Dr. Betty Lee Sung:
Good morning everybody. I’m Betty Lee Sung. I’m chair of the Asian American/Asian Research Institute. We want to welcome you all. Today is a very special day. The Asian American/Asian Research Institution has come into being. The Institute is part of the City University, under Queens College, as you just heard Vice President Scelsa say, but our offices are centrally located in Manhattan at 25 West 43rd Street.
I’m just going to give you a very brief overview of the Institute. As an institute, we hope to draw upon the resources of all the 20 colleges in the City University system to fulfill our mission, which is to conduct research into Asian American and Asian issues, to look at how CUNY is serving Asian American students and faculty, and to provide a link between academia and our growing Asian American communities in the metropolitan area. We’re inclusive as well. Not only will we look at Asian American issues, we’ll also deal with East Asia, South Asia, and trade and technology as well, as Vice President Scelsa just mentioned. For the sake of saving time, I’m not going to go into the further mission of AAARI, as we have abbreviated our organization.
I want to call your attention to a program that’s coming up on June 9th. That is the time when I and Tom Tam, our executive director…Where is he? I want you to recognize him and notice him. He has worked so hard to put together this conference. He is a wonderful leader. Vice President Scelsa just mentioned all of his qualities, so I won’t repeat them. We want to thank him for organizing this conference and for his leadership with AAARI. I do want to say that we are going to have a program on television June 9th at 7:30pm, that’s on Sunday. I hope all of you will tune in to it: Channel 25, 7:30pm, Sunday, June 9th. Tom Tam, Professor Ngee Pong Chang and I will discuss the mission of AAARI very thoroughly. So listen to us then. For the sake of time I’m not going to talk more about it.
We do hope you’ll look upon this Institute as your own. We welcome your participation and your support. This conference is our first major event. We want to thank Baruch College for hosting us, and Chancellor Matt Goldstein and the Central Office for their support.
Now before I finish, I’m going to announce some housekeeping chores. AAARI will print all the conference proceedings and we will appreciate it if all of the speakers will turn in their written remarks to their presiders at the end of their workshops. Now, this is the first conference organized by AAARI and we would appreciate your feedback to help us improve our future events. Before you leave the conference, please complete and return the evaluation forms to us.
Since we’re running on a very tight schedule, we’re going to have to have a timekeeper. Annie where are you? Now you see this red light and this yellow light here? We’re going to keep time. When Annie turns on the yellow light, that means you have two minutes left. When she turns on the red light, that’s one minute left. When she rings the bell, you have to stop talking. I apologize if this sounds very strict, but we want to give time to all of our speakers. And I hope you’ll help us keep our schedule.
Thank you very much and now I think Professor Ngee Pong Chang is going to introduce our next speaker.
Professor Ngee Pong Chang:
The next speaker needs no introduction. He is our Asian American Representative to the City Council of New York. But more than that, he’s become the spokesperson of all Asian Americans in America. We are really very grateful that out of his very busy schedule- he has a staff working for him and he has a big presence in email…if you are not on the email list, please sign up because he has so many activities where he is actually bringing forth the Asian American voice to the American political scene. So it is indeed a very, very great privilege for us that Councilman John. C. Liu is able to be with us this morning to show us his dedication to AAARI at our first big conference.
Honorable John Liu:
Well thank you very much for that wonderful introduction. Madame Chair, how much time do I have overall?
Betty Lee Sung:
Six minutes.
Honorable John Liu:
Ok, I have to cut down my 15 minute remarks to 6 minutes so I’m to… Fifteen? Should I go with the Chair or should I go with the person who’s turning on the lights? Well I’m going to try to keep it brief anyway, because I know we want to try to catch up the time.
I am tremendously honored to be here to be part of this conference. The Asian American/Asian Research Institute is destined to become a very strong part of the leadership here in New York City by the very fact that this conference on Asian American Leadership is being sponsored. So I certainly want to start off by commending the work of our Chair, Professor Betty Lee Sung and Dr. Thomas Tam, who I’ve known for many years, for their leadership in creating this Institute and this Conference. And I want to thank Queens College for hosting the Institute. I am very happy to be back here, as I have been many times, at Baruch, where we are hosting this conference this morning.
This is a very timely conference because obviously September 11th has had a tremendous impact on the entire nation, on New York City and on the Asian community here in New York. The impacts that we have felt are very far reaching. But it is a time that we do have to assert our leadership. I am fortunate as an Asian American, that we have finally gained a foothold, a voice in New York City government. It also happens that I am the person who was elected to that office. But apart from that, the fact that we just have one person in there is a tremendous achievement in our community, regardless of who that person is. It’s a product of years and years and years of activism in our community. I’m looking around the room and I see a lot of leaders who have been very active and who have helped to propel us to this point. In New York City, Asian Americans, I think we have come a long way, but there’s still a long way to go.
I think if you look at the impacts of September 11th, they have certainly devastated the residential community that’s closest to Ground Zero. That residential community, which is also a business community, happens to be Chinatown. I would say that the local community that has been impacted the most in the entire city of New York, in the aftermath of September 11th, has been the Asian American community. Very little has actually been done to recognize that fact. If you look at the efforts to revitalize the lower Manhattan area, 99% of the focus is on making sure that Goldman Sachs or that Merrill Lynch or those global firms are doing well, preserving the financial leadership that New York City has in the world. But very little was done in terms of trying to revitalize the residential communities right around the Ground Zero area.
