Pacific Grove ponders issuing an apology to Chinese American community

In 2014, a plaque was placed on the site of Pacific Grove's Chinese fishing village once stood.

Pacific Grove may be the next city to acknowledge and apologize for its history of racism towards its Chinese residents.

The city's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force approved sending a proposed resolution detailing the apology to the Pacific Grove City Council for consideration on May 11, during Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Picturesque Pacific Grove is located on the California coast south of Monterey. The Chinese fishing village at Point Alones, which began in the 1850s, was nearly burned to the ground in a highly suspicious 1905 fire after the residents resisted eviction. 

Task Force Secretary Kim Bui, read the resolution aloud, detailing how a growing anti-Chinese sentiment resulted in the attempted eviction of Point Alones residents in 1905, followed a year later by the fire, during which “hundreds of spectators watched, cheered the flames and looted” residents’ belongings. Remaining residents were not allowed to return.

The resolution goes as far back as the Chinese Exclusion Act and the racist covenants that prevented Chinese from buying property. 

It goes on the cites the Feast of Lanterns, a local celebration that featured racist depictions. The event was canceled because of strong objections by residents. The proposed resolution ties the history to the current anti-Asian sentiment that has surged the past two years.  

The task force wants the city's apology as a “learning moment for the public to move away from prejudice and racism towards inclusion, equity and justice for all.”

"An apology for grievous injustices cannot erase the past, but admission of the historic wrongdoing committed can aid us in healing the pain of the past and solving the critical problems of discrimination and racism facing Pacific Grove and the broader U.S. today," states the resolution.

The task force and its supporters are hoping the apology will get approved by the City Council May 11 as part of the city's observance of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, and be read by the mayor at the city's annual Walk of Remembrance on May 14 that concludes at the site of the former Chinatown, now a valuable piece of property featuring a trail alongside the rocky shoreline.

The Walk of Remembrance "is an authentic event that celebrates the actual history of Pacific Grove and it is also an inclusive event. And the Feast of Lanterns was unfortunately not any of those things," said Klarity Coleman, the former Feast of Lanterns president.

"If we can't make significant change here (in Pacific Grove). I'm really worried for the rest of our country. We have a great opportunity here and now with this instance to set a tone and create a larger change that's going to continue,"  said Coleman.

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Denver formally apologizes for the 1880 anti-Chinese riot that destroyed Chinatown

What was once Denver's Chinatown is now a busy commercial district visited by tourists.

Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock signed a resolution officially apologizing to the descendants of Denver’s Chinese immigrants for the city’s role in the racist violence, which destroyed the city's Chinatown. He called to anti-Chinese riot of 1880 “a shameful chapter in Colorado history.”

Hancock, called the riot by a White mob a "shameful chapter of Colorado history," adding that he hopes the apology provides a sense of closure for the descendants of the victims of the riot, some of whom were in attendance.

“We hereby sincerely apologize to the early Chinese immigrants and their descendants,” Hancock said. “To heal we must be willing to face and address things we have avoided, apologize for wrongs we have committed and follow through with the actions that are true to ongoing positive change.”

Speaking at the April 16 event held at the University of Colorado, Denver’s Lawrence Street Center, Joanne Liu, chair of the Colorado Asian Pacific United which supported the apology said the city's recognition of the unjust attack and racist covenants against Asians that the followed, was a "monumental milestone" that "signifies a great step forward" in Denver valuing the contribution of Chinese immigrants and their descendants.

Linda Jew, a member of the Chin family, had a grandfather settled in Denver after working on the transcontinental railroad that was completed in 1869. She recalled the racism and discrimination her family had to endure growing up.

“My mother graduated from Denver Women’s School, which is now the University of Denver. Even with a degree, she was refused a job,” Jew told Denverite. She remembers people throwing rocks at her and her sister when they were young kids, before the family moved to a safer part of the city in Park Hill. “This apology from Denver is very important to me and my family.”

Prior to the riot, Denver's Chinatown thrived with businesses and homes. Much of it was destroyed after a white mob started an anti-Chinese riot in 1880 in what is now a thriving neighborhood known as LoDo near the baseball stadium Coors Field. The former Chinatown existed between 15th to 20th and from Market to Wazee.

Two years ago, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock signed a proclamation making October 31, 2020, “Denver’s Chinatown Commemoration Day.”

“While only a small plaque commemorates this tragic event at 20th and Blake streets in LoDo today, we all share a responsibility every day to share this history and build bridges across communities to ensure something like this never occurs again,” Hancock wrote as part of the proclamation.

The 2-year old Chinatown plaque created a controversy itself.

The plaque Hancock mentioned, however, is not without controversy. It was not a Chinese riot, as the plaque proclaims.

William Wei, a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the former Colorado State Historian told PBS in 2020 the title of the plaque — which includes the phrase “Chinese Riot” — is misleading. “It wasn’t a Chinese riot,” he explained, “it was an anti-Chinese race riot.” Wei also pointed out that the plaque’s location at the intersection of 20th and Blake is not where the violence occurred.

