By HAILEY COGNETTI
On Thursday, September 5, 2024 a group of immigrant homecare workers protested outside Sing Tao Daily, a Hong Kong news agency, opposing the publication of articles that the workers say are aimed at dividing the Asian and Black communities that live in Chinatown and the Lower East Side.
The protesters were from a coalition of groups that have fought to end New York City’s 24-hour homecare shifts. The coalition includes immigrant homecare workers who are a part of the “Ain’t I a Woman?!” campaign and organizers from the Chinese Staff and Workers Association (CSWA), and the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and Lower East Side. The groups held a press conference outside Sing Tao Daily.
The coalition said it believes Sing Tao Daily publicly misinforms its readers and accused the newspaper of spreading anti-Black hatred. Protesters say that Sing Tao journalist Lotus Chau targeted Christopher Marte, the first Afro-Latino council member in NYC, in an article published on Sing Tao. Brooklyn New Service made several attempts to contact Sing Tao, but Sing Tao did not respond to questions.
Members of the coalition are angry with Sing Tao for its consistent support for the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), whose Chinese-American Planning Council Home Attendant Program (CPCHAP) employs many of the protesters and, according to the protesters, is guilty of wage theft. Brooklyn News Service tried to contact the President of CPC multiple times, but the agency did not answer the calls. It did release a statement on June 27, claiming it always supported the coalition call to end 24-hour work shifts.
“CPCHAP also tried to decline accepting any more 24-hour cases, but HRA (New York City Human Resources Administration) threatened to terminate our contract if we continued to do so,” said Wayne Ho, President of CPC, in the organization’s June 27 statement.
Jun Chang, CSWA organizer said, “We are here to speak out against the racist newspaper, Sing Tao. Chinese people are not racist, yet this publication is trying to mislead us with false attacks on the Black community, spreading fear of Black criminality. Putting our communities against each other all while colluding with the real criminals, the sweatshops of Chinese American Planning Council (CPC).”
Caitlin Kelmar, Marte’s Chief of Staff told the rally that Sing Tao published articles by Lotus Chau that Kelmar believes attempted to defame her, and to interfere with local elections. “After years of racist lies against Council member Marte, I have now become Lotus’s latest target,” said Kelmar. “That’s why today lawyers are sending a letter to Sing Tao and Lotus based on an article that they published on June 4, 2024.”
In their press conference, members of the coalition demanded that Sing Tao Daily fire Lotus Chau, condemn her allegedly racist remarks, and apologize to the community for spreading what they called misinformation.
If Sing Tao Daily does not meet these demands, demonstrators and these organizations said they would be back outside Sing Tao on September 29 to demand a full federal investigation against the news agency and CPC.