I was dismayed about three months ago when we had our first city council hearing on the redevelopment of downtown Manhattan, that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was made of appointees who by no means, by no stretch of imagination could be deemed to be reflective of New York and certainly not of lower Manhattan, without a single Asian appointee at that time, without any local residents who would have a direct understanding of the impact that the attack had on the local area. That is a sign of the progress that we still have to make and strive towards. Subsequent to that hearing, there has been one Asian American appointed to that LMDC (the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation). I hope that agency, which is responsible for disbursing all of the federal funds that are coming down – the $20 billion plus, that that will help the commission be more understanding of not just the need to regain New York City’s financial power, but also to revitalize the Lower Manhattan area, which is essentially integral to the entire economy of New York City. That’s been certainly a very obvious impact.
I think there are larger impacts on the Asian American community also. Certainly after September 11th, there was a marked rise in discrimination and violence against Asian Americans, particularly South Asians. We have now a federal policy, I think, of blatantly discriminating and profiling people based on the way they look, based on the languages they speak, based on the clothing that they wear, based on their hairstyles, and what they put their hair in. This is blatant, outright discriminatory profiling and it is appalling. It is absolutely appalling that the federal government is undertaking this kind of process. I think that’s one of the things that we must be very, very vigilant about.
It’s not just at the federal level that the impacts of September 11th are being felt in our community. We Asian Americans, many of us have been here for generations, but many of us are new and immigrants. I’m an immigrant. I was not born here, I was born in Taiwan, or I was made in Taiwan, as some people would say. The impact on the immigrant community is also being felt on the very local level, which I think is a disgrace. Again, we have to be first aware of the facts and then we have to strive to make efforts to make sure that the discriminatory impacts are not promulgated by the city of New York.
The best example that I think of right now is that there has been some attempt to depart from the past practice of New York City not engaging and enforcing the federal law. This is a very important fact. New York City, I think, is the undisputed capital of the world. We have people from every corner of the globe. We attract immigrants from every country on earth. I think that immigration is really one of the unrealized assets of the United States. After all, we, America, go around the entire world telling people what a great country we are. I believe we are the greatest country in the world. Then we come back home and wonder why so many people want to come to the United States. So we set up these borders that really contradict what we’re trying to project in the entire world. I think it’s actually very flattering that so many people want to be Americans and want to come to the United States. And it’s particularly flattering that so many of them wind up in New York City. I think as a city we have recognized the fact that we are a magnet, we are a destination for people all around the world.
Since the Coch Administration, there’s been an executive order, ordering that all city employees should not engage in enforcing federal law, particularly those relating to immigration. Now there’s been some effort in Washington, under this Bush Administration, under our favorite Attorney General (I say that jokingly). He’s saying, well why don’t you have the local police departments help the INS enforce the immigration rules? That would be completely unacceptable in this city. I trust that the Bloomberg Administration will continue the executive orders under Coch, and Dinkins and Giuliani that say that New York City employees will not engage in this. That would be a devastating precedence to engage in.
There has also been an attempt on the state level to charge, and I realize we’re in CUNY here, but to charge out-of-state residents…I shouldn’t say out-of-state residents… there’s been an effort to charge students of CUNY who don’t happen to have the right papers, the out-of-state tuition, even though they clearly live in the state. They live in the city of New York. So to charge undocumented immigrants the out-of-state tuition would also be a departure from the past practice in the last 20 years of not distinguishing between immigrants who have the right papers and immigrants who happen not to have these papers. That’s not something that New York City has ever engaged in and I think that would be the wrong way to go.
The impacts in the aftermath of September 11th are felt very widely – on the local level, where families didn’t get service for many, many months; where the businesses, many of them family run were completely devastated. Many shut down and even now have received very little assistance. To the profiling that’s gone on, the violence that’s been perpetrated against Asian Americans, to the whole immigrant backlash from Washington and at the state level, and in many ways, at the city level as well. These are things that I would urge all of us to be very vigilant about. I’m confident that with the distinguished panel of speakers throughout the remainder of the day that many of these issues will be dealt with in more detail.
It is a time where we must assert our leadership. We must assert our political muscle. I believe that we are at a point where we can do so, so that all of these impacts can be mitigated and if possible, eliminated.
I’m very happy to be here today. This is a very timely conference. I know that there will be a great deal discussed and a great deal accomplished, but even after today, we must continue to stay active and stay informed about all the things that are happening and all the things that we can do as a community in a cohesive manner. I’m very happy to be here. I’m very happy to finish before the lights come on. Professor, thank you very much for hosting this conference and for the gracious invitation for me to speak.
Betty Lee Sung:
I think Councilman John Liu is one of the best representatives we could have in the City Council. I shortened his time because I knew that he’s very articulate and he’s spoken so many times. He’s been a wonderful representative for us. He’s won the respect of all the councilmen at City Hall. Last Friday I was at one of his functions and the Black and Hispanic caucus voted to have him join their caucus. Not only that, but they put him in charge of the money. He has certainly earned not only our respect, but he has earned the respect of all the minority groups and the other Councilmen as well.
I have the honor to present our next speaker, Sayu Bhojwani. She is the newly appointed commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. As John Liu just said, immigration is going to be a very, very vital issue for Asian Americans. So we want to welcome our next speaker, Ms. Bhojwani.
Honorable Sayu Bhojwani:
Good morning. You’re supposed to respond when I say, good morning. Let’s try that again. Good morning.
Audience:
Good morning.
Honorable Sayu Bhojwani:
Thank you. Well I had some prepared remarks, and I will actually go through those, but I also want to respond to some of the things that Councilman Liu raised because listening to him speak, I realized that in my nine days in the office (today’s my 10th day) that we’ve actually been making some progress on some of the issues that he raised.
