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United Valley, Visitacion Valley

Those of you familiar with San Francisco, ask yourself this: Do you know where Visitacion Valley is? Have you ever been there? This neighborhood, tucked into the southeast corner of the city, now has the highest concentration of Asian Americans outside of Chinatown, according to recent Census tract data.

A community of new immigrants and people of color — including large populations of Chinese, Filipinos, Samoans and Latinos — Visitacion Valley already represents the true diversity that America is expected to see in the next 50 years.

Asianweek takes a look at the many obstacles — high crime rates, lack of services, lack of bilingual access — that affect residents of Visitacion Valley.

But looking past the statistics, you’ll find a community full of people working toward positive change. Community based organizations have recently begun coming together to break down existing racial tensions — to rewrite the old story line of divide and conquer that has served to separate communities of color for so long. In community centers, Asian American seniors gather to play mah-jong and eat meals side-by-side with their neighbors. In middle schools, youth organizers are working to give teenagers a place to develop freely. On the streets, newcomers are learning to stand tall, assert themselves, and no longer be victims to society’s oppressions.

In Visitacion Valley, people are working to clean up the streets, plant gardens and learn from each other. If anything, communities like this should serve as models for the rest of the world, which often seems to forget how important working together is.