“We had to fight to reclaim this culturally and to nurture it in the community,” she said. “The crowds here, the energy, is a testament to how this community sustains culture and sustains identity for so many people in this area.”
On Saturday, attendees of all ages enjoyed a variety of entertainment and activities, including painting, calligraphy, games, performances and more.
For attendee and event volunteer Ken Hung, a high school teacher in the Philadelphia School District, the event was a reminder of the continued importance of Chinatown — and the threat that he said the arena poses to its existence.
Hung, who is Taiwanese American, said his kids grew up coming to Chinatown, a place where Asian Americans are celebrated and centered in a way that was not available to him as a kid. His daughter was also one of the more than 300 volunteers who helped coordinate the festival Saturday.
“I worry with the possible building of the Sixers arena, what that’s going to do,” he said. “I do feel partly a sense of sorrow, because I’m like, ‘Will this be one of the last few years that not just me, but my children and my students will be able to enjoy this gathering?’”
Hioe said the significance of the festival resonates beyond the day itself.
“I want folks to know that we celebrate Chinatown as a community in big ways like this, right? And folks can see us, and we’re really visible today,” she said. “But we also are worthy of being celebrated and seen in our regular daily lives, because this community is a living, breathing, moving community full of people and families, and there’s a heart here that you can’t find anywhere else, and I think that is worth being celebrated and worth being seen, even in the everyday.”
Wei said she was “very happy” Saturday just to see all the people in attendance at the festival.
“What you’ll see down here today … sometimes you see anger, but mostly you see joy, because this is what we fight with, this community, it’s its sense of purpose, its sense of its love, the love that people have for this community,” Wei said.
إرسال تعليق