First I want to thank you for inviting me to be here. I should tell those of you who don’t know anything about my past, I started a youth organization back in 1996, and one of the first programs that we held was at Queens College for six weeks. We held a youth leadership program which was facilitated by the Asian American center out there. So this is a particularly special relationship for me.
As I was thinking about what to say today, I thought, it’s sort of exciting to be part of this occasion, but also kind of sad that it is exciting. The fact that we have to be celebrating this small number of senior appointments in the Bloomberg Administration and senior officials in the city government – it’s an exciting thing, but it’s also sort of sad that it’s still something that we have to celebrate. I hope that as the years go by, there will be more and more appointments and that it will become a run-of-the-mill situation.
As I said, I’ve only been in office for nine days. Today’s my tenth day. I’m going to just quickly address a couple of things that Councilman Liu raised before I forget to do that. First of all, the executive order, this was executive order 124, was reinstated by Mayer Bloomberg on January 1st. There is a lot of consideration being given to amending the city charter to address some of the newer issues that have come up. Because while the executive order addresses confidentiality, there are some new things as you know – this issue of deputizing NYPD as INS officers. I don’t want to go into that too much because it is still being considered, but it’s something that’s at the top of my agenda and certainly something that I will try to give a lot of attention to.
Also, the CUNY tuition, you may be aware that there are actually two bills – I believe, one in the Senate and one in the Assembly – that are going to allow undocumented students to be qualified for in-state tuition rates. This week I actually met with senior folks in the administration and we’ve…Governor Pataki has already supported these bills and we’re asking the Mayor also to support these bills. I don’t expect that that will be a problem. What I recommend that you all do, and that you get everyone you know to do, is to contact your state elected officials to make sure that those bills get passed.
I just want to tell you a little bit about why this is a special time for the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, apart from the obvious reasons about the large number of immigrants in our city. Last year the office became a charter agency, which has increased its profile within this new administration. This is the first time that a commissioner level position is heading the office. I think there’s a lot more attention being given to the issues.
You should know if you don’t already, that I come from the background of being an advocate and I don’t intend to loose that. I hope to be an advocate for immigrants within the administration. Over the course of the next few weeks we will be redefining the focus of the office for this first term of the administration. Generally there are five areas of responsibility that the office has. One is to liaison with other city agencies on outreach to immigrant communities, and appropriate delivery of services in a linguistically and culturally competent manner. The second area is policy analysis and recommendation which includes reviewing pending or past city, state and federal legislation and policies that might affect immigrant communities. The third is advising the mayor and council on policies that can assist or affect immigrants. In addition, we assist mayoral offices and city agencies with translation and interpretation. We respond to inquiries by constituents about their INS applications and other requests for service, and generally serve as a resource to the community and to the city for information about immigrant communities.
I should clarify at this point that we do immigration and immigrant policy. Already, in my few days, people talk a lot about immigration issues, and you know that is primarily under federal jurisdiction, so there is only so much that the office can do around immigration policy. But the focus, at least my focus as I see it, is to work on immigrant policy, within the city.
Mayor Bloomberg’s Administration has called for a comprehensive assessment of agencies and their programs. My office is looking at the money that’s been allocated to various city agencies to reach out to and serve immigrant communities, and how that money is being spent if at all. We will partner with city agencies in their efforts to reach out to Asian American communities and other immigrant communities and make sure that resources and services are reaching New York’s immigrants.
The disparity between numbers and money, as you may have heard, is quite striking. For example, Asians are 10% of New York City’s population, yet only 2% of city funded contracts are awarded to Asian American agencies by major city agencies. This is a statistic according to the Asian American Federation of New York. With that in mind, the office will work with CBO’s who serve Asian and other immigrant communities to inform them of grant opportunities in city government and provide them with the necessary training to apply for those grants. Similarly, of the top ten languages spoken by new immigrants to New York, not including Spanish and English, six – Chinese, Tagalog, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu and Korean – are Asian languages. As you know, the ability of these new immigrants to access social services offered by city agencies, or agencies with large city contracts tends to be limited. Our office will assist these agencies in reaching the diverse Asian communities in New York City.
And finally, I want to briefly address 9/11 and its impact on Asian American communities. Councilman Liu I think gave a fairly good overview of some of the issues. You’ll hear from some other speakers about the economic impact on Chinatown as well as the biased incidents on South Asians and Arab Americans. Looking forward, I would like to issue a caution that we take care not to create a schism in the Asian American community between South Asians and other Asian groups. South Asians might be experiencing a disproportionate amount of bias, while the residents of Chinatown might be disproportionately impacted economically in the months following 9/11. But for South Asians, workplace discrimination has also had an economic impact. It is an issue that is getting less attention in the discussions around rebuilding New York City. Similarly, many Asian residents of New York City whose families live outside the United States will be affected by newly proposed INS regulations to limit tourist stays from 6 months to 30 days.
The repercussions of 9/11 will be felt for a long time. It is important that rebuilding New York City includes rebuilding relationships in our own communities. The role of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs is to assure that the voices of all Asians and other immigrant groups are carried to the highest levels of the administration.
In closing, the one promise that I will make is that as the mission and the work of this office evolves, we can try to do what we can to help to create a city in which immigrants feel that their education, health care and economic concerns are as important as those of other New Yorkers. Thank you.
