On Tuesday, We Celebrated Two Bridges! On Sunday, We Will Protest Sing Tao!

Yesterday, Lower East Side and Chinatown community members joined Council Member Christopher Marte to celebrate yet another massive victory at Two Bridges. A few weeks ago–after 7 long years of developers itching to build mega luxury towers on the LES waterfront–land owner Chetrit announced its tower plans were moving forward now as they entered the final phase of a deal with a secret investor. But Council Member Marte quickly organized a press conference with community members, where everyone warned this new partner that we would never give up fighting to stop these towers. These towers would raise rents, displace the community at large, and harm the health of residents and people of Two Bridges. Weeks after the press conference, the investors have pulled out, and Chetrit has been forced to put the lot on the auction block!

All over NYC, developers usually get to build whatever luxury towers they want. How are the Chinatown and LES communities able to buck the trend??

The previous Council Member Margaret Chin was heralded as the first Chinese elected to the City Council, representing District 1. But instead of representing the people of the district, she used her identity and position in the Council to sell our communities to developers. At Two Bridges, she did developers a huge favor by telling the community there was nothing that could be done to stop the towers, and so we’d better get something out of the deal. But community members had already been fighting displacement and had united across race and across neighborhoods to point the finger at developers and the elected officials–whether they are Asian, White, Black, or Latino–who help them destroy our community. Through years of struggle, more and more of the community saw through identity politics and the electeds who pander to people using their race as proof they will represent or help them, while actually helping the rich.

It is only through these experiences that our LES and Chinatown communities united to elect Christopher Marte, who firmly stood against developers and to protect the unity our communities had forged. It is this unity that won our most recent battle against Two Bridges towers. 

To build on this victory and ensure we continue to protect our communities from displacement, we call on everyone to join us to protest Sing Tao Daily on Sunday, September 29. Despite our gains, newspapers such as Sing Tao Daily–the largest Chinese-language newspaper in NYC–still work tirelessly to bring us back to divisive times dominated by identity politics. While Sing Tao was eager to praise Margaret Chin and promote the identity politics of the first Chinese elected ‘helping’ Chinatown, it constantly spews misinformation and anti-Blackness regarding Chris Marte, who refuses to bow to the elites that Sing Tao serves. It uses every opportunity to attack Chris Marte and attack those in our community leading the fight against displacement and against sweatshops. It uses its newspaper as free reign to slander us. It seeks to stir up racial tension by casting Black people as criminals and eagerly reporting the Chinese misleaders that say Chinese should oppose homeless shelters because it will bring Black criminals into their community–-making the whole world think that all Chinese are against Black people. Sing Tao would never amplify community voices that say we oppose shelters because they are part of the very displacement agenda developers and the City government support–which hurt Black people as well as all other people in them–and demand the city stand up to developers and protect our homes and build more low-income housing. 

If Sing Tao’s portrayal of Black people amounts to daily crime reports and Council Member Chris Marte as a bad council member who loves crime, how is Sing Tao trying to influence the Chinese community and what is the impact on all of us? If Sing Tao applauds the rich like Jonathan Chu as a community hero and sweatshop kingpin Wayne Ho as a community servant, while demeaning and marginalizing the Chinese who dare to stand up to their own oppressors, do we not stand up and expose its dangerous rhetoric? 

It is clear the interests Sing Tao serves. It promotes those who run against Chris Marte like Susan Lee and Jenny Low, who are either sweatshop bosses themselves or wish to use their council seat to help developers. Sing Tao would be happy to send us back to the times when identity politics had a hold on our community, so sellout electeds and community leaders could lead us to hate each other more than we hate them. 

But we won’t let them! Whether you are Asian, Black, Latino, or white, whether you live in LES, Chinatown, Soho, or anywhere, take a stand against the racism Sing Tao promotes! Show your neighbors that we will not be fooled into fighting each other while those who really work to destroy our communities are let off the hook.

Sing Tao Daily, Stop Your Anti-Black Racism! 

Sunday, September 29, 11AM

Outside Sing Tao Daily HQ 

188 Lafayette St, NYC