YADstack #2 - twentYADfour
The anti-displacement fight started strong in both January’s New Year and Lunar New Year! We’ve been on panels and the picket line, meeting new neighbors and reconnecting with coalition members. Check out what we’ve been up to!
Revitalize Lower Manhattan, No Mega-Jail!
The current jail in Chinatown is now half-demolished, spreading dust and displacement already. However, we are part of a growing coalition of organizations, small businesses, Chinese family associations, and other community groups who are uniting to say the fight is not over — not only do we all oppose the jail, but we support a revitalized Chinatown! The billions spent on new jails and local bribes (like the $35 million given to MOCA) should be invested in helping Chinatown’s people and small businesses bounce back from the impact of the pandemic. Read the sign-on letter: Revitalize Lower Manhattan, No Mega-Jail. Please consider signing this letter if you or someone you know is part of an organization, business, group, etc., in Chinatown or the Lower East Side! Contact nomegajail@gmail.com to get involved!
Spreading Anti-Displacement Organizing at Asian American Arts Alliance’s Town Hall!
In January, Youth Against Displacement was invited to present at the Asian American Arts Alliance’s January Town Hall titled Home(land), focusing on land, displacement, and the AAPI-led decolonization, abolitionist, and anticapitalist movements that advocate for equitable rights to exist and make a home. Since a lot of artists and art workers were in the audience, we shared how our MOCA picket line ties into the broader fight against displacement. Whether it's mega-jails or mega-towers, big developers often get to have their way with the future of our city because they buy off politicians and even nonprofits (like MOCA - but there are others too!). Through our picket, we show people how the City government can try to pit communities against each other by offering money to those who take their side, ignoring what real people actually want investment in.
Dragons Against Displacement
MOCA is back at it again, trying to co-opt Chinatown’s most vibrant holiday by luring in visitors to their sell-out institution. But the picket is spreading. People would support the neighborhood instead of a museum funded by jail money, as evidenced by their sparsely attended Lunar New Year event. We talked with parents and children who joined our picket line about how displacement can impact families, forcing kids to move away as they can’t afford the neighborhood they were raised in. MOCA also ramped up their tactics, with eggs being thrown at us from above (but it takes a lot more than an egg to crack us!), and a large camera taping us the entire time. 2024 is the year of the Wood Dragon, only appearing every 60 years. With the Dragon symbolizing luck, strength, and health and the element of Wood symbolizing growth and expansion, we’re ready for what the anti-displacement fight brings us in 2024!
The Rent is Too Damn High
In February, we were invited to Midtown South Community Council’s For the Greater Good Series: The Rent is Too Damn High. Audrey spoke about our work organizing with tenants facing predatory landlords in Chinatown and the Lower East Side and organizing to pass the Chinatown Working Group plan. Many groups organizing around rent focus on tenants and stronger laws. But we’ve often seen in our organizing that so long as we have elected officials in the pocket of the real estate industry, slumlords and developers can get away with breaking the law because they are not held accountable! In YAD, we organize to unite the whole community - tenants, workers, small business owners - because only when we are united can we stand up to the City, stand up to developers, and stop displacement! We were happy to share this perspective and meet lots of other people who care deeply about this issue.
Lions Against Displacement
That brings us to March, the last leg of our New Year programming! We had a blast performing our lion dance at our coalition partner, Chinese Staff and Workers Association, Lunar New Year Party and connecting with other coalition members.
That’s it from us for now! You can always find us on the MOCA (215 Centre St) picket line Thursday through Sunday, 11AM to 2 PM.
In Solidarity,
Youth Against Displacement