Betty Lee Sung:
Now you see why it’s so important for our Asian Americans to be in the government agencies and in the government itself. Especially with Ms. Sayu Bhojwani’s appointment to the Office of Immigrant Affairs, she has already begun to help us. I think she introduced us to the Foundation Center, where we hope to be able to go for grants and for funding for the Asian American/Asian Research Institute.
Again this is important because when 9/11 happened, people just thought about Wall Street and banks and other agencies and institutions that were affected, but they did not think at all of Chinatown. I think it was only when Dr. Shao-Chee Sim’s report that came out and shocked people and said, well actually, Chinatown has been the most affected. Therefore we clamored and got representation in the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
Our next speaker, Irene Chang, is Vice President for Legal Affairs at Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, a member of the board of directors of the American Legal Defense and Education Fund. She’s also on the National Advisory Council of the Stuyvescent High School Endowment Fund. She received her B.A. in Psychology from New York University. Prior to joining the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Ms. Chang was Deputy General Council of Kozmo, Inc. She also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Please welcome Ms. Irene Chang.
Irene Chang:
Good morning. Thank you Dr. Tam, Professor Sung and AAARI for inviting me to participate in this conference. It is an honor to join all of the speakers today for this historic conference in Asian American Leadership. I thought I would speak today about the value of participation in the political process, something that’s already been touched on by some of the other speakers. But I wanted to broaden the definition of participation and political process to include both the informal pre-election processes that exist, especially at this critical time in the history of New York City.
I don’t think I could touch on such a topic without congratulating Councilman John Liu, who I see has departed, but who represents, I think, the ultimate political participant, as an elected official of Asian American descent, representing a constituency that includes a substantial Asian American population. I think his success represents that of the community but also of the determination to participate at the highest levels of the political process in city government.
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation embodies the political determination as well, to participate at the highest levels in the rebuilding and redevelopment of Downtown Manhattan. It was formed in December by Governor Pataki with the support of Mayor Giuliani in the wake of September 11th, to coordinate, plan and administer the remembrance, rebuilding and revitalization efforts. It represents a truly public, government organization dedicated to Lower Manhattan. Congress, following the LMDC’s establishment, appropriated 2.7 billion dollars towards the revitalization efforts.
Two billion of those dollars have been dedicated to LMDC’s efforts. I don’t know if anyone knows that no money of this two billion has been spent by LMDC. This is because federal guidelines require that all plans for the money to be spent in a careful way, that it will be carefully planned by LMDC, considered by the public and approved by the U.S. Department for Housing and Urban Development. The only money that has been spent and allocated so far has been by the Empire State Development Corporation, our parent, which is also a state agency, in providing relief monies to those who have been affected – especially small businesses and large businesses in Lower Manhattan below 14th Street. I wanted to note that apparently the participation rate in those programs is lower than had been expected. While I’m not sure why that is to the extent that people have not tried to access some of that 700 million, I encourage all of you who can encourage those who need it, to do that.
I made reference to consideration by the public of programs designed by LMDC, and what that means is that all programs that we develop must be released for public comment and that those comments must be weighed. For me, that is politics in practice. It’s informal – no poles, no ballots, no lines. It is the politics of good government. I urge everyone who wishes to weigh in on matters under consideration by the LMDC to participate in that process. I urge everyone to support the candidates who support the communities and the causes that important to them. I urge everyone to vote to participate in the political process.
Also, I urge everyone to seize the opportunities available to them, to make a difference; to examine the process, to find forums to speak with those who can help. It’s much easier than you think. Identify the projects you believe will benefit you the most. Express the goals of your families and your communities. Assert yourselves and make your interests known. This conference represents a major effort in that regard – to substantiate what is important, what is happening, what are the impacts and the consequences of government, public and community action. It is a leadership conference, so I urge you to lead.
When I began law school in 1988, the Asian American community was very much underrepresented in both the legal and the political community. As a result, I have planed to be quote/unquote “political” and to maintain an activist philosophy throughout my law school and professional work. I began that mission by participating in law school governments, first as a delegate to the Student Bar Association, and then as Vice President of the Student Bar Association at Brooklyn Law School. Later on, I ran for and became president of the Asian American Law Students Association. In that capacity, I guess it was in 1988 or 89, I joined a group of Asian American law students around the city to help Asian American lawyers establish the Asian American Bar Association of New York, which if you can believe didn’t form until 1990. Individually, our efforts were very modest, but together they represented a foundation for creating a unified yet diverse group of Asian Americans.
Each of these experiences presented true opportunities for me to learn and then voice the concerns of specific groups of Asian Americans, whether they were law students, young lawyers, or distinguished, established lawyers and activists. Each of them provided me with valuable insight into the breadth and complexity of the communities that constitute New York Asian Americans. I learned that each of our respective smaller communities of Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Pilipino Americans, or South Asian Americans had unique concerns at the same time that we had some common ones. Whether we were the children or the grandchildren of immigrants, or whether we were immigrants ourselves, we shared certain experiences and philosophies. It inspired me to believe that none of us should allow the breath or complexity of our experiences to deter us from participating or speaking out. Because the only consequence of such hesitation to speak is that the absence of one voice would leave us with none.
That simple idea of the importance of speaking out was brought home during my first internship in law school. In the summer of ’89, I interned with the Asian American Legal Defense Fund. That summer students spoke out in Tiananmen Square and suffered extreme consequences. That summer Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act that gave rise to the compensation for the internment endured by Japanese Americans during World War II. That summer, the Supreme Court introduced shifting burdens of proof in Title Seven cases, making it harder for plaintiffs to prevail in discrimination cases.
