The failures of public transportation happen across different communities in California, which means that this issue is systemic. People who rely on public transportation are primarily people of color and low-income people. People who can’t afford Uber or Lyft. People who can’t afford their own car. People who are already underrepresented. This is an environmental and social justice issue.
I noticed the homeless man sitting on the sidewalk beside the McDonalds on my way to get breakfast. The cold weather had made his face beet red. A thin, Asian man, I had seen him sitting bunched up on the sidewalk for days at a time.
At the age of fifteen, I came to America with a picture of a country that was shaped by every single Hollywood movie I had watched with my mom back in Hong Kong. I fantasized about the huge houses that line the clean, spacious streets where people would ride their bicycles. But the first thing that astonished me was the streets filled with homeless people.
There was a time when I felt like an outsider to my extended family. The time my cousin related me to a ‘Made in China’ label. Hiding behind the hurt with an expressionless face and a faint fake laugh, I felt vulnerable. Fourth-grade me did not know how to stand up for myself.
Everyone has risen to their feet. Dark figures all around. Applauding the amazing performance. But the curtains have closed and all that remains are claps of thunder…
There needs to be room for people to show up just for themselves and for their children. That might be their revolutionary act today: that they showed up, that they were present and played and laughed, that they were attuned to each other.
The plan for the new ice skating rink in Coachella Valley – a 250 million dollar sports and entertainment arena – was shared with our community just last year. The company’s chief executive, Tim Leik wants the future minor league hockey teams affiliated with NHL’s Seattle Kraken to start their upcoming season in October 2022. But, at what cost?
Racial prejudices and biases plague our systems and ultimately end in bloodshed. Because this system has gone unchecked for so long, innocent lives have continued to be lost to a vicious cycle of abuse, largely in part to the power of police unions.
