Last week, the Pennsylvania Gaming Board ordered Foxwoods Casino to return to its original waterfront location and abandon attempts to relocate to Philadelphia's Chinatown. I recently heard from Helen Gym of Asian Americans United, one of the loudest voices leading the fight against proposed plans to build the casino, telling me about their victory:
It's not often that we can claim stories of victory but last week Philadelphia's Chinatown won its battle in stopping the placement of a slots parlor on Chinatown's borders. On Friday, Aug. 28th, the PA Gaming Control Board ordered Foxwoods Casino to return to its original waterfront location (and abandon attempts to re-locate to Chinatown) or it would "yank its license."This is awesome news. More here: Regulators force Foxwoods casino back to river. Here's some great video of protestors driving casino moguls out of the back door of a state hearing in April. And here's the website for Asian Americans United, who deserve some serious congratulations for putting in all the hard work to win this fight. Donations are welcome.
This announcement follows a year of fierce opposition by the Philadelphia Chinatown community to stop what we believe to be one of the most powerful and monied lobbies in the nation - the casino industry. From the beginning, Asian Americans United, Chinatown, and the broader Asian American community - especially youth and college students - declared war against predatory gambling. With tremendous support from the faith community, Chinatown throughout the past year led the largest march in state history against gambling, delivered tens of thousands of petitions opposing a Chinatown casino, helped found a multiracial citywide coalition against predatory gambling, saw the building of a youth movement locally, and founded an office we call the "No Slots Spot" across the street from the proposed casino from which to launch our anti-predatory gambling efforts.
We held fun events like an Anti-Casino Circus (see below) and dramatically upended an April 8th hearing where Foxwoods executives were forced out a back door to avoid our protests (below).
Throughout the struggle, we focused on and shared deeply personal and emotional testimony from elders and young people about the real human costs of gambling addiction and the havoc it's wreaked on vulnerable Asian populations.
Although these were some of the highlights of the year, Chinatown also witnessed brazen differences in treatment from city officials, who protected a waterfront community tooth and nail but refused to acknowledge the needs or concerns of Chinatown residents. In particular, Chinatown's City Councilman told Chinatown "his fighting days are over" for us then declared that he would fight for the waterfront neighborhoods (see below). The Governor said one of the reasons he liked the Chinatown location was that it was not near residential neighborhoods. The first homes in Chinatown were within 500 feet of the proposed casino siting. Other officials, including the Mayor and City Council, pushed for a fast-tracked process that limited Chinatown participation, meanwhile they had fought to delay processes for the waterfront community.
The defeat of this casino is a major victory for a small neighborhood that went up against the most monied lobby in the country and the most powerful politicians in the city and state. It's also a blow to the tanking casino industry, which to date has failed to build in Philadelphia thanks in part to fierce community opposition. Although the fight is not completely over (Philadelphia is seeking to build two casinos both within a few miles of Chinatown), Chinatown sent Foxwoods off in the weakest and most vulnerable state its ever been in. And Chinatown made a major statement about viable development in desperate economic times: that now is not the time to profit off addiction and exploit our most vulnerable residents, now is the time to seek real sustainable economic ventures that bring true wealth to all communities.
While celebrating this historic victory, AAU will continue the fight against predatory gambling. If there's one thing this struggle has taught us, it's that the casino industry deliberately targets and exploits vulnerable Asian populations. As Foxwoods Chair Michael Thomas told AAU a year ago when we confronted him about Foxwoods' role in creating gambling addicts: "You call it an addiction. I call it a client base."
Gambling addiction and its impact on our children and families is a necessary wake-up call for Asian America. The more we study the gambling industry the more we know that the gambling problems in Asian America may have as much to do with the unfettered predatory practices of casinos like Foxwoods far greater than any "cultural" problem within our population.
In particular I want to thank Angry Asian Man for getting this struggle out to a broader audience beyond Philly and helping memorialize Chinatown's contribution to the effort of a broader fight Philadelphians face - the notion that gambling has any viable place in rebuilding our cities' futures.
To conclude: AAU's t-shirt (c. 2000) from our stadium battle pretty much sums things up.
Helen Gym
Asian Americans United
