After Ratty Year, Jamaican Chinese ponder ‘Year of the Ox’
Tom Lee, Pam Lee and Everald in China Town in 2019. Photo
by Vinette K. Pryce
Caribbean Life, FEB. 26-MAR. 4, 2021 11
Traditionally, Pam Lee, a
Chinatown resident celebrates
the 15-day tradition related to
a new year by inviting some of
her immigrant friends from
Jamaica to share in the customary
gifting of red envelopes,
watching Dragon Parades, and
dining on dim sum dishes.
Each year she delights in
showing appreciation to children
and workers by stuffing
the envelopes with cash.
She relishes the choices of
foods prepared for the annual.
And annually revels with
drummers and dancers who
meander through the tiny
walkways named Canal, Bayard,
Mott and Mulberry streets.
Unfortunately, last year, 2020
started off with tragedy from a
fire at a Mulberry St. museum
just across from her home. The
blaze accounted for the loss
of more than 85,000 artifacts
alleged to have archived Chinese
migration to America.
The inferno felt like devastation
to the Jamaican Chinese
immigrant.
She had anticipated good
fortune in the Year of the Rat.
But the bad start was only
a signal of worst travesties to
come.
Less than a month later,
there were reports of a mysterious
virus that infected an individual
in San Francisco.
Lee was concerned.
Her daughter Robyn resided
in the vicinity.
After marrying she moved
to the west coast and was pregnant
with her first child.
Lee pondered postponing
invitations to her friends.
An accomplished artist, the
longtime resident of the closeknit
Southeastern Asian community,
Lee was born in Kingston
but since migrating Chinatown
has been her home.
By March she said she started
hearing anti-Asian comments
from the White House.
“He (Pres. Donald Trump)
kept referring to it as the China
virus,” Lee said.
Scientifically known as
COVID-19, the coronavirus had
reached past the Frisco Bay of
California, and quickly reputed
New York for being “the epicenter
of the virus.”
Mounting daily casualties
merited presidential attention, a
task force and press conferences
to update the nation.
“He called it the Wuhan
virus…he said it was the China
virus and his words affected
tourism.”
“The more he repeated it the
more China Town became a
ghost town.”
Lee bemoaned the racist and
xenophobic references to her
people.
“It is so sad,” she said.
Lee was not the only one who
heard damning references from
the White House.
Social media buzzed to resonate
on tourists and shoppers
who usually flock to the selfcontained
community in order
to visit museums, schools,
theaters, movie houses, souvenir
shops, restaurants, hotels,
spas, banks and must-see attractions.
Home to almost one million
Asians from Korea, Japan, Viet
Nam, the Philippines, Cuba and
a myriad of nations, the area
located adjacent to Little Italy
represents the largest of nine
outposts dedicated to selling oriental
novelties.
By March 2020, a mandatory
shutdown forced the closing
of shops, salons, banks, movie
houses, novelty stores and other
establishments. As a matter of
fact, March 10, a week earlier
than the mandated New York
shutdown, Jing Fong, the largest
Chinese restaurant in Manhattan
was forced to close.
Truman Lam, the manager
said diminished tourism was the
cause of the premature closure
then.
Lam explained that on an
occasion he counted 36 customers
in the 794 capacity banquet
room.
In April, the once vibrant
Asian community resembled the
“ghost-town” the former president
described the entire NYC.
Catch You On The Inside!
Inside Life
By Vinette K. Pryce