It’s a challenging time for the Asian American community, stricken by the racism, financial hardships, and the virus all at once. But in San Francisco, a rarely-mentioned Asian immigrant neighborhood is rising up strongly.
Visitacion Valley, located in the southeastern part of the city with more than half of its residents are Chinese Americans, has long been ridiculed as the “Forgotten Valley” because of the little attention it receives from the city’s policies. While services programs are provided, they are considered not culturally-competent enough, leaving the immigrant community ignored and marginalized.
Marlene Tran(陳美玲), a long-time activist living in this working-class, family-oriented neighborhood for more than 30 years, has been a staunch fighter for the Asian community for decades.
“Some city services or community meetings come to Visitacion Valley, but they did not provide Chinese translation, so how can people here to participate”, said Tran, complaining that the services targeting this Chinese immigrant neighborhood “are always in English”.
Tran ran for the district supervisor before, because she felt the neighborhood should no longer remain as a “Forgotten Valley.” The civic engagement and the Chinese translation services provided to the neighborhood are big loads in Tran’s heart. She wished the Immigrant Rights Commission can set more footprints in the area, interacting more with the monolingual immigrant residents.
Since the lockdown has been eased a bit, Tran vigorously requested the Department of Transportation to resume some highly-demanded bus routes in the neighborhood. She also asked the City College not to cut the classes in the area, so the Chinese immigrants can avoid long traveling at night for schools.
San Francisco has a rich history of Chinese immigration, but different Chinese neighborhoods are clearly represented on opposite sides of the power imbalance.
While some other historic Chinese neighborhoods either have established organizing and advocacy influence or strong political allies, Visitacion Valley depends largely on its own.
Every Tuesday, Chinese American police officer Johnny Vong(黃達忠) comes to the senior center in Visitacion Valley to help distribute food to the elderly. More than 95% of the residents living in this center are elderly Chinese.
Vong said that the elderly were under great mental pressure during the epidemic because they used to go out, play mahjong, and chat with others. Now they are isolated at home, and some even develop suicidal thoughts.
At the food pantry event, Vong always greets the elders with passion, talk to them, and offer to help them. He calls on the younger generation to care more about the elderly around them.
Speaking of the Visitacion Valley, Vong said that in fact many of the residents here are of Chinese origin, hoping that his multi-lingual skill can help the elders in the community. In the press coverage, Visitacion Valley, the neighboring Portola, and Bayview, often appear in the criminal news context. Vong also hopes to help the community change, enhance its public image.
Jenny Mai(麥娉玲), another long-time Visitacion Valley resident, is tackling the hard part: organizing the community. She has been managing the community group “Visitacion Valley Neighborhood Association” for years, which is a major component of social involvement for the new Chinese immigrant.
She told the World Journal that due to the pandemic, most activities were canceled and now the group volunteers were mainly focusing on helping deliver meals to the elderly. The meals are donated by another Chinese community group.
At the same time, the group’s acclaimed dancing class programs were switched online so the elderly can continue to learn without feeling left out. And Mai has a big WeChat social media group to share the latest pandemic news to the elderly.
In City Hall, the representative of the Visitacion Valley also tries to turn the forgotten mode to spotlight.
Since inauguration in 2019, Supervisor Shamann Walton has promoted several services in the Visitacion Valley to the Asian community, including setting up an additional police substation. His office chief of staff, Natalie Gee(朱凱勤), is a trilingual Chinese American who can communicate directly with the district Chinese immigrants.
“Visitacion Valley is a hidden gem in our City and during this crisis, the community remains strong and resilient by coming together to fill in service gaps”, Walton said. He promised to be committed to help the community recover and thrive.
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The Chinese language version of the story appeared on the World Journal on May 20, 2020.
