Still in the Shadows

APA communities in NYC continue to face major challenges

By Tomio Geron
Special to AsianWeek

Mohammad Salman Hamdani was in many ways a typical 23-year-old immigrant living in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Pakistani man, a recent graduate of the City University of New York, took the 7 train from Queens in to Manhattan that morning to his job as a research assistant at Rockefeller University. He was working there while planning his future as a doctor.

Yet, the story of Hamdani, whose remains were found near the north tower of the World Trade Center, is especially heart-wrenching among the many tragic stories told since Sept. 11. Hamdani, who was trained as an emergency medical technician, did not work at or have any appointments at the World Trade Center that day.

His mother and many friends believed that Hamdani saw the disaster unfolding on his way into work — the WTC was visible from the elevated 7 train — and, instead of heading uptown to Rockefeller, took the subway downtown to help.

“That’s his nature,” says Hamdani’s mother, Talat Hamdani. “He always wanted to help people.”

But Ms. Hamdani’s assumptions were not confirmed until March, when the New York Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Hamdani’s remains were indeed found at Ground Zero.

While Hamdani was still officially “missing,” the Hamdani family endured rumors that Hamdani was connected to terrorist activities. Since being notified of Hamdani’s identification, the Hamdani family has since been trying to cope with the difficult lost of their son and preparing for the emotional Sept. 11 anniversary.

While the nationwide media buildup to the anniversary has already begun, the buildup in New York is unique. A listing of commemoration events in New York on Sept. 1 alone compiled by Newsday catalogued some 33 events including affairs as varied as documentary screenings, benefit performances, remembrances and support group meetings.

Local Asian Pacific American authorities came out for Summerfest in Chinatown, an event to bring morale up in the neighborhood. (From left to right) William Lam, Sherwin Chen, Eric Wong, Kenny Liu, Tsang and Shiu Lee.

One year later in New York’s Chinatown, the apparent signs of recovery are visible — the restaurants are busy and the streets bustle with shoppers.

But the community is still in crisis mode, say many community leaders. Chinatown residents, who live just blocks from Ground Zero, still suffer form the trauma of witnessing the tragedy firsthand.

“So many people, including children, still have emotions. They’re always crying, thinking about what happened on that day,” says Wai Ching Chan, a physician’s assistant at Gouverneur Hospital in Chinatown. “It’s so far away, but they’re still thinking about it after one year.”

Vivian Lo-Sid, district manager for the Social Security Administration in Chinatown, has processed about 20 applications from Chinese people seeking benefits for loved ones who died on Sept. 11. But her office also sees residents seeking help for other services. “They ask us about all kinds of benefits,” she says. “We have to refer them for food stamps, Medicaid and 9-11 relief.”

The Chinatown groups tell more about the overcrowded nature of housing in the community than its economic health, say local advocates. The damage done to Chinatown’s economy by Sept. 11 is not widely recognized, they say.

“Even after a year Chinatown is still struggling as a community, and many small businesses and residents are struggling from the impact of 9-11,” says Christopher Kui, executive director of Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE).

New York’s Chinatown suffered severe job losses, especially in the restaurant and garment industries, and in everything from travel agencies to small gift shops. A major study by the Asian American Federation of New York found that more that 40 garment factories had shut down in Chinatown.

Many restaurants reported declines in business between 30 and 70 percent. There are less tourists frequenting restaurants, and even local residents have not returned in the numbers that they used to. The retail industry suffered a 55 percent drop in revenues. Total wages lost as of April 2002 in Chinatown were estimated at $114 million.

APA groups have been organizing to address both the short-term relief needs and long-term rebuilding needs.

Beyond Ground Zero

The long lines of people with anxious faces at the new Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) community office on 225 Park Row in Chinatown are a sign of the dire need still existing in Chinatown. The office, which is being run by AAFE, has given out 90,000 applications for the LMDC’s new Residential Grant program announced on Aug. 15.

LMDC, the entity in charge of managing the development in and around the WTC site, chose AAFE to manage the center not only for Chinatown but the largely Latino Lower East Side and other surrounding areas.

The grant program will distribute $281 million in federal funds for lower Manhattan residents. Under terms of the program, families located in some areas south of Delancey or Kenmare streets with children under 18 living at home will be eligible for a $750 cash grant. This is a change from a previous policy, which did not allow grants to residents north of Canal Street, where many Chinatown residents live.

This is in addition to a $1,000 grant available to residents who lived in these areas on Sept. 11, 2001.

A number of community advocates welcomed the addition of Chinatown areas in the LMDC grant program but believe that more can be done.

“I’m disappointed with the amount of attention that neighborhoods like Chinatown, which are not in the immediate Ground Zero area, have gotten in rebuilding,” says Don Lee, a member of Community Board 2, which includes parts of Chinatown, and a member of the Residents Advisory Council of LMDC.