That summer I also worked on the Voting Rights project. I hit the streets and tried to find eligible voters to register. What I encountered were some very interesting difficulties in registering young Asian Americans. Sometimes we were at the 7 train stop in Flushing. Sometimes we were at Columbus Park in Chinatown. Many unregistered citizens, young and old, were suspicious of me and of the process. More than once I heard reluctance or frustration with the political process. More than once I heard the skepticism that their one vote would count. That summer I realized that while the part that each one of us plays when we vote seems small, together our collective voices could make a difference, and that it was our choice whether we would take that opportunity.
As other people have mentioned here, that reluctance or skepticism regarding the value of the vote is not limited to Asian Americans. Given the low participation rate among Asian Americans, however, I would propose that if all people of color voted together, they could easily form a force next to the votes of the so-called majority.
We cannot underestimate the value of the vote. Never was that more clear to me than in 1992 when I volunteered with the Clinton/Gore campaign through an amazing effort called Asian Americans for Clinton/Gore. I noticed that there are some people who worked with me on that campaign here today. We participated, renewed efforts to register Asian American voters and all voters, and we made a difference. After that election there were enough elected Asian American officials to form the Congressional Asian/Pacific American Caucus Institute. Political participation as it was then has never been as important as it is today. We stand tall together and so we must express ourselves through our independent and collective voices.
In New York where local and international diversity is a basic fact of life, we cannot loose our voice. Participate and do not let history quiet you or stop you from seeing and saying what is right. Today, here in New York, we still have much to do. I applaud this room and everyone who is speaking here today for helping us to do that. More Asian Americans are registering to vote, perhaps inspired by candidates such as Councilman Liu and others. More Asian Americans are voting, as a result of perhaps those same factors. Some have the assistance of Chinese ballots or other bilingual materials, but we must still be vigilant.
On September 11th, it was primary day. I was volunteering and monitoring the bilingual ballot process in Chinatown. There is still such a need for such monitoring because voting is still a human process controlled by individuals. If it were not for that need to be there early, to make sure that all the materials were in place, and that the day was starting off properly, I would have been home in Battery Park City, very close to the World Trade Center, at the time of the attack. So I don’t let anyone tell me that no good deed goes unpunished because I’ve been rewarded many times over by my volunteer work, but never more than that day.
My greatest reward going forward would be to see an increase in Asian American voter participation. Similarly, I hope for increasing numbers of Asian American officials in public office. But we don’t need to wait for Asian American officials to represent our interests. Those that are in office can help us today. We are a political force. All we need to do is to participate in the process and speak up for ourselves. I work now, along with Peter Cheng who is here today, at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. I have a voice there. It is an organization charged with the rebuilding, recovery, and revitalization of Lower Manhattan in the aftermath of September 11th. Just to note, I actually started there before the Federation’s report, which I do applaud.
I have found that LMDC has been an amazing organization for me, personally and professionally. It’s a small organization. At the time that I started, I think that it had fewer than 16 or 17 employees, half of whom were support staff. It is a small organization, with a very large mission. That mission includes the Asian American community in Downtown New York, in Chinatown and elsewhere, so close to the World Trade Center and affected areas.
I will try to do all that I can and to encourage the programs that will assist the Asian American community. But we need the support and the participation of the Asian American community. We need your help to tell us what we can do. That would be the participation I would hope to see.
This conference is a tremendous collective effort. I applaud the Institute as well as your attendance and participation. I applaud the Asian American Federation of New York and other groups that are documenting and publicizing the plight of Chinatown and the South Asians who are experiencing the after effects of September 11th. As a member of the Alder Board, I personally applaud their efforts to protect our civil liberties and to voice the concerns of those that may not be able to do so for themselves. Please be active in the political process and our political future. Together we can rebuild New York with a new, strong voice and a new strong heart. Thank you.
Betty Lee Sung:
You’ve just seen one of the rising Asian American leaders in Irene Chang. She now represents our voice to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. As she said, this conference is a place where you can voice your concerns. The proceedings will be published so that we can all have a voice in the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which will help in the rebuilding and revitalization of Lower Manhattan, including Chinatown. Irene do you want to give us your email or your telephone number so that if we have a direct voice we can call you?
Irene Chang:
You can either do that or go to our website, which is www.renewnyc.org, and there are links there to whoever. But my e-mail’s too long.
Betty Lee Sung:
Alright, maybe we can put it up here somewhere so you can have an input into what is going on. But today, at the workshops, we have many workshops devoted to this very question. We do want your input so that we know from you what needs to be done in Lower Manhattan.
Now I have the pleasure of mentioning Dr. Shao-chee Sim, and his wonderful report which brought attention to the plight of Chinatown. He is with the Asian American Federation of New York, which initiated the report and is a cosponsor of this conference. I’ll let Dr. Sim talked about his report. Dr. Sim.
Dr. Shao-chee Sim:
How much time do I have?
Betty Lee Sung:
Well we have one more speaker and we want to be finished by 10:30, so we’ll give you… He’s also going to be talking at the workshops so if you want to attend his workshop, he’ll have more time to talk at length about his report.
Dr. Shao-chee Sim:
I’ll be very brief. Let me just begin. First of all, on behalf of the Asian American Federation we want to thank AAARI and many others like the Research Institute for inviting us to this important conference. “Chinatown after September 11th – an economic impact study” was initiated in late December. We felt at the time there were so many statements and people were saying how Chinatown was hurt. We felt the need to systematically document the problems and the sufferings of Chinatown residents and workers. What we did was we began with a collaborative effort. Even though I’ve been called the author of the study, by no means am I the one doing all the work. It was truly a collaborative effort between the Asian American Federation, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Fiscal Policy Institute, and UCLA. I’d like to especially mention that both the Federal Reserve Bank and UCLA have actually participated in the study on a pro bono basis.
We also felt the need, in order to put up something that’s both credible and convincing, that we would need to involve both the mainstream institutions, as well as the Chinatown community. We put together an advisory committee that consists of economists, political scientists, social artists, the CUNY system, New York University, the Federal Reserve Bank as well as the New York Chamber of Commerce. With the Chinatown community, we were very fortunate to involve a host of community leaders, many of those who are here today, to give us advice and the wisdom that we needed in this study.
First, the way we framed the study was by highlighting the roles of Chinatown. Specifically we looked at Chinatown as a very active commercial hub. It has close to 4,000 businesses. It has been and it still is a very important apparel manufacturing center with 1/5 of the garment factories that are in Manhattan located in Chinatown. In terms of tourist attraction, on a daily basis, we were able to estimate that at least 2,000 international tourists visited Chinatown. Last but not least, Chinatown, as many of you know, is a very vibrant, ethnic immigrant place with close ties of Chinese and Asian American communities throughout the region. In terms of Chinatown businesses – As you can see, this is the area that we studied. A lot of the factories you see are where we were able to find most of the business addresses in Chinatown. They’re very concentrated and they’re making major contributions to the economic life of city.
In terms of its business sectors, based on our door-to-door survey, what we found is that retail trade is the major category with 30% of the businesses located in the retail trade sector, as well as others such as manufacturing, professional and technical services, and others. There are a total of 1,400 retail businesses in Chinatown. Are we surprised? No. Jewelry businesses, food and beverages, health and professional are the major categories. In terms of the Chinese owned and operated garment factories, in Chinatown, there are a total of 246 garment factories.
As you can see, what is very interesting is that 80% of the garment factories are located on the north side of Canal Street, where 20% of the garment factories are located on the south side of Canal Street. In the aftermath of 9/11, major relief agencies like FEMA considered the south side of Canal Street a disaster zone and hence, businesses, residents and workers in the area were qualified for assistance. Unfortunately, it left out an overwhelming 80% of the garment factories that did not qualify for assistance.
Data sources – this was a very collaborative effort. We were able to seek out and collect over 30 sources, both aggregated and disaggregated, which I will talk more about this afternoon. The major categories are business surveys, business assistance, different community relief agencies, public/private community relief agency data, as well as qualitative research. We were very fortunate for one of the major relief agencies which had over 5,000 pieces of data for us to look at in terms of pre and post September 11th earnings.
The Chinatown area, the study area, I’m not going to go to too much detail in it. The way we defined and classified the area is by both its population as well as the business concentration. In general, what is Chinatown? How should it be considered as a community? Chinatown is a community with a 56,000 Asian residential population, 4,000 businesses, and 34,000 Chinese workers. And I think what’s more important, it’s also a community that’s located less than 10 blocks away from Ground Zero.
With that said, what it means is that immediately after September 11th, for the first three days, the entire area south of 14th Street was basically blocked off and classified by authorities as the prohibited zone, which means very limited pedestrian as well as regular traffic was allowed. In the pursuing weeks, the area south of Canal Street, again was classified as the prohibited zone by federal authorities. Again, what this means is that it’s causing a lot of the infrastructural difficulties, as well as causing a lot of difficulties and challenges to businesses, residents, and workers alike to get in or out of Chinatown. What does it mean, with Chinatown especially considered as a frozen community. What we have beyond the prohibited zone is also a disruption of basic telephone and utility services. In fact, the area south of East Broadway, telephone lines were constantly disrupted for the first three months after September 11th. There were constant closures of streets, bridges and tunnels. Transportation services again were disrupted. Parking spaces, which are so important to many of the Chinatown businesses – according to our estimate, close to 1000 parking spaces were eliminated in the aftermath of September 11th. What does all this mean?
There’s very limited infrastructure. There’s very little transportation and communication linkages. What we are looking at is the garment factories and restaurant industries were the hardest hit. In the first two months after 9/11, what we were looking at is the businesses in the garment, restaurant, retail, and tourism sectors all suffered revenue losses from 60 to 100 %. In the three months following 9/11, garment factories continued to suffer revenue losses, with the shut down of more than 40 garment factories. The majority of the restaurants also reported that business had declined by as much as 70%. The retail industry again suffered a 55% drop in their revenues. In the first three months of this year, restaurant and garment manufacturers continued to report decline in their businesses and operations. Travel agencies that we spoke to told us that the destination is not operating at a normal level. That’s the side of the businesses.
What does it mean to the over 34,000 workers in Chinatown? According to our research and working with a team of economists from the Federal Reserve Bank in the area. We are looking at over 24,000 of the Chinatown workers who basically were not able to work for the first two weeks after September 11th. I think what is most significant about this is when you think about it in the larger context – for every four workers in Chinatown, three of them were out of work for this two week period.
In the longer term, we were also evaluating the three month impact after September 11th, and based on data we have collected from the relief agencies, community organizations, business surveys that we have conducted, and a host of other organizations, over 7,000 workers were laid off in the after math of September 11th. Again for every four workers in Chinatown, one of them was laid off. This is really an unprecedented level of job loss for a community of this size.
What is more telling about this story is that in many of the dislocated worker profiles that we have continued to analyze to this day, the majority of these workers are immigrants who used to work in the garment factories in the mid 40s and 50s. They speak very little English and have very little transferable skills in the mainstream job market. That’s what it means in terms of rebuilding and revitalizing the community, so I just wanted to make a special note on that.
