Asian Americans for Equality - Olivia Foster
Essay
Part 1:
The Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) organization emerged from employment discrimination in regards to the construction of the Confucius Plaza in 1974. After racist immigration quotas were lifted in 1965, Chinatown became an ethnic enclave, a place of refuge for Chinese immigrants. The Asian Americans for Equal Employment protested on May 16th with sayings such as, “The Asians built the railroad; Why not Confucius Plaza?”. This was monumental as most of the Asian community was afraid to speak up about the issues they faced on a daily basis. This protest led to an eventual victory with the employment of 27 minority workers and the establishment of a resource center to aid housing, immigration and work-place issues.
The following year an Asian American man faced vast mistreatment by the NYPD. This led to a transformation in the perception of Asian Americans being “too timid to protest”. 20,000 people at City Hall protested against police brutality, Asian protestors blocked vehicles and construction at the Confucius Plaza. This highlighted the transition from the “grateful immigrant” mentality, where instead of being afraid of hurting one’s future, Asian Americans claimed this country as their own and fought for the rights to which they were entitled.
In 1977 the organization was renamed the Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) to reflect its increasing membership and expanding goals of justice and equality. This was a huge step as it enabled leaders to join coalitions involved in other campaigns and create partnerships with other ethnic and political groups. Joining nationwide civil rights actions helped bring clout as they secured unionized contracts and fought discriminatory budget cuts.
AAFE’s “Fight Gentrification & Save Chinatown” campaign initiated AAFE’s lasting involvement in the fight for fair housing practices that has endured over 40 years. Their focus on tenant organizing, fighting illegal landlord practices and educating people about their rights are only a few of the methods they utilize to empower people in Chinatown and neighboring communities. AAFE maintains a Community Development Fund, a homeownership program, and acts as a federal healthcare translator, affordable housing developer and heads the Renaissance Economic Development Corporation.
AAFE’s Community Development Fund focuses on mortgage financing for low to moderate income immigrant and minority homebuyers, the rehabilitation of numerous homes throughout New York City and providing emergency disaster relief as it did in 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. Since 2000 AAFE has facilitated almost $300 million in mortgage financing and has become a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, enabling them to provide loans for underserved communities. Projects like the Equality House, Clinton House, Peace House illustrate AAFE’s skills as a not-for-profit developer cultivating diversity in the local community, rehabilitating and converting unused or destroyed buildings into apartments for low-income tenants, seniors and those who experienced homelessness.
The Community Development Fund (CDF) and the Renaissance Economic Development Corp. are essential parts of coalition building as 40% of those receiving assistance from the CDF are Latino or African American and CDF provides loans to not just traditionally Asian communities but also neighborhoods in Staten Island and other hard-hit areas. AAFE’s multifaceted approach enables them to create relationships on various levels with different communities as they help hire contractors, develop work plans and provide affordable loans to small businesses and entrepreneurs. The creation of jobs in the local communities helps bring in essential capital to grow existing services or provide support for people to launch new ventures.
Part 2:
The Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) organization was founded originally to raise awareness and fight oppression experienced by immigrants and members of the Asian American community. Throughout all their different community involvements and programs the biggest theme I see is community empowerment. Their goal in the beginning was to empower members of the Asian community to protest and speak out against the discrimination they recevied in the workplace and in the housing market. This actively was a form of resistance against the “model minority” generalization about Asians. AAFE gave people the support to demand equal rights and get involved politically.
In the ‘90’s AAFE prioritized solidarity and coalition building as they increased its outreach. To help address the needs for the South Asian community in New York AAFE created the Chhaya Community Development Corporation. Likewise, AAFE founded the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, which was the first group dedicated to advocating for the needs of Asian American and Pacific Islanders in New York. AAFE’s acknowledgement of its growing constituencies is important to note as they continuously grow their goals and strategies to include different minority communities and their individual needs. Additionally, the renaming of the Asian Americans for Equal Employment to The Asian Americans for Equality reflects the organization’s awareness and willingness to reassess its goals.
Beginning in the ‘90’s AAFE really mobilized their base to increase civic activism in the Asian American communities. They educated community members about important issues, engaged with elected officials and registered voters. AAFE even drew up a proposal for redistricting when the 1990 Census was approaching that would enable Chinatown and other neighborhoods to have political representation. Once the plan was approved, Margaret Chin one of the founders of AAFE ran for office for City Council District 1. It took her 20 yeras but eventually she won in 2010, becoming the first Chinese American woman to serve on the City Council. This was monumental for immigrants, especially women as they had someone in office who shared a similar background and constituents could relate to. This enabled issues for immigrants, members of minority communities and women to be brought before the City Council with a new strength and urgency that was previously never taken into consideration. Furthermore, due to AAFE’s mobilization and voter outreach efforts, John Liu became the first Asian to win a citywide office in New York, Peter Koo won a City Council seat in Queens and 2 years later Grace Meng became the first Asian American Congresswoman from New York. This illustrates that when organizations within the communities bring empowerment from within and elevate community members themselves, real representation and change is able to come about, while still acknowledging future needs.