“As a historian, I’m very interested in ensuring that we have a complete and accurate understanding of our history. And when I say ‘our history,’ I’m talking about American history, which includes Chinese Americans and other people of color.

While the plaque names four of the White rioters, Look Young, the Chinatown resident who was lynched, was not mentioned.

In the 1870s, anti-Chinese sentiment spread to Colorado, as Euro-Americans increasingly viewed Chinatown with suspicion. Journalists published articles arguing that the Chinese were descendants of the Mongol Empire, suggesting that the Chinese threatened to take over the United States, according to History Colorado.

They also linked Chinatown to societal vices, such as gambling, prostitution, and opium dens. Although there was no evidence that the Chinese engaged in these activities to a greater degree than Euro-Americans, Chinatown became a scapegoat for many of Denver’s issues.

The presidential campaign of 1880 inflamed these racist passions further and was embraced by the Republican Party. On the last day of October prior to election day, a White mob invaded Denver’s Chinatown, attacking its residents and burning most of the Chinese businesses.

The Chinese community never recovered from the riot and residents were never compensated for lost businesses and destroyed buildings.

The city and it's mayor hopes to establish an Asian Pacific Historic District with murals and new businesses.

Denver's letter of apology signed by Mayor Hancock reads, in part:

"An admission of the wrongs committed and its failure to correct them is a first step towards recognizing and honoring their contributions and can contribute to racial reconciliation. It will also serve to educate those who are ignorant of this shameful chapter in Colorado’s history and hopefully bring some closure to the families whose loved ones suffered racial violence and abuse. In doing so, Denver can deal with the continued consequences of past violence and discrimination such as the current surge in anti-Asian hate crimes sweeping the nation. As part of this process, the city is committed to supporting the establishment of an Asian Pacific Historic District, sponsoring the painting of public murals depicting the history and culture of Asian Pacific Coloradans, partnering on the development of a public education program about Asian Pacific Coloradans, and founding an Asian Pacific American community museum, which will be the first of its kind in the Rocky Mountain Region."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Denver to apologize for anti-Chinese riot of 1880

A white mob drove out the Chinese from Denver in 1880.

Denver is the latest U.S. city to acknowledge its past racist treatment of Asian Americans.

Next week, the Mile-High City will formally issue an apology for the anti-Chinese riots that drove Chinese residents out of town and erased Denver's thriving Chinatown.

Today, there's nothing left of the city's Chinatown in the Colorado's biggest city because the Chinese were driven out in the 1880s.  

The City of Denver issued the following statement:

"While the city cannot erase past injustices against the Asian American and Pacific Island community, it is a first step towards recognizing and honoring their valuable contributions through public acknowledgement and fostering racial reconciliation. This development will assist Denver in attaining its goal of being a diverse, inclusive, and equitable city where all people can live and work in harmony."

Denver will issue a resolution apologizing to the Chinese immigrants and their descendants for its role in the anti-Chinese riot that occurred on Oct 31, 1880, and the racial violence and discrimination since then.

A barroom altercation quickly escalated into a full-fledged riot, with a drunken white mob attacking and setting fire to every Chinese business in the area. 

Many of the original Chinese inhabitants were workers who worked on the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad that linked up near Provo, Utah in 1869.  There were about 1800 Chinese living in the neighborhood at the time of the race riots. One Chinese man, Look Young, was lynched and many others were badly injured. In the end, almost all the Chinese businesses in the area were destroyed and within the span of ten years the community all but disappeared.

The former Chinatown was located near the present-day Coors Field and currently home to a thriving area of restaurants, hotels and businesses.

Today, only a plaque commemorating the event remains on 20th and Blake Streets, but misrepresents the anti-Chinese riot with a false narrative. 

Denver becomes the 6th US city and the first outside of California to issue an apology for its racist acts against Chinese residents. During that period, the anti-Chinese sentiment driven by racist newspapers and politicians, resulted in several Chinatowns getting burned down and eventually led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

The apology is a first step by the City of Denver in acknowledging its role in the historic discrimination and violence against the Chinese community and their descendants. This apology also signifies a step forward in the city's commitment to re-valuing the contributions of the Chinese immigrant and larger AAPI communities and educating a new generation of Coloradoans about the history of the Chinese immigrant community, by building a more just and inclusive society.

“It’s really amazing that Denver, even though we are not on the coast, is taking this progressive approach and issuing this apology and committing to do more for the [Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders] community,” said Joie Ha, vice-chair for Colorado Asian Pacific United, which coordinated with the city to organize the event.

The ceremony offering the apology is set for April 16, at the Lawrence Street Center Terrace Room, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

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Chicago swears in first Chinese American woman onto the City Council

CITY OF CHICAGO

Nicole Lee, center, was sworn into the Chicago City Council.

It is not often that the 45-member Chicago City Council agree on something but on Monday, they unanimously voted to seat Nicole Lee, the first Asian American woman to serve on Chicago's governing body. 

Lee will serve as the alderman for the city's 11th Ward, which is home to Chicago's Chinatown.

