Chinatown is one of the last affordable working class and immigrant communities in Manhattan. And Chinatown is the center of Chinese culture and history in this city. But in the past decade, residents’ living conditions have deteriorated, and the neighborhood is undergoing rapid gentrification: Rents have skyrocketed Families are forced into overcrowded apartments or shelters[.....]

Asians make up about 4.2 percent of the United States population, according to the 2000 Census. This translates to almost 12 million people who reported they were “Asian” or “Asian and at least one other race.” Among these, the largest ethnic groups were: Chinese, Filipino, Indians, and Vietnamese. However, many experts believe that these census figures undercount Asian communities due to language-access barriers[.....]

Initiated by Coalition Against Police Brutality in Spring 2000, Third World Within (TWW) is a network of NYC-based People of Color Organizations that seeks to make connections between People of Color in the U.S. and Third World peoples who struggle against a new global violence characterized by the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund.