An article in the Sun

So, yesterday I came upon this story in The New York Sun (on Curbed.com, of all places), which describes the ambivalence in Chinatown over the Olympics. I was actually glad to see the article because media coverage of Chinatown is normally so one dimensional; and we get the impression that Chinatown is homogeneous and that its primary purpose is to supply tourists with fake handbags; contrary to what I experienced growing up. In fact, the Chinatown I remember is pretty diverse. And Yes: It's a real community — unlike Colonial Williamsburg Virginia.

Anyways, I posted a comment because one of the jerks the writer quotes irritated me. After a few hours, my comment was posted (The Sun reviews and/or edits all comments submitted, I guess so that the forum doesn't turn into an online troll convention). Finally published! Don't be jealous. I went through a grueling editorial review!

Being the narcissist that I am, I visited the site today and noticed that my comment, along with the one other comment was no longer there. Kinda upsetting — especially because of the lack of media exposure Chinatown gets.

Anyways, this is The Sun's article
Olympics Expose a Rift in Manhattan's Chinatown

And here are the comments that disappeared. I don't know how factually accurate my comments are, but it comes from knowledge that I've somehow accumulated in my head.

Interesting article. One should note that many Taiwanese have families that are actually from Fujian province from generations that had moved to Taiwan after the war and eventually settled in America. That makes the divide a little more interesting. Also making it complicated is that many of the Chinatown old timers flying the Taiwanese flags were actually Hong Kong Cantonese whose solidarity with the Taiwanese was rooted in their anti-Communist sentiments. What I find disheartening is Jimmy Cheng's comment about how they were able to do for the Fujianese immigrants "in 10 years what CCBA did in 120.... They don't do nothing for us." How can Mr. Cheng completely ignore the fact that his people emigrated during different times, and that we've only recently made huge strides in civil rights as a nation? The recent Fujianese immigrants are reaping the benefits of what took 120 years of work against systematic discrimination — work that was done not just by the Chinese in America, but by other minorities including Blacks and Hispanics. Let's give credit where it's due Mr. Cheng!


And check out the skills. Naw bro, that's not Photoshop. It's MSPaint!