“I’ve spent most of my 47 years as a resident in Chinatown,” Lee told reporters after Monday’s confirmation. “I have deep roots in the community, I’m raising my two teenage sons and now they represent the 4th generation of Lee’s that live in the building my grandparents bought.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot recommended the historic appointment after a selection committee picked her out of 29 candidates, which included several AAPI candidates.

Lee replaces former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson, who was forced to resign after being convicted of income tax fraud and lying to federal regulators.

Lee, who holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago, has worked at United Airlines for the past 15 years, spending the last three as director of social impact and community engagement. 

She has also served as president of the Chicago chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans, vice president of the Chinese Mutual Aid Association, cofounder and co-chair of the Asian Giving Circle, leader of Haines Elementary Local School Council, and member of the UIC Asian American Advisory Council.

Lee told alderpeople her “top priority” would be delivering essential constituent services to 11th Ward residents while staying focused on community safety, but has thus far not weighed in on where she stands on political issues facing the city.

Her father is Gene Lee, was a top mayoral aide of Mayor Richard M. Daley, who is the uncle of the alderman replaced by Nicole Lee.

Gene Lee was convicted in 2014 for embezzlement, stealing from charities. The crime did not involve his duties as Daley’s deputy chief of staff.

Nicole Lee’s father was also known as the “Mayor of Chinatown.” During his sentencing dozens of neighborhood supporters erupted into cheers when he avoided a prison sentence.

Her father's questionable past history apparently did not affect Lightfoot's final decision to appoint her. "She  is her own person," Lightfoot said of Nicole Lee.

Lee taking over a seat held by Daley Thompson is also seen as a change in Chicago's changing demographics.

The 11th Ward used to be a majority Irish American and served as the power base for the Daley's long reign in Chicago politics.

Lee's ascension reflects the fast growing Asian American population of the city. Chinatown is still the cultural hub of the Chicago's AAPI community.  

In Chicago, the Asian American population grew by 31%, an increase of about 45,000, according to the 2020 Census.

Lee will hold the 11th Ward seat until the city elections next year. She has not announced whether she will be running for the post.

“I will be the first ever woman and Chinese American to serve as the 11th Ward alderman,” Lee said to cheers at an introductory press conference last week in Bridgeport. “I cannot be more proud to represent the people that came before me, the communities that raised me and the neighborhoods that my boys are growing up in today.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: Don't miss additional commentary, news, views and tips from an AAPI perspective by following @DioknoEd on Twitter.

San Jose is latest city to apologize for past racist treatment of Chinese

San Jose Research Library & Archives

San Jose residents visit the smoldering ruins of Chinatown after teh 1887 arson fire.

Some jurisdictions in the U.S. are beginning to take a long, hard look and acknowledging their past history of discrimination against Asian Americans.

San Jose, California is the latest and largest city to issue an apology for its treatment of the Chinese community, specifically the torching of the city's Chinatown in the mid-1800s when anti-Chinese bias was at its most blatant.

The San Jose City Council passed the resolution unanimously. “It’s important for members of the Chinese American community to know that they are seen and that the difficult conversations around race and historic inequities include the oppression that their ancestors suffered,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said.

The apologies come at a time of a resurgence of anti-Asian hate resulting in attacks on all Asians, not just people of Chinese descent. According to the community based organization, Stop AAPI Hate, over 9,000 racist incidents against AAPI have occurred since the Trump administration began using racist rhetoric, blaming the pandemic on China.

Throughout its history, San Jose has had five separate Chinatowns, one of which was the largest Chinatown in the U.S.

The most well-known was the Second Market Street Chinatown. In 1887 the city declared the neighborhood a public nuisance to make room for a new city hall. Days later, before eviction notices could be issued, the Chinatown was deliberately set on fire displacing 1,400 residents.

At the time, “The city said, ‘No, it’s a vile community, and we don’t want it downtown,’” said Gerrye Kee Wong of Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, speaking to the city council on behalf of the resolution.

Today, almost 150 years later, San Jose has 1 million residents. Asian Americans make up 38.1% of San Jose, the largest ethnic group in the city. Latinos are 31.2% of the city, followed by Whites, 23.3%, according to the 2020 Census.

"An apology for grievous injustices cannot erase the past, but admission of the historic wrongdoings committed can aid us in solving the critical problems of racial discrimination facing America today," rads the San Jose's resolution.

In May, the City of Antioch, California became the first to apologize for its treatment of early Chinese immigrants, who dug secret tunnels to commute home from work because they were barred from walking city streets after sunset.

Other cities in the Pacific Northwest have issued apologies in decades past. The State of California also apologized in 2009 to Chinese workers and Congress has apologized for the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was approved in 1882 and made Chinese residents the targets of the nation’s first law limiting immigration based on race or nationality.

In November of 2020, the City of Watsonville, a few miles south of San Jose, issued an official apology to the Filipino American community for the racist attacks in 1930 by white mobs against Filipino American farm workers, that became known as the Watsonville Riots. Over several days, hundreds of Filipinos were hunted down and beaten, resulting in one worker's death.

