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COURIER LIFE, APRIL 15-21, 2022
BY IWEN CHU
I immigrated from Taiwan to the US at
27, with just two pieces of luggage, because
of my belief in the American Dream.
Like most Asian-American immigrants,
I understand the struggle of acclimating
to a new country and a new
city. You must navigate new systems and
overcome language barriers. And now, as
Asian hate crimes continue to soar, many
in the AAPI community find themselves
fearful within their own city and grappling
with how to protect themselves.
The Fiscal Year 2023 budget will include
$20 million to support community
organizational efforts to aid the AAPI
community in New York, which is double
what the state spent on AAPI funding last
year but is only a third of the $64.5 million
requested by the newly-formed AAPI Equity
Coalition this year.
While this is a good start in providing
Asian American organizations with more
funding, more needs to be done to solve
the systemic issues that are at the root of
the problems facing the AAPI community
today. The state needs to prioritize combating
the rise in Anti-Asian hate crimes,
OP-ED
bridging the language gap for Asian immigrants,
and providing support to the
grassroots organizations already within
New York’s AAPI communities.
As crime rates have gone down in New
York City overall, hate crimes against
Asian Americans have increased by 400%.
My heart breaks every time I see another
story about violence against Asian Americans,
especially in a place like New York
that boasts inclusivity and diversity.
Just last month, a man hit a 67-year-old
woman in Yonkers 125 times just because
she was Asian.
Now we have women and seniors lining
up for access to free pepper spray,
just to feel somewhat secure against what
seems like daily senseless and hateful acts
of violence. We cannot allow Asian people
to continue to live in fear of being attacked
or discriminated against any longer.
In order to prevent future hate crimes,
we need to provide Asian communities
with culturally sensitive resources to apprehend
and prosecute those committing
these acts of violence, as well as develop
a program for non-English speaking victims
to safely report hate crimes and to receive
counseling and support.
The Asian immigrant community, in
particular, has very few resources because
of the language and cultural barriers
that exist. During my 10 years working
as Chief of Staff for Assemblymember Peter
Abbate, I had many constituents come
to me when they had issues with the social
system, the education system and the
health system, all because they could not
understand how things worked.
So many lives could be improved by expanding
language access to government
agencies and programs, providing interpreters
at polling sites, and supporting
nonprofit organizations who are working
relentlessly to provide crucial services to
immigrants.
Asian communities are historically
underserved, underfunded and underrepresented
in New York, which is why I continue
to call attention to their needs. Now
more than ever we need to show AAPI
New Yorkers that they are being heard,
that they are being seen and that they are
being protected.
We need to bridge the gap between the
AAPI community and state government
—this is why I hope to be in Albany next
budget season to fight for more funding for
the AAPI community, and provide it with
resources that are long overdue.
Asian American immigrants should
have the resources they need to not only
survive but thrive as they pursue their
American Dream, just as I have.
Iwen Chu is running for the proposed SD
27 seat. She is president of Star and Stripes
Democratic Club and has long-served as
chief of staff for Assemblymember Peter Abbate.
Tuesday’s horrific attack at
the 36th Street subway station
in Brooklyn, which
left five people shot and eight
others injured from a detonated
smoke grenade, was just
the latest violent incident to
rattle the city this year.
In less than three and a half
months, we’ve endured cops being
killed in the line of duty
and innocent children having
their lives taken at the hands
of reckless shooters. Overall
crime has grown exponentially
in recent months, up more than
30%, with property crimes
such as robbery, burglary and
grand larceny powering that
troubling increase.
The Adams administration
is doing all that it can to reverse
the crime trend, sending
in specialized teams of officers
to combat gun crimes and instituting
new policies designed to
target quality of life problems
that plague the city. It has also
worked with the state to tweak
bail reform laws to further ensure
that the city’s violent offenders
aren’t quickly returned
to the streets after arrest.
For its trouble, criminal
justice advocates have been
quick to criticize Mayor Adams
and allege that the new
regime is taking the city backward
toward the days of “broken
windows” and other policies
which were found to have
promoted bad police behavior
and even violate the constitutional
rights of ordinary New
Yorkers.
But the Adams administration’s
policies are shaped by the
lessons of the past, and do not
mark a step backward in the way
of progress. No one should expect
either Adams or the NYPD
to take their eyes off a crime increase
because past policies have
failed the city and its people.
Simply put, the NYPD needs
to be able to do its job in protecting
the city and locking
up those who seek to do it and
their residents harm. It must
work with the community, and
the community must work with
it, to accomplish this mission.
Nothing less than the future
of New York City hangs in the
balance.
If people feel unsafe in the
subways, they won’t use the
subways. If they don’t feel safe
venturing out onto major shopping
strips, they’ll shop elsewhere.
If they don’t feel safe on
their block or in their apartment
buildings, they’ll head to
the suburbs.
We’ll witness the same decline
the city experienced, and
barely survived, in the 1970s
when the consequences of urban
flight finally came home
to roost. We must not allow history
to repeat itself.
The city must get tough on
crime. The Adams administration
is committed to do just
that. And it’s up to all New
Yorkers who care about their
city, and who want it to be a
safe place for themselves and
their children, to support this
critical effort.
EDITORIAL
Time to get tough
New York needs more AAPI funding
“Asian American immigrants should have the resoures they
need to not only survive but thrive as they pursue their
American Dream, just as I have.”
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