In terms of the wage losses, again working with economists we estimated that Chinatown workers suffered a total wage loss of over 114 million dollars. In terms of wage reduction, we were able to document that garment workers, restaurant workers, and jewelry workers, experienced a market decline in terms of their weekly earnings after September 11th. Five or six months after September 11th, we sent teams out to work with both the Garment Workers Union and the Chinese Restaurant Association, serving the garment businesses, and restaurants in Chinatown. Again about 70% of the garment workers are still looking at reduced hours and you’re looking at about 35% the restaurant workers that are looking at reduced shifts. There’s no doubt, the impact on the community has been severe. It has been unprecedented in its scope and also in its size.
The team also spent some time looking at business assistance delivered to Chinatown businesses and residents. Based on the narrow criteria that we used to define what Chinatown is, what we are looking at as of late February is that about 237 Chinatown businesses received SBA loans and these are the Chinese owned and Chinese operated businesses only. The data that we have been looking at…over 3,000,000 cash assistance was delivered to all 5,000 affected workers in Chinatown. But I just want to caution that most of the assistance that we are seeing right now, most are delivered on a short term, temporary basis. I think what is more important and more telling is that you are dealing with an unprecedented level job loss – over 7,000 workers.
I think if anything, the long term implications in terms of strengthening and rebuilding our human capital. How do we get them back in the marketplace and the labor force? That’s going to be an equally important issue for us. The system itself really has, because of the very strict eligibility criteria for south of Canal Street, shut out a lot of the businesses from qualifying for business assistance. As I said before, most of the assistance is provided on a short term basis.
In closing, I applaud many, many efforts that are going on right now by both the public sector and the private sector, as well as different community groups. It’s so important to think about redevelopment in downtown – rebuilding the fiscal infrastructure. What is also equally important is that more than just a fiscal infrastructure, there are so many human faces and lives and stories that need to be told. Together, I urge all organizations, whether you are public, private or community based, to work together. Try to think of some complex strategies to revitalize the community economy as well as to strengthen our human capital.
Betty Lee Sung:
Thank you Dr. Sim. I think we should give Dr. Sim an extra applause. Because his report was carried by the associated press, “The Plight of Chinatown” was made available to a wide audience and that is why we’re getting a little bit of extra attention, and we hope that the Asian American/Asian Research Institute can work with the Asian Federation to work on some more of this and especially we hope that this conference will contribute toward more knowledge and more resolutions for the rebuilding of Chinatown.
Now our last speaker that I’m introducing is Professor Gary Okhiro from Columbia University. I’ve known Professor Okhiro for 30 something years, right Gary? So I’m not going to take a long time to list his long list of accomplishments. He’s the author of many books on Asian Americans. He is now director of the Columbia University Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, and then he was also past President of the Asian American Studies Association. Gary.
Professor Gary Okihiro:
Thank you Betty and thank you. I hope you noticed how President Regan happily avoided the discipline of these lights by standing in front of them.
It is a commonplace that during times of war and national crises, all Americans are drawn together. United we stand is the ubiquitous motto, if not mandate. In the incidence of 9-11, solidarity extended to New Yorkers. We are all New Yorkers was the cry across the country, and to United States Allies, we are all Americans, were the words of the British Prime Minister.
In this fight against those who fear freedom and hate democracy, the war rhetoric goes, there are no Republicans or Democrats, Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, men or women, young or old, Christian, Jews or Muslims. We are all Americans.
While community may have been achieved for many Americans, the truth is that during war and during national crises, intolerance increases because unanimity is required. As put by Mr. Bush, “Either you’re with us or against us.” Some six months after 9-11 when Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, questioned Mr. Bush’s to wage war around the world indefinitely, Republican leader, Trent Lott rebuked him, saying, how dare Senator Daschle criticize President Bush while we are fighting our war on terrorism.
The definition of loyalty, patriotism narrows. Its prescription derived from the state finds enforcement through ordinary citizens who police dress, behavior, speech and even thoughts. The designation of community members becomes sharper between us and them. Or again in Mr. Bush’s words, the “evildoers” and I guess, the righteous ones. We identify ourselves against those we select as not us, or as other. Accordingly social cleavages that predated the crisis or war, notably around identity formations can easily widen. In the days following 9/11, the nation rallied around the victims and the flag as if one, but also members of the community erected and patrolled the borders that excluded those deemed not us.
Thousands, as you have heard, of Arabs, West, Central, and South Asian Americans reported instances of racial harassment and intimidation, including threatening gestures and speech, shootings, vandalizing of homes, businesses and mosques. A Hindu temple was burned to the ground in Canada. A white man drove his car into a Mosque in Ohio. Whites attacked an Asian Indian and his White friend in San Francisco. A Sikh was killed in Arizona in a hate crime and a Pakistani was killed in Dallas. And while two men beat a Sikh American with metal poles in his Los Angeles store, they reportedly exulted, ‘We’ll kill Bin Laden today’. Nervous crews and passengers removed dozens of Muslims and Sikhs, Arabs, West, Central, and South Asians and from flights, and dozens of students left colleges and universities. Hundreds of suspects including dozens of immigrants generally were arrested, questioned, and detained.
Although very different in historical circumstances, 9-11 has been likened by some commentators to Pearl Harbor, in that both attacks were from the air, sudden and swift, seemingly unprovoked and waged by militant fanatics against unsuspecting civilians and an unprepared nation. America, like a chased woman, lost her innocence in those days of infamy, the story goes. While the nation slumbered, its enemies worked their enmity and hatred. Like the days following December 7th, there were calls for tolerance and for distinguishing the loyal from disloyal, friend from enemy, while at the same time there were strident calls for retaliation and the extrication of the enemy from within our midst.