Connie Young Yu, a historian and author of “Chinatown, San Jose, USA,” said her grandfather was a teenage refugee from the 1887 fire. Her father was born in the a new San Jose Chinatown built built after the fire. The new enclave was established in a different location with the help of German immigrant John Heinlen, whose life was threatened. That new Chinatown, known as Heninlenville, eventually disappeared after the Chinese population dwindled.

Yu said San Jose's official recognition and apology gives her an “enormous sense of reconciliation and a sense of peace,” she told the Tri-City Herald.

“This is beyond an apology," added Yu. "It is taking responsibility, which is a beautiful thing to me.” 

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, observations, tips and references, follow me on Twitter @dioknoed.

SF Chinatown gets some financial relief from the city

San Francisco Chinatown streets are less busy because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some relief is finally coming to the struggling businesses in San Francisco's Chinatown after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $1.9 million to those businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to that sum, the office of Mayor London Breed is also planning to add $500,000 into the budget and another $100,000 from the Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC), bringing the total funding to $2.5 million.

The funds, which were approved last Jan. 19, will help those Chinatown businesses that suffered because of the health measures required to fight the pandemic, which included a ban in indoor dining.

The plight of the Chinatown businesses was brought to light when the 100-year old Far East Cafe announced its intention to close by the Dec. 31.

“We’re ready to fight to preserve this iconic neighborhood and this is one small step toward that,” Supervisor Aaron Peskin told the San Francisco Chronicle.

"San Francisco’s iconic Chinatown neighborhood has suffered from the triple threat of Central Subway construction delays, early xenophobic attacks and an extended shutdown that has made already struggling immigrants even poorer," Peskin's office said in a statement to Hoodline shortly after the Jan. 19 vote.

This financial assistance will help fund the Feed + Fuel Chinatown, a program launched in partnership with the nonprofit SF New Deal and the Human Services Agency that launched in April to help businesses hurt by the pandemic and at the same time, to feed the poor residents in the Chinatown neighborhood.

The funding will help the community in multiple ways, including funding roughly 60 restaurants, keeping their employees on the payroll and feeding 2,400 residents over eight weeks. It will also help control the spread of COVID-19 through shared kitchens of single-room occupancy hotels.

At this juncture, 600 residents have already received meal vouchers from 10 restaurants, including Yuet Lee Seafood Restaurant, Hang Ah Tea Room and the Far East Cafe.

"Our seniors and families in crowded SROs (Single Room Occupancy) are at higher risk of COVID exposure and going hungry, and our legacy restaurants are at risk of shuttering for good," said Peskin. 

"The cancellation of the nation’s largest Lunar New Year parade is especially dramatic, with most small businesses typically making 30% of their income in that one week alone.

"The statistics are startling," Peskin continued: "Before the pandemic, 97% of the families were working and gainfully employed. After shelter-in-place, half of them, 45% have lost all of their income.”

Far East Cafe closure postponed

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Aaron Peskin spoke about his rescue plan during a press conference in front of the Far East Cafe.

Well, Dec. 31st has come and gone and the Far East Cafe in San Francisco's Chinatown is still operating ... but time and money is running out unless the city comes through with financial assistance.

The Far East's owner Bill Lee and investors decided postpone it's planned Dec. 31 shutdown in order to fulfill orders through Jan. 7 and at the same time, pray that the $1.9 million that is supposed to be coming from the City Of San Francisco is able to cut through the red tape.

The $1.9 million that would go to Chinatown businesses is a measure introduced by Supervisor Aaron Peskin. last week is intended to help those businesses hurt by the safe practices meant to reduce the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ordinarily that rescue funds would take a month or committee meetings, hearings and planning before it is officially approved but Peskin is trying to speed up the process in order to help the 100-year old Far East Cafe which announced its intentnion to shutter two weeks ago.

If approved, the Far East and other Chinatown restaurants will take part in a program that would have them prepare meals for the elderly, poor and homeless.

The Far East Cafe is a landmark institution on Chinatown's main street, the fabled Grant Avenue and one of only two restaurants that still have room for large banquets. With the current indoor dining ban and the loss of tourists, the institution had been trying to subsist on takeout orders only.

Supervisor introduces measure to help Chinatown restaurants

The fabled Far East Cafe is set to close at the end of the year.

This holiday season, there's a glimmer of hope that help will be coming to San Francisco's Chinatown's struggling businesses.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, whose district includes Chinatown, introduced a measure Tuesday that would give $1.9 million to restaurants to feed people in need in the neighborhood.

Peskin is hoping to secure $1.9 million to pay restaurants to feed people in need in the neighborhood.

Peskin's action came after it was learned last week that the iconic 100-year old Far East Cafe was planning to close its doors at the end of the year.

Peskin told the San Francisco Chronicle that he will try to speed up the process for the funding assistance that would normally take 30 days to approve.

Far East Cafe's manager Bill Lee told NBC News that he doesn't know if the assistance will change his plans closing. He said he will talk to investors about the city's rescue plan.

