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Commentary

The New York State Government’s legislation against hate crimes was included in this year’s state budget. This bill will include more illegal behaviors to be defined as “hate crimes”. This is good news. However, some racist institutions hold the banner of “anti-racism” to cover up and continue their racism and violence. For example, recently, the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) is holding a “Stop Asian Hate” film screening and discussion at the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) on May 4.

The so-called “non-profit organization” CPC has taken the lead in forcing home care workers into 24-hour workdays and stealing over $100 million wages from them. It recently moved its headquarters to a new 30-story luxury high-rise in the Lower East Side. The 24-hour workdays are inhumane. Most of the home attendants are Chinese and other women of color. They are forced to work 24 hours a day for a long time, which causes serious damage to their physical and mental health and family relationships. While CPC is committing this kind of violence against women of color, it’s asking the government for funding to fight anti-Asian violence! As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. MOCA sells out the community by taking the City’s $35 million to support its construction of a new jail in Chinatown. It has long been notorious and boycotted by the community for many years. How dare these institutions carry out activities in the name of “Stop Asian Hate”! Aren’t they the ones who should stop their own hatred against Asians?

CPC’s event also attracted some elected officials to participate. We call on these elected officials to keep their eyes open and stand with the community against racism by boycotting these blood-sucking institutions.

Vincent Cao
Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association

On May Day

Home care workers and supporters went on a hunger strike for six days, demanding that City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams pass a bill to abolish the 24-hour workday. It drew huge attention in the society and raised everyone’s awareness from just caring about making money to caring about their own health and relationships with their families: Working long hours causes loss of health and family, and no amount of money can buy them back!

The May Day protest is approaching. In addition to demanding the abolition of the 24-hour workday, we should also further raise other demands to unite the working class. Nowadays, not only do home attendants become injured due to long hours of work, but the health of workers across industries and even young people is also affected by the deterioration of the working and living environment. However, the privatization of medical insurance in the United States allows insurance companies to make profits, resulting in most people having to buy expensive insurance in order not to pay exorbitant medical fees. Many workers are even forced to reduce their income and are exploited by unscrupulous bosses in order to receive Medicaid. Universal healthcare is a demand shared by workers from all walks of life and with different incomes. The U.S. government should set up a universal healthcare system instead of helping insurance companies and unscrupulous bosses suck our blood!

The U.S. government is deepening the exploitation and division of the working class internally, squeezing our labor to support wars and suppressing other countries externally, destroying their economies and homes, and creating a large number of refugees. These refugees lost their homes and came to the United States to work. However, the U.S. government treats them as criminals and forces them to work illegally and become underground labor. Just as the existence of the 24-hour workday has led to the society accepting long working hours, as long as we allow some workers to be treated as criminals, unscrupulous bosses will use them to bring down the working conditions for everyone.

Now, the New York City government is calling for fast tracking work permit approvals for asylum seekers. Not only does this not solve the fundamental problem of criminalizing immigrants, it also deepens the division between them and other immigrants. At the same time, the government is boosting its efforts to give money to undocumented immigrants while maintaining modern-day slavery systems like the 24-hour workdays. Is it to make unscrupulous bosses more emboldened to lower their wages and destroy their health? In New York City, in addition to asking the U.S. government to stop the war externally, we should also demand that it end its policy of criminalizing immigrants and let all workers have equal rights. This will be of great benefit to us in uniting workers of all identities to improve the working conditions.

This May Day protest, let us carry forward the glorious tradition of the American working class that united workers of all ethnicities and industries to fight for the eight-hour day. Mobilize and unite our communities and people from all walks of life, to demand that the New York City government stop violence and give back our health and lives!

Zishun Ning
Staff, CSWA

US Government: Stop the Genocidal War against the Palestinians, and Stop Abusing Women of Color Internally by Abolishing the 24-hour Workday

The US government supports the Israeli government in continuing to harm the Palestinian people, which has aroused worldwide indignation and sympathy for the Palestinian people.

In order to obtain maximum oil benefits in the Middle East, the US government supports the Israeli government as its vicious dog, constantly barking and creating conflicts, maintaining a “no war, no peace” situation, so that the US can exert influence. Historically, with the support of the US government, the Israeli government has continued to divide and occupy Palestinian land. It has treated Palestinians as worthless, forcing them to live in crowded and narrow areas such as the Gaza Strip, imposing an economic blockade on them, and separating them with walls. Palestine is therefore known as “the largest open-air prison in the world”!

How can the Palestinians not resist when they live in fear and oppression every day? Without the backing of the US government, how would the Israeli government dare to ignore the opposition from around the world and insist on bombing and invading the Gaza Strip? Even for the most basic United Nations resolution for a ceasefire, the US government disregarded other countries and exercised its veto power to stop it. In addition to the rising number of casualties every day, the two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are facing large-scale displacement as they are cut off from electricity and water: in just ten days after the Israeli government “declared war”, more than 60% Palestinians were forced to move! If they did not flee, they would be killed. Through this genocidal war, the US government is creating another migrant crisis, attracting condemnation from people at home and abroad, including Jews. We call on everyone to oppose this war and ask President Biden to stop the war immediately!