It was within that immediate and historical context that acts of intolerance – the harassment, vandalism, beatings, murders and detentions took place. Japanese Americans in 1941 and 1942 and Arab, West, Central and South Asian Americans some 60 years later.
Longstanding in American history is a suspicion fear of immigrants. Especially one for those of a darker hue was pervasive and indiscriminate in the days following 9-11. Both documented and non-documented immigrants were caught up in sweeps, interrogated and confined. National defense secrets, their identity remaining confidential still. The Fifth Column operates within our borders, taking advantage of our democracy, our open society. They abuse and mock our way of life and are hence even more insidious. Because of that uncommon enemy in war, we must deploy uncommon means for our homeland defense. Thus, secrecy pervades the conduct of government in war. Concentration of powers in the executive branch is justified, indeed elevated to a high and noble cause, immune from reproach or even scrutiny. We indulge a greater tolerance for intolerance and willingly trade our civil liberties, especially those of us who are not us, for our perceived personal safety.
A CNN/USA Today Gallop Pole taken a few days after 9/11 showed that 58% of Americans backed intensive security checks for Arabs, including those who are US Citizens. Forty-nine percent say that they favor special identification cards. Thirty-two percent supported special surveillance. As a great civil libertarian friend of mine admitted quietly to me a few days after 9-11, the public safety eclipsed civil liberties in that moment of crisis. In response I thought to myself sadly, he, a white man, so easily surrendered what he thought to be someone else’s civil liberties for his peace of mind. I could understand but never accept my dear friend’s bargain.
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, established military tribunals enabled by executive fiat, that escape the Constitution. Through a USA patriot act ordain increased surveillance and expand the ability of government to conduct secret searches, give the Attorney General and Secretary of State the power to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations and deport any non-citizen who belongs to them. The press agreed to restrict our freedom of speech to avoid giving comfort to the enemy, and citizens scolded professors who were critical of the war, and disciplined Muslims and Sikhs, Arabs and Asian Americans for their religious practice, dress, speech, and appearance, as Attorney General John Ashcroft told Congress in December 2001, those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty only aid terrorists.
We the people established in the days following Pearl Harbor, martial law in Hawaii and military zones in the western defense command and through an executive order enabled the removal and detention of citizen and non-citizen alike, depriving them of the Constitution’s protection because of military necessity. We learned later that the surveillance of and plans for Japanese Americans anticipated December 7th by about 25 years. Beside the selective detention in Hawaii and then the mass removal and detention on the West Coast, the United States deported undesirable aliens and administered a program of citizenship renunciation and repatriation after Japan surrendered. Now in the effect people responded to their exclusion from the American community in related ways. Japanese Americans were to speak American, think American, even dream American. They avoided gathering in groups, burned their flags, letters and pictures and destroyed Japanese record albums. They were urged to volunteer for public work projects, donate blood, and contribute to the war efforts. A few put up signs in their windows declaring, “I am an American.”
Muslims and Sikhs, Arabs, West, Central, and South Asian Americans face the hard choice of attending or avoiding their Mosque, of wearing a Hasid or Sari, of gathering in groups that might call attention to themselves. Many flew U.S. flags from their cars, lawns and porches, and taxi cab drivers in New York City offered free rides in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 and displayed the Christian cross and their nation’s flag, as if imploring, Pakistani please, not Afghan. The Sikh media watch in the United States advises Sikhs to attend memorial services to the victims of 9-11 and to donate blood, clothing and money toward the relief effort.
But the similarities must not slight the profound differences between December 7th and 9/11. Both wars and social relations were very different, and the constraints and opportunities likewise formed contrast. While the Japanese American citizens urged Japanese Americans to report any pro-Japan sentiment (even among their parents) in 1942, the Sikh media watch advised Sikhs to report any instance of racial profiling or hate crime, write to Congress and file suits if necessary, in 2001.
The Civil Rights Movement, led by African Americans and joined by Asian American, Latinos, Women, Gays and Lesbians, helped to secure those rights and claims for equal treatment under the law. A coalition of Arab, West, South, and Central Asian Americans, Japanese and other Asian Americans, African Americans, Latinos, Whites and women, joined in a press conference at the recently erect memorial to Japanese Americans during World War II in Washington D.C. to declare their opposition to racial harassment and intimidation, racial profiling and the curtailments of civil liberty. Never again, they urged, should racism betray the Constitution’s promise.
The Japanese American Redress and Reparations Movement and Civil Liberties Act of 1988 provided the platform for that monument and renewal of a pledge made by countless men and women throughout the Republic’s history, sealed with their dreams, sweat and blood. The lessons of December 7th and 9/11 are profound and fundamental to American history and democracy. I would like to stress among the many, just two. First the struggles of freedom and equality of others in the past have consequences for us in the present. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before. Second, the victims of intolerance, those who have been denied their rights, through their resistance and refusal have insured the rights and liberties of all Americans.
Those at the margins of American society are the most vulnerable. Consequently they are the ones who most frequently suffer exclusions during times of war or national crises. It is also their claims to the Constitution’s promise from the margins that safeguard its guarantees for the mainstream and indeed for all of us. Thank you.
Betty Lee Sung:
Thank you Professor Okhiro. And now I will turn the podium over to Professor Ngee Pong Chang, and you’ll have another set of speakers, so please stay with us.
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