The decision to close the Grant Street restaurant was because the health measures meant to combat the coronavirus pandemic such as social distancing, stay-at-home suggestions and a ban on indoor dining has hurt his business. Not only did the restaurant lose regular customers, but the money from tourists have completely disappeared.

100-year old Chinatown restaurant closure imminent; rescue plan on the way

PINTEREST

Only one row of private booths remain at the Far East Cafe, that used to have all booths for diners.

OPINION

Updated Dec. 24, 10:30 a.m. to include Aaron Peskin's proposal.

One of San Francisco Chinatown's oldest restaurants, the fabled Far East Cafe, will be closing Dec. 31 -- victimized by the necessary safety restrictions imposed in order to fight the coronavirus.

But on Wednesday, San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin pleaded with the restaurant owner Bill Lee, not to shutter his restaurant. The supervisor says he's introducing a $1.9 million relief proposal aimed at helping Chinatown's struggling restaurants. 

I loved taking out-of-town visitors to the Far East. It wasn't the food so much, as the atmosphere the 100-year old restaurant evoked. It was like stepping into a movie with dark wood paneling and ornate Chinese lanterns. 

In an impromptu news conference in front of the restaurant on Grant Avenue, Peskn blamed anti-Chinese racism fueld by Trump blaming China for the pandemic. He pleaded for Lee and his investors to hold off on plans to closed down Dec. 31.

I always asked for a table in one of the booths. Along the way, as we passed the other wood-paneled booths I'd take a peek behind the curtain, hoping to uncover a  politicians making a deal, business people closing a transaction or perhaps a spy in a clandestine meeting.

Hearing Peskin's plea, Lee just shrugged. "We keep losing money each day. All our shareholders have a few meetings. We decide to close down the end of this month," Lee told a KTVU reporter.

Without the tourists, the Far East was having problems when outdoor dining was allowed, but under the stricter guidelines allowing only takeout, owner Lee told the Wnd Newspaper that takeout isn't enough to pay the rent and pay the staff. 

The Far East opened in 1920 in the midst of the Chinese Exclusion Act in a segregated San Francisco. It has survived the changing palates of the Bay Area's foodies to continue serving  familiar Cantonese and American Chinese fare.

Far East is one of the last Chinatown restaurants that had the banquet space to host  the large weddings, birthdays, family reunions and celebrations like Chinese New Year's (which has been cancelled in 2021). It is noisy and when it's busy, the waiters can be brusque, but it was an experience that is disappearing under the coronavirus pandemic.

The fate of the Far East is just the latest  sign of the economic distress being felt by all the businesses in tourist-oriented Chinatown.

The family-owned restaurants and souvenir shops in Chinatown are getting hit hard by the coronavirus and might not be able to survive the pandemic restrictions. 

Businesses say they have been appealing to the city for financial assistance, and claiming they were denied federal loans, most of which are going to big corporations instead the multitude of small businesses. Sam Chen of Magical Ice Cream tells ABC News that he attempted to get a small business loan but was denied, and the same goes for New Age Camera.

Eva Lee of the Chinatown Merchants Association says that San Francisco is at risk of seeing the ethnic enclave in a wholesale death spiral if Peskin's relief plan doesn't materialize.

RELATED: America's Chinatowns fighting gentrification

In addition to the coronavirus, Chinatowns are feeling pressure from rising rents. Because most Chinatowns are located in high-valued downtown areas, rents have been increasing and the threat of gentrification is driving many of the low-income residents and small businesses out of the area.

The U.S. Census reported that there are over 2 million Asian American-owned businesses across the nation. With 42% of them in "Accommodation and Food Services" and "Retail" industries, versus just 21% of all businesses, Asian American businesses have been hard hit.

As a result, unemployment among Asian Americans, once low, has spiked to unprecedented levels since so many Asian Americans work in those hard-hit service industries.

During the pandemic, however, Asians experienced unemployment rates higher than Whites, peaking at 15% in May 2020. Even as the economy started to improve and the unemployment rate began to drop in recent months, the recovery for Asians was slow, and unemployment remained uncharacteristically high.

Chinatowns across the country were already seeing a decline in business due to the  Trump administration's trade war with China, and racial profiling of Chinese visitors, students and researchers and amplified with Trump's xenophobic rhetoric and with the coming of the coronavirus at the beginning of the year, fear replaced anxiety. With the advent of social distancing, self-quarantines and the mandated dining restrictions, business only got worse.

If the Far East Cafe closes its doors at the end of the year, not only will San Francisco's Chinatown  be left with only one restaurant able to handle the large banquets popular in the Asian American community, the city will lose a part of its heritage.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is news laced with opinion. We encourage you to review several news sources to form your own opinion.

Pew report: Asian and Asian American entrepreneurs highly vulnerable to COVID-induced economy

SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE

Last month, NYC’s biggest Chinese restaurant, Jing Fong, closed temporarily after 40 years in business, a victim of the coronavirus economic slide, the New York Post reports.

Asian and Asian American entrepreneurs are likely to be hit hard by the economic downturn caused by the measures being used to battle the coronavirus pandemic. 

