." ”
Chen Jianrong believes that this is not a simple problem of "neighbor avoidance", and the Chinese community is not without compassion and does not care about vulnerable groups. But this matter needs to be discussed on a case-by-case basis. The first is the legitimacy of the procedure and the fairness of decision-making, no matter how good the original intention of any project, if it is not open and transparent, without public participation and social supervision, it may be a bad thing. New York already has shelters that operate institutions exposed to corruption, reflecting the lack of effective government oversight of these cooperatives. Therefore, even if Flushing's project is planned to be built as a "family center", it needs to be suspended first, and the community needs to be fully involved and discussed clearly.
The second is the type and location of shelters, under the premise that the decision-making procedures are open and transparent, the supervision mechanism is perfected and the implementation is guaranteed, it is not that people cannot accept to rescue families who have suffered emergencies and changes such as fires in their own backyards, but it is still difficult to accept the resettlement sites for homeless people who have long-term drug problems and mental problems next to their homes. These people should not be simply resettled into the community until they receive systematic treatment and employment training, and have the ability to reintegrate into society. This is not only irresponsible to this vulnerable group, but also to the rest of the community.
"In this case, we must oppose it." Chen Jianrong said: "I also hope that the Chinese in the three places can unite and speak out on common rights and interests." On December 15th, the last plenary session of the year and the last of the city councils, all the members and officials will come. So we decided to go to the city hall on this day to hold a demonstration in the hope that they would hear our Chinese voice. We must express not only the opinions of the East Broadway Chinese, but also the views of the Flushing Chinese and the Brooklyn Chinese, and hope that the Chinese in all districts of New York will participate. ”
At the same time as the residents of Fujian and Guangdong Township Associations and 8th Avenue were gathering demonstrations, Flushing's overseas Chinese groups and residents were also organizing a joint petition against the University Point Shelter Project. In addition to setting up booths in downtown areas such as Flushing Library, New World Mall, and Skyview Shopping Mall, volunteers also collected signatures on the Internet.
Chen Hailing, a candidate for the 2021 Flushing Constituency, also participated in the joint signing event, told the media: For many years, the project has been launched without the permission of the Chinese society or communication with the Chinese community, and the opacity of this black box operation is very infuriating. Now that the consciousness of the Chinese people participating in the administration and discussion of politics is awakening, and the strength is slowly manifesting, I believe that one day we will be able to win rights and interests for ourselves.
Source: New York Chinese Information Network
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