“I raise this issue every time I go to a [LMDC] meeting — Chinatown air quality, business development, recreation space,” says Lee. “The response always has been that the current focus is on the immediate area of Ground Zero and we’ll get to [Chinatown] later.”

Margaret Fung, executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund who is also a member of Community Board 1, which includes Ground Zero and part of Chinatown, agrees: “I think there’s not been a lot of attention paid to Chinatown. It happened with the LMDC’s first statement of principals and six rebuilding plans. All of the maps would cut off Chinatown. That’s an indication of their mindset: ‘Chinatown should be dealt with separately.’”

Beyond Ground Zero (BGZ), a coalition of groups, including the Chinese Staff and Workers Association, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, has been organizing to address the health and economic effects of Sept. 11 on low-income residents in Lower Manhattan.

Tima Lah, an organizer with BGZ, questions the LMDC residential grant program, which uses proximity to Ground Zero to determine the amount of aid residents can receive. The program allows $1,500 for family grants in Zone 1 near Ground Zero and $750 in Zone 3 in Chinatown. She also criticizes the Two-Year Commitment Based Grant, which allows for a $12,000 grant for individuals who commit to living in Zone 1 for two years. There is no such grant for individuals in Chinatown’s Zone 3.

Lah argues that greater resources should be provided to Chinatown and the largely Latino Lower East Side, which have much lower average income and thus greater need than the area near Ground Zero.

“Why are they more valuable than Chinatown and the Lower East Side? Did they breathe more air than we did? Economically they have greater resources there,” says Mah,

But some advocates welcome the LMDC’s recent efforts.

“I think there’s an active effort by [the LMDC] to take a much stronger, active role to rebuild various local neighborhoods,” says Kui. “That’s a positive change, compared to right after [Sept. 11].”

A memorial in Chinatown after Sept. 11.

While short-term relief efforts continue, many are also planning for the long-term rebuilding work for Chinatown.

“We just completed the phase of providing emergency cash relief two weeks ago,” says Steve Yip of the Chinese-American Planning Council, which is opening a new office to provide social services for Sept. 11 survivors in cooperation the Asian American Federation of New York. “We’re going into a more long-term phase of job training and case management services.”

In May, AAFE launched a comprehensive urban planning project called the Rebuild Chinatown Initiative. In order to assess community needs, AAFE has conducted over 100 surveys with community leaders and over 2,000 household surveys, according to Kui.

“We’re completing the phase of research and going into the second phase of looking at implementation of preliminary results,” says Kui. Affordable housing, low-interest loans for small businesses, tourism promotion and transportation are the main needs the research has identified.

Kui, who has enlisted the support of New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and U.S. Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, both of whom represent districts which include Chinatown, hopes the project will lead to long-term community planning that Chinatown has long needed.

Meanwhile, other efforts have been underway to address the downturn in tourism and less concrete needs like optimism and community energy. A recent festival, “Summerfest in Chinatown 2002,” organized by Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, brought together performers, artists and community groups Aug. 16 to 18.

“We wanted to provide a celebration for the residents of Chinatown who sorely need it,” says Philip M. Liu, Fields’ community liaison.

The Chinatown economy “is slowly picking back up a little,” says Tony Liu of the New York Chinatown Promotion & Tourism Association, which co-sponsored the festival. Liu hopes the festival was one one factor in giving “a jump-start” to tourism in Chinatown.

Local residents and visitors milled about the tables of various community groups, as performers — including Chinese ribbon dancers, Japanese Taiko drummers and Burmese dancers—entertained the crowd.

APA Events

While a number of citywide commemorations are planned around the anniversary, a number of APA groups are planning events as well. On Sept. 2, Third World Within, a coalition of people of color groups, is planning a vigil and a press conference on the steps of City Hall to mark the Sept. 11 anniversary. Speakers include City Council member Charles Barron, an organizer with ROC-NY, a restaurant workers group, and the South Asian group Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM).

“On the occasion of this first anniversary, communities throughout the country will memorialize the innocent lives lost that day,” says Jane Bai, one of the organizers of the event. “From the World Trade Center workers who lost their lives and their families who were denied relief; to the disappearances of Arabs, South Asians and Muslims by the INS; [to] those killed in Afghanistan, Palestine and now Iraq; and the legalization of racial profiling, the people of the U.S. must resist becoming our own worst enemy.”

Continued Work

Meanwhile, community advocates hold out hopes for positive change in Chinatown.

“Chinatown is unique — you have residents, a strong commercial base, light manufacturing, printing, garment shops,” says Kui. “By working together, I am optimistic that we can rebuild Chinatown, and in the end it will be a stronger Chinatown.”

Yet others worry about widely-expected impending city and state budget cuts.

“We’ll soon see more compounded social service needs and problems with cutbacks in city and state budgets,” says Yip. “I think services provided by relief agencies will keep things afloat, but when that money dries up we’ll see dire straits.”  

Reach Tomio Geron at tcgeron@yahoo.com.