Protestors with Arrest Guiliani Poster
Title
Protestors with Arrest Guiliani Poster
Description
In February 1999, dozens of demonstrators gathered at the Dragon Gate Market to protest against the Giuliani administration’s decision to raze the market, which had catered to the Chinatown neighborhood for most of the past decade. Protestors, including representatives from CAAAV (Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence), gathered at the outdoor market at Sara Delano Roosevelt Park in the Lower East Side chanting “Stern Must Go!” referring to Parks Department Commissioner Henry J. Stern, who refused to renegotiate the lease for the market. Demonstrators also “linked arms and strode into Grand Street, block[ing] traffic for about five minutes.”[1]
Dragon Gate Market first opened in 1993 under the David Dinkins administration as an attempt to corral all of the Chinatown street vendors into one central location. This was part of the NYPD’s patrol initiative to “exclude and remove people of color from urban spaces” after white residents in surrounding areas, like Little Italy and SoHo, feared the possibility of Chinatown’s expansion into their neighborhood.[2] The market quickly became a popular location for Chinatown vendors to sell everything from groceries, like fresh produce, to traditional Asian street foods, like noodles and eggrolls.
Six years later, many of the vendors who had worked at the market since its inception worried about their financial future; especially with the police issuing so many violations and the decreased number of permits issued to street vendors by the city. Earlier in the month, CAAAV joined hundreds of Chinatown vendors at City Hall to protest the Street Vendor Review Panel, which had significantly reduced the number of permits issued annually by 1,000.[3]
When the market closure was announced, it was seen as another example to add to the city’s growing list of anti-immigrant acts. Having been pushed into Dragon Gate Market by one administration and forcibly removed by another, vendors felt they had no options for continuing their businesses.
Immigrant vendors were still grappling with the murder of Guinean immigrant street vendor Amadou Diallo by the NYPD just days before the city announced the market closure. Reeling from Diallo’s tragic murder, vendors around the city feared for their future in more ways than one. Under the Giuliani administration, street vendors complained about the police department’s increasing harassment, with ticketing growing increasingly common throughout the city. More and more citations were handed out to the primarily immigrant workers, who were described as safety hazards for crowding streets and sidewalks. Just days before the announcement, the NYPD fatally shot and killed Guinean immigrant street vendor Amadou Diallo, leaving many immigrant street vendors across the city fearing for their lives and future.
The closure of the Dragon Gate Market was part of Giuliani’s Quality of Life Campaign, which debuted during his second term in the mid-90s. It was intended to improve the quality of life of all New Yorkers by reducing crime, violence, and fear throughout the boroughs in order to revive the economy and well-being of residents. What resulted was increased community policing which did not address the real issues of unemployment, homelessness, and rising racial tensions. The NYPD was given almost limitless power to persecute the large immigrant working-class population under unjust cause to reclaim public space and maintain social control.
Throughout the turbulent Giuliani administration, CAAAV consistently fought to keep the city government accountable for their blatantly racist and discriminatory legislation. Although the Dragon Gate Market was shut down, CAAAV continued to fight alongside protecting the street vendor’s rights to obtain licenses.
[1] Paul Zielbauer, “Vendors in Chinatown Park Protest Eviction,” in The New York Times, February 20, 1999. Accessed online 3/17/2021: https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/20/nyregion/vendors-in-chinatown-park-protest-eviction.html?auth=login-email&login=email.
[2] Vivian Truong, "From State-Sanctioned Removal to the Right to the City: The Policing of Asian Immigrants in Southern Brooklyn, 1987–1995," in Journal of Asian American Studies 23, no. 1 (2020): 70.
[3] Andrew Hsiao, “Chinatown Take OArrest Giuliani ut,” in The Village Voice, February 16, 1999. Accessed online 3/17/2021: https://www.villagevoice.com/1999/02/16/chinatown-take-out/.
Dragon Gate Market first opened in 1993 under the David Dinkins administration as an attempt to corral all of the Chinatown street vendors into one central location. This was part of the NYPD’s patrol initiative to “exclude and remove people of color from urban spaces” after white residents in surrounding areas, like Little Italy and SoHo, feared the possibility of Chinatown’s expansion into their neighborhood.[2] The market quickly became a popular location for Chinatown vendors to sell everything from groceries, like fresh produce, to traditional Asian street foods, like noodles and eggrolls.
Six years later, many of the vendors who had worked at the market since its inception worried about their financial future; especially with the police issuing so many violations and the decreased number of permits issued to street vendors by the city. Earlier in the month, CAAAV joined hundreds of Chinatown vendors at City Hall to protest the Street Vendor Review Panel, which had significantly reduced the number of permits issued annually by 1,000.[3]
When the market closure was announced, it was seen as another example to add to the city’s growing list of anti-immigrant acts. Having been pushed into Dragon Gate Market by one administration and forcibly removed by another, vendors felt they had no options for continuing their businesses.
Immigrant vendors were still grappling with the murder of Guinean immigrant street vendor Amadou Diallo by the NYPD just days before the city announced the market closure. Reeling from Diallo’s tragic murder, vendors around the city feared for their future in more ways than one. Under the Giuliani administration, street vendors complained about the police department’s increasing harassment, with ticketing growing increasingly common throughout the city. More and more citations were handed out to the primarily immigrant workers, who were described as safety hazards for crowding streets and sidewalks. Just days before the announcement, the NYPD fatally shot and killed Guinean immigrant street vendor Amadou Diallo, leaving many immigrant street vendors across the city fearing for their lives and future.
The closure of the Dragon Gate Market was part of Giuliani’s Quality of Life Campaign, which debuted during his second term in the mid-90s. It was intended to improve the quality of life of all New Yorkers by reducing crime, violence, and fear throughout the boroughs in order to revive the economy and well-being of residents. What resulted was increased community policing which did not address the real issues of unemployment, homelessness, and rising racial tensions. The NYPD was given almost limitless power to persecute the large immigrant working-class population under unjust cause to reclaim public space and maintain social control.
Throughout the turbulent Giuliani administration, CAAAV consistently fought to keep the city government accountable for their blatantly racist and discriminatory legislation. Although the Dragon Gate Market was shut down, CAAAV continued to fight alongside protecting the street vendor’s rights to obtain licenses.
[1] Paul Zielbauer, “Vendors in Chinatown Park Protest Eviction,” in The New York Times, February 20, 1999. Accessed online 3/17/2021: https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/20/nyregion/vendors-in-chinatown-park-protest-eviction.html?auth=login-email&login=email.
[2] Vivian Truong, "From State-Sanctioned Removal to the Right to the City: The Policing of Asian Immigrants in Southern Brooklyn, 1987–1995," in Journal of Asian American Studies 23, no. 1 (2020): 70.
[3] Andrew Hsiao, “Chinatown Take OArrest Giuliani ut,” in The Village Voice, February 16, 1999. Accessed online 3/17/2021: https://www.villagevoice.com/1999/02/16/chinatown-take-out/.
Date
February 1999
Contributor
Mary Tsaltas-Ottomanelli
This post was completed as coursework for HIST-GA 3901 Community Archives, taught by Maggie Schreiner, in the Archives and Public History MA program at New York University.
This post was completed as coursework for HIST-GA 3901 Community Archives, taught by Maggie Schreiner, in the Archives and Public History MA program at New York University.
Rights
Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities.
Format
Photograph
Identifier
CAAAV_1223
Files
Citation
“Protestors with Arrest Guiliani Poster ,” CAAAV Digital Archive, accessed May 17, 2024, https://archives.caaav.org/items/show/1771.