To start and maintain wars abroad, the US government has relied on exploiting and oppressing people internally. With the support of the government, insurance companies and home care agencies are forcing women of color home attendants to work inhumane 24-hour workdays, destroying their health and families day in and day out, and only pay them 13 hours a day. There is no such anti-human work arrangement anywhere else in the world! As the Speaker of the City Council, Adrienne Adams has been refusing to put the “No More 24 Act” to a vote to stop this crime against humanity and allow unscrupulous bosses to continue to harm us. It is unreasonable for the government to help these unscrupulous bosses suck our blood and sweat while also using our money to support the war!

In New York City, we must unite with all groups and individuals who support justice and oppose war and oppression, to stop the US government’s oppression against people internally, such as the racist violence against women of color, and to collectively improve our working and living conditions. Demand City Council Speaker Adams: Put the “No More 24 Act” to a vote and abolish the 24-hour workday, otherwise step down immediately!

CSWA’S 2023 Lunar New Year Celebration!

Dear Members and Friends,

Happy Year of the Rabbit! Rabbit is the symbol of luck, representing hope and prosperity. We wish you a new year of health, joy and bigger gains! We’ve had a great year of achievements, as Chinese workers led the fight against racist violence and displacement.

Stop the Racist Violence

Last year, Chinese women and other women of color home attendants set off the wave of actions against the racist 24-hour workdays, including rallies, sit-ins, testifying and legal actions. Fearless and determined, they pushed legislation with City Councilmember Christopher Marte to abolish the 24-hour shifts, and pressured the New York State Department of Labor to enforce the law and start investigating the huge amount of wage theft by home care agencies in those shifts—close to $40 million for just 300 workers. Ending the 24-hour workdays has become the top issue in society. The workers also care about the community: they did a big mobilization to rally against the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) and the Chu family’s racism and displacement.

Fight Against the Criminalization of Our Community

Jing Fong workers, young people and other people across the board have been picketing in front of MOCA, rain or shine, calling for a boycott of the museum and other Chu family’s business. They demand the big landlord and museum co-chair Jonathan Chu reopen the big Jing Fong dining hall, and the museum return the $35 million it took for supporting the City’s new jail. When Chu and MOCA colluded with the NYPD to harass the picket line and treat the whole community as criminals, they didn’t waver. Instead, they unified the whole community to march against Chu and MOCA’s racism and criminalization. As a result, they knocked off the police’s false charges, led to the investigation of the corrupt cop, and successfully delayed the racist new jail plan in Chinatown.

New Year Expectation

This year, to build on our achievements, we continue to unify people regardless of age, trade or status, to pass the Chinatown Working Group Rezoning Plan that would protect the community against displacement, the “No More 24” Act to abolish the 24-hour workdays in New York City and the SWEAT bill that would stop wage theft in New York State.

Let’s celebrate! We invite you and your friends and family to our Lunar New Year Celebration on Sunday, February 19, 2023 at noon. The address is 350 Grand St, across the street from CSWA. If you would like to come, please fill out the required RSVP form so that we can do headcount.

Ren Quan Yang

Board president, CSWA

Condemn the Racist Violence of Memphis Police!

Recently, a video of police violence in Memphis was made public, recording the process of a Black man Nichols being brutally beaten to death by five Black policemen in the street. It caused public outcry across the United States. Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association condemned the racist violence of the Memphis police, and called on the Memphis city government to investigate why these Black police officers discriminate against and hate Black people so much, and abolish the racist policing policy in addition to disbanding SCORPION.

 

This violent incident is a reflection of systemic racism in the United States, which needs to be resolved systemically. The US only protects the rich and treats working people as mud, especially Blacks and other people of color. The richest people at the top and the government representing their interests used to use Whites to oppress people of color, but now they use people of color to bully and discriminate against their own race. They promote faces of people of color in various communities as “representatives” of “racial equality” to perpetuate exploitation and oppression. Inside the communities, these so-called “representatives” oppress their own groups even more. Outside, they pretend to be symbols of “progress” and “anti-racism” and act as a fig leaf for systemic racism. Like Memphis, Black policemen are used to carry out violence against black people, thinking that this way they can not be accused of racism.

Statement on AMNY’s Coverage of the “Chinzilla” Poster

On Dec 3rd, AMNY published a news article titled “Political leaders say Lower East Side fliers are hate-filled smears against local lawmakers.” The article quotes the political leaders from East Village who accused the poster on the storefront of National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS) of being racist. This poster illustrates Chinzilla–a monster with the body of Godzilla from Japanese movies, and the head of Margaret Chin, Chinese-American Council Member. The article also gives Chin a platform to say how “hurtful” she thinks the poster is.

