Editorial
Just do it. Vote.
Through the fi rst two days of early voting
in New York City this weekend, approximately
31,176 people showed up
at more than 100 poll sites to cast their ballots
in the all-important 2021 citywide elections.
To put things in perspective, however, that
number represents just a third of the 93,380
votes cast on the very fi rst day of New York
City early voting in last year’s presidential
election.
As we know, the stakes were incredibly
high in the 2020 contest between Joe Biden
and Donald Trump, with the fate and future
of the country hanging in the balance.
But the fate and future of New York City
should be, in our view, no less important to
you, the reader and voter. Which is why the
early voting tally thus far is so disappointing
— because it refl ects a general lack of interest
among the city’s electorate in the outcome
of the mayoral, comptroller, public advocate,
borough president and City Council races.
The policies that come out of the White
House and Capitol Hill in Washington, and
out of the Governor’s Mansion and State
Legislature in Albany, indeed shape and
impact the city’s ability to govern itself.
But, in the end, the city’s government
is directly responsible for itself, and for
protecting and keeping the general welfare
of New York City residents. What kind of
city government we have depends on who
we elect to occupy it.
Think of all the local issues we’ve covered
in this paper over the past year: crime, criminal
justice reform, homelessness, transportation,
business recovery from the pandemic,
real estate, building codes, rent regulations,
tenant relief, the list goes on and on.
Neither Joe Biden nor your local Congress
member are directly responsible for these
topics in New York City. Governor Kathy
Hochul and your state legislators have a little
more impact on such policies, but in the vast
majority of cases, they’re not as directly
involved as the mayor and City Council are.
That responsibility falls to the people
whom we will elect in this general election to
serve as mayor, comptroller, public advocate
and borough president, and the 51 men and
women who will sit in the City Council.
If you want to impact who has that
responsibility, vote. This is your chance to
make your voice heard, and sitting at home
and complaining about policy later doesn’t
change a thing.
You have the power; don’t waste it. Vote
early or vote on Nov. 2. Just do it.
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
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Op-ed
Protesting the Museum
of Chinese in America
does nothing for unity
BY HENRY CHANG
Fifty-one years ago, my friend was
repeatedly stabbed in an episode of
hate and violence just steps from my
Chinatown home. I was able to fend off a
second knife-attacker before we retreated to
the 5th Precinct, where my friend left a trail
of blood on the fl oor.
He was rushed to the hospital and
survived.
I’ve patrolled these Chinatown streets,
have seen and heard, have inhaled the violence
and hatred that’s a part of our story and
our history – a continuum that swells with
each new wave of discontented newcomers.
Today, anti-Asian hate crimes, including
violent assaults against elderly immigrants,
are at an all-time high in the city and across
the nation.
In Chinatown, these horrible crimes
were compounded by the public health
and economic devastation of the pandemic.
Unfortunately, these conditions spurred
anger anew that has only served to divide
the community.
For months now, a few dozen protesters
have descended upon the Museum of Chinese
in America’s (MOCA) doors, angry
at what they believe is its complicity in the
city’s new jailsplan. MOCA has denied any
complicity and has stated that publicly on
repeated occasions. Protesters are even hoping
to rally people around this and a raft of
other falsehoods at a bizarrely coined “health
and art street fair” – but really, it’s more of
the same incoherent vitriol directed at the
Museum.
After all, why would such an institution
have anything to do with the city’s jail policy?
MOCA was founded in 1980 as the New
York Chinatown History Project. Over its
41-year history, it has broadened its scope to
include the national outlook on Chinese in
America, yet always highlighting the distinct
role that New York City’s Chinatown has
COURTESY OF MUSEUM OF CHINESE IN AMERICA
played in the evolution of these journeys. Our
Chinatown is one of the only in the country
without a community center, and part of the
tension around MOCA is based on this issue.
Local residents who want a community
center confl ate this desire with pressure for
MOCA – a history museum – to be all things
to all people. But with historic inequity in
funding for arts and cultural institutions
in the city, that is, of course, not possible.
MOCA does not charge admission fees precisely
so it can share its work with as many
people as possible, focusing on accessibility
over sustainability.
Visitors to the museum and its staff are
harassed almost daily by protesters, hampering
MOCA’s valiant efforts to raise awareness
and educate the public abou anti-Asian
hate and its continuing struggle to conserve
the largest collection of Chinese American
artifacts after a devastating 5-alarm fi re in
January 2020.
Seems to me, though, that a throng of
people screaming their lungs out could be
more productive allying with other anti-jail
forces and bringing their powerful and passionate
protests to the steps of City Hall and
to the doors of the City Council, the real
culprits here.
If you want a change in leadership, that’s
what you hone in on, not herding MOCA toward
failure (especially in a pandemic when
rent revenues are already down). When the
attack pivots toward an individual’s family
and businesses while demanding money,it
sounds like something more personal is at
play here, not just anti-MOCA anger. It’s a
short step from screaming at someone to
tossing a brick to vicious violence. We don’t
need this.
We need unity through reconciliation, and
as a cultural pillar in Chinatown, MOCA
should be adept at this. Both sides have to
honestly try to resolve their differences.
Henry Chang was born and raised in New
York’s Chinatown, where he still lives.
88 October 28, 2021 SScchhnneeppss MMeeddiiaa
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