I lived in this community for 60+ years. I moved here when I was a toddler.

Chinatown was very small then. It was just 3 and half, four streets.

I started out as an advocate for crime victims.

I always say, many Chinese crime victims are victimized twice. First by the people who mug them, the second time by the criminal justice system itself.

Give you an example, in this once case, this guy was hit by his neighbor, a bully.

When the police came, they arrested him instead of the bully. He didn’t speak English and the neighbor said he hurt him.

I first read about the borough based jail plan in some periodicals. I contacted the then council woman Margaret Chin and ran across a stone wall. That’s how I knew it was true.

You got to be proactive, not reactive. I wrote one article and got the Chinese press to do another article. Back then, people thought “Ah, it won’t happen.”

Right when the city announced the plan, I organized a rally. I contacted people from the neighborhood, I went to Brooklyn, to the Bronx, to get other people to come down from different boroughs to let people know that we’re all opposed the plan, not just Chinatown.

Last week, I got a tip that Chung Pak management also manages the restaurants around them for the city. The city told Chung Pak* to help evict them for the jail plan.

The problem that hurt Chinatown is we can’t deliver a big block of votes, we’re so divided on issues. The elected know that there’s splintering in the community and they exploit that.

I work alone, I call myself an independent community activist and advocate. Organizations are always fighting for funding. When you tie yourself with an organization, you lose your independent voice.

It’s taken me many years to build a platform and I try to work with everyone who’s open for it.

During the pandemic, I started the Chinatown Blockwatch. I do the patrol 3, now 2 days a week. We had volunteers from New Jersey, the Bronx, Queens. Not all are Chinese.

I was hoping we can take a break when the city opens up, but it has actually got so much worse.

I’m 60 something, I’d like to retire and enjoy my golden years, but now we have all these hate crimes making me run around.