Chin describing the poster as “hurtful” is like a thief crying out when she sees her picture on a wanted poster. Chin is notoriously known in the Chinese community as a sellout politician who carries out the City’s racist displacement agenda — benefiting rich developers and destroying Chinatown and the Lower East Side, a neighborhoodpredominantly of Chinese, Black and Latinos who work, live and operate small businesses. The “Chinzilla” poster is an accurate depiction of Chin’s destruction of our community for more than a decade, a reflection of our community’s outrage towards her racism and displacement.

Therefore, we are angry about the AMNY’s coverage that helps the smear attack from the East Village political leaders. These people who wrote the complaint about the poster are the same ones who supported the East Village Rezoning in 2008 — a protective plan against luxury high-rises for the wealthier, white neighborhood of East Village — but denied Chinatown & Lower East Side the same protection. At that time, Chin was the head of Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) which, despite its name, ironically supported this racist rezoning plan. Our community has been calling these people out as racists or supporting racist policies. 

For the last 10 years, our community has been pushing the passage of the entire Chinatown Working Group (CWG) Rezoning Plan to have the same protection as East Village. Why don’t the accusers of the poster say anything about their own racism or the racist policies against Chinese and other people of color? Why didn’t AMNY cover the protests in the Chinese community against Chin? Do they know that Chin, in response to the community’s outcry, actually doubled down her racist act by proposing to divide the CWG plan? Her proposal would protect only a small part of Chinatown and exclude Blacks, Latinos and Chinese in the Lower East Side. This caused a lot of uproar in our community. 

NMASS, Chinese Staff and Workers Association (CSWA) and other organizations came together and stopped her divisive efforts. How dare AMNY and those accusers, whocome from outside neighborhood or don’t know this history, accuse NMASS of being racist without any investigation? NMASS has consistently spoken out against racism upon people of color, whether it comes from White, Chinese or other people of color, whether from sweatshop bosses or from politicians. NMASS is a teaching example for usChinese people, as it leads the fight to unify people across boundaries to speak out against racism and displacement. The “Chinzilla” poster is one example of such effort. We would like to further spread the poster at our center and on the storefront. On behalf of our community, we would also like to award the artist of the poster $1000 to continue to create art to battle racism.

To AMNY and those who criticized the poster: If you are genuine about fighting racism, you should cover and support our fight against the City’s racist displacement agenda, instead of supporting racist policies or helping amplify racist politicians’ words.

Wing Lam

Executive director
Chinese Staff and Workers Association

为何现在爆发大规模示威？

弗洛伊德之死引发了全国性的反警察暴力示威。其规模之大，让不少人思考为何示威会在这个节点爆发。要深入了解，就必须看这个制度为何和如何使用暴力。

要知道，这个制度用种种方式每天向我们社区施加暴力——工资盗窃、长时间工作、高房租等。这些经济暴力是慢性的，它持久地蚕食我们的健康和破坏我们的社会关系，让我们成为只想着为生计奔波而出卖劳动力的奴隶。而这个制度所保护的人群——大地产商和无良老板——则在这些经济暴力和剥削中得益。在纽约州，每年有十亿美元的血汗钱从工人手里被偷走。最离谱的例子是家庭护理，她们被迫做24小时工作日，只得13小时工资。而纽约市政府则通过减税等优惠政策鼓励大地产商入侵社区大建豪华高楼，抬高地税和租金，逼迁工人、住客和小商户。警察作为这个制度的一部分来保护有钱人的财产和打压有色族裔，是这个制度性种族歧视和暴力的最直观的体现。

新冠疫情则让这个制度的暴力和种族歧视得到集中体现：很多小商户和住户因失去收入而交不起租金，被迫关门或面临逼迁；必要行业的工人如护理面临感染的风险继续上班，而政府和公司却没有提供足够的防疫用品；有色族裔人士因交不起贵租而被迫聚居，导致疫情期间无法自我隔离，从而使得感染率和死亡率更高。与此同时，大财团和顶尖1%的富豪则获得政府数以千亿的肥厚补贴。美国政府就算如何鼓吹其制度的优越性，也掩盖不了感染和死亡人数远超其他国家这一屈辱的事实。但是，疫情感染和死亡人数只是数字。美国政府劫贫济富的行为虽然是很多人的切身体会，但政府长期以来的慢性暴力已让很多人对此麻木。

而弗洛伊德之死被录了下来，则让人直面这个制度的暴力，从而触发了人们对这个制度的愤恨并上街游行。可以说，弗洛伊德之死是人们对制度性种族歧视和暴力的宣泄窗口。

所以，在我们关注和反对警察暴力和种族歧视时，应该联系到我们每天面对的经济暴力，为了自己和社区的未来而觉醒和组织起来。要真正地解决问题，就要谴责政府勾结大地产商和无良老板，并团结各族裔，要求市长和州长设立援助金保障工人和小商户的生计，全面减租减地税，停止给予大地产商津贴和优惠，并通过【华埠工作组土改方案】来反对逼迁，通过【防工资盗窃法案】来消灭工资盗窃现象。

华人职工会 宁子舜