A new analysis by the Pew Research Center finds that more than four-in-ten US businesses with paid employees operate in higher-risk industries likely to be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Female business owners in particular have somewhat more exposure in higher-risk industries.

Additionally, Asian entrepreneurs have a relatively strong presence in accommodation and food services, retail trade and other services, elevating their financial risk from the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Pew report found that the economic risk to business owners varies by the demographic group to which they belong. Men, white or Asian entrepreneurs, people ages 55 and older and college graduates are more likely to be business owners compared with their shares in the workforce overall. At the same time, women, Asian and foreign-born entrepreneurs have a greater presence in higher-risk industries than in the economy overall.

The study focused on small businesses, those with 11 employees on average.

While 80% of the businessses surveyed were white owned, Asian owners have a relatively strong presence in accommodation and food services (25%), retail trade (16%) and other services (15%), elevating their financial risk from the COVID-19 outbreak, according to Pew.

Immigrants are a major driver of the American entrepreneurial economy. More than 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children, over 50% of American billion-dollar “unicorn” startups have at least one immigrant founder, and immigrants are nearly twice as likely as the native-born to start a new company.

Hispanic and Asian immigrant business owners face significant risk due to the current  economic downturn. They accounted for 51% of all Hispanic-owned businesses and 74% of Asian-owned businesses in 2016, shares similar to the percentages of Hispanic and Asian workers who are immigrants.

The most visible evidence of the impact of the current recession are the empty streets of  usually bustling Chinatowns and the number of shuttered Chinese-owned restaurants.

Wellington Chen, executive director of Manhattan’s Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, told CNN that only 40 of New York City’s 270 Chinese restaurants remain open.

Even before businesses were forced to change their normal day-to-day operations, Chinese businesses were struggling. As early as February, Chinatowns across the country began reporting a significant drop in business, according to The Financial Times. 

Kevin Chan, owner of the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company in San Francisco’s Chinatown, told The Guardian that he estimated he had seen an 80 percent drop in foot traffic through his store. By mid-March several Chinese restaurants in Flushing New York had reported an estimated 50 percent drop in business, according to Business Insider.

ASAM NEWS contributed to this report.

Chinese American businesses hurt by coronavirus fears

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New York City's Chinatown.

ASAM NEWS

Coronavirus fears could be hurting Asian American businesses. Business owners in Chinese American communities say that business is slower than usual.
In Brooklyn, the Chinese community says misinformation about the coronavirus has spread fear among Chinese residents, the Brooklyn Paper reports. Restaurants and stores have seen less business during Lunar New Year.

“This should be a busy holiday season. Around this time of year, businesses are doing banquets for the new year,” Kenneth Chiu, a Sunset Park resident and the president of the New York City Asian-American Democratic Club. said. “But people just want to be safe rather than sorry and it has affected catering halls, restaurants, eateries.”

Sunset Park, a neighborhood in Brooklyn with a large Chinese American population, has suffered losses. However, community leaders say its losses may not be as significant because most of its residents emigrated from Southern China, hundreds of miles away from Wuhan.

“Sunset Park seems a lot better,” Chiu said. “But it seems that business is 25 to 30 percent slower.”

According to KTVU, restaurants in San Francisco’s Chinatown have seen a 30 to 50 percent decrease in business. Community leaders say that many are afraid that Chinatown residents who traveled to China during Lunar New Year may have brought back the coronavirus.

The San Francisco Chinatown community held a meeting with health officials to address misinformation, KTVU reports. Jain Zhang, a community leader who works at a Chinese hospital in San Francisco, asked residents not to panic. She said that people should not believe rumors that workers at a certain restaurant may have traveled to China and contracted the coronavirus.

Rumors that the coronavirus has spread to businesses in San Francisco Chinatown are being circulated on WeChat, CBS SF Bay Area reports. The confusion has prompted the Department of Public Health to step in. They stated that the virus is not in San Francisco.

Health officials have told residents to practice good hygiene and take normal flu-season precautions.

Awkwafina project about Chinatown and punk rock

The marquee outside of the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco

ASAM NEWS

Awkwafina is about to blow our minds by pairing two unlikely things: Chinatown restaurants and the California punk scene from the 1970s and ’80s. 

The Crazy Rich Asians breakout and Jumanji: The Next Level star is collaborating with Topic Studios to develop a yet-to-be-titled feature film inspired by the Topic.com article “How Chinese Food Fueled the Rise of California Punk." Awkwafina is set to star and produce alongside Topic Studios.

Written by Madeline Leung Coleman, the article explores how, during the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Chinatown restaurants from Sacramento to San Francisco started renting their banquet halls for rehearsal space and booking the young bands of nascent West Coast punk as dinner entertainment to bring in additional business. 

The Filipino restaurant, Mabuhay Gardens, dubbed as the Fab Mab in its punk incarnation, was the venue of choice for The Dead Kennedys, Iggy Pop, the Ramones and Debbie Harrie with Blondie. Located on the edge of what was once Manilatown, the Fab Mab was in a building owned by Caballeros de Dimas Alang, a Filipino fraternal organization.