Another avenue that aids immigrant, minority and women owned businesses is the Renaissance Economic Development Corporation. Through the Renaissance Economic Development Corp. AAFE has provided upwards of $30 million dollars to approximately one thousand small businesses. By returning capital to members of the community, instead of outside gentrification and ousting existing businesses, these funds drive economic development of existing businesses and enable new opportunities to grow and innovate. These loans have also spurred new employment opportunities for members of the community, which again allows the capital to stay within the communities instead of forcing members to look elsewhere. AAFE helps community members from start to finish with their investments as they lead numerous education programs. Computer literacy tutorials for senior citizens, adult and youth leadership programs, and college application training programs all allow community members to choose their own paths and fully utilize all the resources available to them. These services overcome language and cultural barriers that oftentimes hinder many community members' experiences at home, in the workplace or interacting with others. These services I believe are the first basic step to empowerment. However, as I reiterated earlier, AAFE does not stop there. Every step of the way AAFE finds a way to empower communities- whether it be by helping you fight your landlord, becoming your landlord, creating new homes for you to live in, creating jobs for you to work AAFE helps in basically any way you can think of. They have become an integral member of the New York City community broadly as they do not isolate their services and funds to only Asian Americans, but recognize the needs of other communities and actively work with local officials and other organizations to solve those issues.
Poetry
Mandate of Heaven
Expectation: flashes of orange, yellow and red, auspicious colors floating in the sky as we climb climb climb to the American Dream.
Reality: flashes of orange, yellow and red are the colors of taxi cabs, street lights and awning signs begging begging begging for people to come in.
Expectation: The Chinese Emperor issuing royal decrees for his vast, rich and powerful nation
Reality: Another customer’s order scribbled down, phone’s ringing and ringing … “can i take your order??”
Expectation: The mandate of heaven followed without question, trusting the future it leads to
Reality: Surrounded by bricks, air conditioners and stairs climbing higher and higher but can one even see the sky it leads to?
Tradition
Every Tuesday morning coffee in hand, the duel begins.
Dribble Dribble….Clink Clink Clink….
One’s gotta get their exercise in, gotta stay fit
But the focus isn’t on who will win-
Creating a strategy, awaiting the next move, a constant game of cat and mouse
-how our tradition will match with our future, how our elders relate to the new-
Xianqi, oolong tea , hoodies, and nike’s
all of these can be a part of me.
I am swift like the traffic on Bleeker, patient like my nai nai, consistent like a dribbled ball and 100% me.
The Convenience Store
You pick up the Korean Deli on your corner, you order Chinese Take out, you buy sushi at your local grocery store.
But when it’s no longer convenient, how often will you go to the store? How will you support those whose food is comfort to you?
China-virus, bat-eaters, close them all down - don’t let them infect you!
So down, down, down the restaurants and stores go on your list
Dark goes the streets that were once filled with people trying “exotic new foods”
Closed are the vendors whose fruit you’d heckle for, closed are the markets whose aisles you’d peruse with visiting friends.
But the people, we’re not gone, we the people are the light-
our lanterns still hang, our open sign still flickers, our people remain.
Works Cited
Banks, Clay. “Running a Half-Court Game in Chinatown, Manhattan.” Unsplash, 15 Dec. 2019, unsplash.com/photos/oQUxxuizMTM?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink.
Desforges, Phil. “Bed by Glass Window.” Unsplash, 12 Nov. 2019, unsplash.com/photos/2mOUBpdcVnc?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink.
Jiang, Donny. “Person in Orange Jacket.” Unsplash, 15 Oct. 2019, unsplash.com/photos/2QmISA--dDw?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink.
Lau, Aaron. “Canton Bazaar Storefront during Nighttime Photo.” Unsplash, 13 May 2018, unsplash.com/photos/vTlVVCdSzSQ.
“Our History.” Asian Americans for Equality, 10 Mar. 2019, www.aafe.org/who-we-are/our-history.
Osipyan, Arthur. “Two Men Sitting Beside a Table Playing a Game.” Unsplash, 29 Oct. 2017, unsplash.com/photos/ST6_fn8pux4.
Suman, Kit. “Red and Orange Lantern Lamp Under White Clouds and Blue Sky.” Unsplash, 30 Apr. 2019, unsplash.com/photos/f_b31l1JewY?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink.