Building Solidarity: The
Role of Business in
Building Interethnic &
Racial Understanding
Date: Saturday,
March 31, 2018
Time: 1:15PM to
2:45PM
Place: The Westin St.
Francis - Yorkshire Room
San Francisco, CA
Although New York City
is known for its
diversity, it still
remains largely
segregated by race and
ethnicity from one
neighborhood to another.
Sometimes the boundaries
between ethnic and
racial neighborhoods is
separated by as little
as one street. There is
little day to day
interaction among the
different groups. Given
this reality, how can we
expect Asian American
communities to “show up”
in support of social
issues of concern to
others, and visa-versa?
Qualitative and
quantitative data
collected over the
course of four months of
research from a densely
concentrated commercial
strip in downtown
Flushing, New York City,
raises some critical
questions about the role
that Asian businesses
play in inter-ethnic community
relations.
Flushing has a large
Asian population, with
an older white and
African American
population as well as a
large Latino community.
It is also a major
transportation hub
through which many from
northeast Queens and
Long Island travel.
The subject of the
study, was a commercial
strip that runs between
Main Street and Union
Street along Roosevelt
Avenue. It is said to
experience the second
most foot traffic in New
York City followed by
Times Square in
Manhattan. Downtown
Flushing contains a
uniquely diverse mix of
land uses including
commercial, residential,
institutional,
recreational and
industrial uses. The
downtown area is a
vibrant center of retail
and commercial
activities that contain
enormous varieties of
retail stores, food
establishments,
convenience stores, and
neighborhood services,
in addition to the
dozens of bus lines,
Long Island Railroad and
major subway line which
runs through it.
Although Flushing is one
of the largest and most
diverse neighborhoods in
New York City, it
remains highly
segregated and divided
along racial-ethnic
lines. Given the siloed
nature of these
communities, the point
of interethnic and
interracial interactions
take place in spaces
such as grocery stores,
restaurants, corner
stores, and small retail
“malls.” With the
density of development
and transit options in
downtown Flushing, we
embarked on a study of
this particular urban
area in order to uncover
the extent to which
businesses shape and
inform community
relations and
cross-cultural
understanding. Through
in-depth interviews and
ethnographic
observations, our
research seeks to better
understand how racial
attitudes and ideologies
are constructed and
informed through
interethnic encounters
between business
proprietors and patrons.
Historically there have
been instances where
race relations between
Asian communities and
others have played out
with businesses at its
center, such as the 1992
LA Uprising conflict
between Korean merchants
and the African American
residents in south
central LA and the
boycott of Korean owned
green grocers in New
York City. Cultural and
linguistic differences
produced a deep divide
and misunderstanding
between the two
communities where the
interactions were
limited only to
commercial transactions.
Ultimately, through this
examination, we hope to
contribute to the
conversation as well as
critically assess the
ways in which
communities of color can
build bridges that will
lead to the kind of
collective understanding
of mutual concerns from
which they can work
effectively towards
solidarity.
Panel
Claire Chun,
Research Intern,
AAARI-CUNY
Joyce Moy, Executive
Director, AAARI-CUNY
Young-min Seo,
Social Science,
LaGuardia Community
College/CUNY
Mitchel Wu, Asian
American Studies,
Hunter College/CUNY