The article puts shine on these Chinese and Filipino restaurants and how they became some of California’s most important venues and the focal point of the seminal West Coast punk music scene. The project is being overseen by The project is being overseen by Ryan Heller, Topic’s SVP Film & Acquisitions.

Devo was one of the groups that played at Mabuhay Gardens.

“We couldn’t ask for a better partner to help us bring this vibrant world to life than Awkwafina,” said Maria Zuckerman, EVP of Topic Studios. “Madeline’s article explores an unexpected connection and collaboration which gave rise to an essential and very punk moment.”

Topic Studios recently produced Michael Angelo Covino’s buddy comedy The Climb which was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. Other Topic projects include an extensive list of critically acclaimed titles including Julius Onah’s Luce, Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace, Kimberly Reed’s political documentary Dark Money and Steven Soderbergh’s The Laundromat starring Meryl Streep.

In addition to Crazy Rich Asians and Jumanji: The Next Level, Awkwafina starred in A24’s The Farewell directed by Lulu Wang for which she earned a Gotham Award for Best Actress. She was also nominated for a Critics Choice Award and a Golden Globe Award. 

The busy actress will also star in the upcoming scripted situation comedy, Nora from Queens for Comedy Central and will appear in a landslide of projects including the upcoming Marvel Studios film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the live-action The Little Mermaid, Netflix’s adaptation of Broadway’s The Prom, the animated Disney film Raya and the Last Dragon as well as Tate Taylor’s Breaking News In Yuba County.

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

Chinatown bribery scandal shakes Oakland Police Department

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

As an Oakland police officer, Lt. Harry Hu received a commendation.

During the murder trial of a Chinatown mobster, an Oakland, California police officer gave a glimpse at Chinatown's underworld that included collusion between members of the OPD and criminal elements. 

Former Oakland cop and Alameda County District Attorney Inspector Harry Hu is the central figure in a corruption probe that involves accepting bribes from Wing Wo Ma, according to coverage by The Oakland Tribune.

Hu's testimony Oct. 24 and 25 revealed that he was not the only officer taking bribes. Hu said that former Oakland Police Sgt. Warren Young was also taking money from criminal figures, the Tribune reported Sunday, Dec. 1.

Young currently works for Alameda County's Dept. of Social Services investigating welfare fraud and didn't respond to the Tribune's request for comment.

Last year, Hu confessed to taking the bribes. He admitted he accepted bribes from his longtime informant, Wing Wo Ma, 53, and had protected him from authorities, according to the Tribune. Hu even took steps to protect Ma after he committed a double murder, testifying he did so to hide the fact that Ma had bribed him.

As part of a plea deal, Hu agreed to testify in Ma's trial in October. A U.S. District Court jury in San Francisco Nov. 6 found Ma, also known as Mark Ma and Fat Mark, guilty of charges stemming from the fatal shooting of Jim Tat Kong, 51, of San Pablo, and Cindy Bao Feng Chen, 38, of San Francisco

In the plea agreement, Hu said “Ma provided me with things of value that included at least three trips to Las Vegas and a trip to Reno. Ma provided my airfare, hotel accommodations, meals, alcohol, and entertainment that included hiring women.”

As a rising star in the OPD, Hu gained a respected reputation among local law enforcement agencies as a gang expert. Hu was credited with building trust between the Chinese community and the police and instrumental in dismantling the gangs that operated within the Chinese American community. 

He was a mentor and role model for a number of Asian American officers, including Young, referring to Hu as “dai lo” or big brother.

Hu will be sentenced in May and could face up to five years in federal prison. Young has not yet been charged with any wrongdoing.

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TGIF Feature: Photo exhibit portrays the evolution of New York City's Chinatown

I LOVE PHOTO EXHIBITS. Landscapes, city scapes, children, elderly, intimate moments, grand events, great feats or history being made - it doesn't matter.

Photographs capture a moment in a person's life -- whether it is the subject or the person taking the picture. I like filling in the blanks. What happens after the photo is taken, or what happened before the photo was taken that led to that moment?

An exhibit at The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in New York is a must-see for anyone who cares about all that.

BUD GLICK / MOCA

"Interior Lives: Photographs of Chinese Americans in the 1980" by Bud Glick, has been on view since October 18, 2018 and will be on disiplay to March 24, 2019. It is the largest exhibition of acclaimed photographer Bud Glick’s work documenting everyday life in New York City’s Chinatown in the 1980s. It is organized in conjunction with the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) exhibition Interior Lives: Contemporary Photographs of Chinese New Yorkers.

The New York Chinatown History Project began to document the experiences of Chinatown residents whose way of life was changing or disappearing altogether amid socioeconomic shifts in New York City. 

BUD GLICK / MOCA

For three years beginning in 1981, Bud Glick was commissioned by MOCA to photograph the street life, people, and domestic scenes of Chinatown. He moved from his native Wisconsin to NYC where he earned the trust of Chinatown residents and gained access to interior lives during a pivotal time when new waves of immigrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China began to converge into Chinatown, altering the demographic landscape of what was then home to earlier migrations largely shaped by racist immigration laws.

