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International Hotel (I-Hotel) Reborn (3 of 3)
Elders of the I-Hotel remind us that it was a struggle fought by coalitions and not divisions. Michel Laguerre, author of The Global Ethnopolis: Chinatown, Japantown, and Manilatown in American Society , focuses on the divisions between ethnic enclaves, specifically those who view Manilatown as less exotic and a minor tourist attraction compared with Chinatown and Japantown. But what some fail to see were the cross-cultural alliances that were forming in the 1960s. Among those inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panthers and the Third World Strike of University of California Berkeley and San Francisco State University's fight for Ethnic Studies, were the community activists who rallied around the I-Hotel struggle and capitalized on it to further the cause of the Asian American Movement. Theirs was a classic defense: rights of the elderly and fair housing. The fight for fair housing and space was especially resonant among Asian American communities.
Towards the end of the event, Emil DeGuzman, former I-Hotel tenant, former leader of the International Hotel Citizens Advisory Committee and current president of MHF, said that the FilAm and AsAm community was fighting not only fighting for the I-Hotel, but new institutional fights, including the PATRIOT Act and Real ID Act. In an interview, he reminded me that the I-Hotel struggle was still all around us. “Look around you. (pointing across the streets of Chinatown) People still live in substandardized, deplorable housing…It's still a struggle,” he said. On a lighter note, he was happy that the International Hotel Manilatown Center will be opening in just a few weeks. “We've come a long way.”
A variety of well-respected speakers also showed their solidarity and support. They included: Gordon Chin, Executive director of Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC), Phil Ting, Appointed City Assessor, Executive Director of Asian Law Caucus (ALC), Amy Teresa Chung, Board Member International Hotel Senior Housing, Inc. (IHSHI), and Gordon Mar, Executive and Director of Chinese Progressive Association (CPA).
That same week, the film, Rise of the I-Hotel , was premiered at the San Francisco Public Library, which has the only Filipino American Center containing an exhibit commemorating the I-Hotel and volumes of Filipino and Filipino American literature since 1996.