Interior Lives: Photographs of Chinese Americans in the 1980s by Bud Glick is the most comprehensive exhibition to date of Glick’s photos - some of which have never been seen before by the public - taken during those pivotal three years.

“I am grateful to MOCA for giving me the opportunity 38 years ago to embark on this journey and connect intimately with so many people in Chinatown. This project allows me to live out my responsibility to the people who welcomed me into their lives,” said Glick. “I see this exhibition as a continuation of that journey where I hope more and more people will connect to the stories told in these photos. I am especially glad that the photos are being exhibited at MOCA, where they belong and belong to all.”

Herb Tam, MOCA’s Curator and Director of Exhibitions, says: “Bud Glick’s photographs of the Chinese community in the 1980s poignantly capture what is usually taken for granted: the everyday moments at work, home, and on the streets that make up a community’s culture. He documented a changing Chinatown as much with his heart and soul as with his eye.”

BUD GLICK / MOCA

Glick's exhibit is coupled with “Interior Lives: Contemporary Photographs of Chinese New Yorkers,” to further elaborate the life of the largest Chinese community outside of China. Taken as whole, the exhibits give context to today's debate over immigration on who gets to enter the U.S. and who should be excluded and the community which under the pressure of gentrification.

Glick perceives echoes of the Chinese Exclusion Act in America's present-day politics, . Glick believes the project is evermore urgent, he said in an email. "In this regard, “Interior Lives” remains consequential and relevant during a time when immigrants are being demonized by the president and his supporters. Its testament to the strength and resourcefulness of an immigrant community belies the stereotypes, assumptions and anxieties that fuel this regressive thinking," writes the New York Times.

“I hope that my Chinatown work can stand as a refutation of that bigotry,” writes Glick. “The photographs tell a quintessential American immigrant story of persistence to gain a foothold in a society that excludes them racially, socially, economically, and culturally. We know that the past is present. The same, racist, anti-immigrant politics that led to Exclusion are alive and well in our current, toxic times. It was wrong then. It is wrong now.”

The Museum of Chinese in America is located at 215 Centre Street New York City. 
Click here for hours and programs.

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Ghost town's Chinatown uncovered

By Soe Han Tha

ASAM NEWS

DURING HIS 2015 visit to the ghost town of Calico in California, Calvin W. Lew stumbled upon the ghost town’s Chinatown.

Calico, according to San Bernardino County, is “an old West mining town that has been around since 1881 during the largest silver strike in California.” However, “when silver lost its value in the mid-1890’s, Calico lost its population. The miners packed up, loaded their mules and moved away abandoning the town that once gave them a good living.”

While viewing the records and maps in a mini museum, Lew came across a map that said “Chinatown.” After following the map, he encountered evidence of Calico’s Chinese community. For example, there was a “Chinese bath tub,” which said back scrub 5 cents and full scrub 10 cents. Lew believes the tubs are an example of “the Chinese entrepreneurial spirit.”

Indications and signage about Calico’s Chinatown, though, were absent until Lew informed the office of Calico.

Lew hopes to educate others about history by bringing history alive. “I differ from most historians because I don’t nitpick projects like “This is wrong, that is wrong.” I want to bring history alive through movies or experiences.” 

Lew, however, wants to avoid feeding the public whatever is trending or already popular. “Instead of writing a book about Alexander Hamilton” to ride the wave of the musical Hamilton, for example, Lew believes his responsibility as a historian is “to highlight history that isn’t well-known.”

Lew received his bachelor’s degree in East Asian History, Film & Cinema from the University of California, San Diego. He pursued postgraduate Asian studies at Harvard University. However, after some reflection, Lew made the choice to swap Asian studies for something he described as “more practical:” Information Management Systems. When asked about how he feels about this decision today, Lew told AsAmNews, “People will have to make choices in life all the time…Money allows you to pursue your passions.”

With the financial independence and travel that come with his career in IT management, Lew has continued stoking the fires of his passion for Asian American history. He is doing research on his book on Lost Chinatowns, an idea he came up with for his masters thesis at Harvard. “Everywhere I go for business or pleasure, I go to the historical sites and talk to the people there.” His curiosity led him to discover Calico’s Chinatown.

Lew believes that West coast Chinatowns no longer hold the same significance today. “Most of the Chinatowns in the West has died out due to Asian American success. Asian Americans have integrated into American society. More of us live in the suburbs now.”

In contrast, Chinatowns elsewhere continue to play an important role for Chinese Americans. “In the East coast, it’s like back in the days. I love Boston Chinatown, New York Chinatown, Chicago Chinatown. These Chinatowns back east are how Chinatowns used to be in the West coast.” Lew believes that Chinatowns bring the Chinese community outside of Asia together.

Lew’s focus on Chinatown stems from his experience growing up in Southern California as an Asian American. “Back in the day in Southern California, every weekend, people would drive two hours to Los Angeles Chinatown for dim sum," he reminisced. "And you would see everyone you know because everybody’s there to eat dim sum and to hang out.”