Who Keeps Us Safe‪?‬ PARISOL: Pacific Rim Solidarity Network

We followed up with "The Eggrolls," who you might remember from our conversation with them last summer. They are a mutual aid group based out of ChuMinh Tofu in Little Saigon, located in the eastern side of the CID.  The Eggrolls and ChuMinh Tofu restaurant have continued to serve 150-200 free meals outside of the restaurant every Sunday to homeless and elder members of the Little Saigon community. While providing basic resources to the community around them, they also get a glimpse as to how policing in that community impacts safety in different ways. Our conversation with them reflects some of the process they have had to go through while trying to create safety in their neighborhood.



If you're interested in volunteering with The Eggrolls, reach out via their website at https://www.chuminhtofu.com/get-involved. You can also connect with them on Instagram @chuminhtofu.



Read more about The Eggrolls:

https://southseattleemerald.com/2021/11/05/love-mutual-aid-and-humanity-at-chuminh-tofu/

https://iexaminer.org/thanh-nga-tanya-nguyen-of-chuminh-tofu-and-the-eggrolls-serve-a-free-hot-meal-to-anyone-who-wants-one-every-sunday-in-little-saigon/

This summer, we revisited the CID Coalition as they address a new challenge that threatens the CID. The regional transit service (Sound Transit) is working on an expansion of the light rail system in the Seattle region. Although this might seem like a great opportunity for the city, Sound Transit has selected the CID as the transit hub location for all of this new expansion. This project would have huge environmental impacts, including displacing long-time residents and between 5 - 10 businesses in the historic core of the neighborhood.

We wanted to hear from the neighborhood about this light rail proposal, so Andy met up with CID Coalition organizers at flower flower (an artist studio in the CID on Jackson St) where the Coalition was making banners to prepare for a Sound Transit hearing.

Join us for a brief conversation with "The Eggrolls," a mutual aid group based out of ChuMinh Tofu in Little Saigon, located in the eastern side of the CID.  For the past 3 years, the Eggrolls and ChuMinh have been serving 150-200 free meals outside of the restaurant every Sunday to homeless and elder members of the Little Saigon community. We hope that this episode can give you a glimpse into what mutual aid in the Little Saigon area currently looks like, and how these community efforts contribute to safety.

A couple weeks ago, MPOP (Massage Parlor Outreach Project) held a vigil in Seattle's CID to mark the anniversary of the tragedy in Atlanta, GA. We chatted briefly with some MPOP members to hear more about the event and what community safety means for us now, one year later.

Content Warning: We briefly mention the physical violence and murder that occurred on March 16, 2021.

If you haven't already, go and listen to our 4th episode titled "MPOP" to learn more in depth about the organization and the issues they seek to address.

Our past episodes have focused on organizers in the greater Seattle area, but this month we follow the conversations we had with various organizers on the north eastern coast of the continent. We learn from other organizations as they share their stories around the similar work & struggles that they face concerning issues of safety, particularly in their own Chinatowns. Join us for this rich dialogue, as we learn more about the context of other Chinatowns' resistance movements and history, and discuss how to build solidarity across Chinatowns, across communities, and across oceans.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of violent incidents against Asian Americans, including the violence that occurred in March 2021 against massage parlor workers in Atlanta.

You can find C2C Chinatowns on facebook at Coast to Coast Chinatowns Against Displacement.   Butterfly is on instagram @butterflycsw and website https://www.butterflysw.org.   Friends of Chinatown-Toronto is on facebook at Friends of Chinatown Toronto - FOCT and instagram @friendsofchinatownto.   Montreal's Chinatown Working Group is on instagram @cwg_mtl and website https://cwgmtl.org.   Red Canary Song is on instagram @redcanarysong and website https://www.redcanarysong.net

Episode artwork is by river lin. Their artwork can be found on instagram @oldcowcreative.

In this episode, we wanted to connect our learnings about incarceration & immigration with the local work being done around supporting and organizing Asian migrant massage workers. The massage parlor industry has been highly targeted by systems of policing and punishment, so it's another vital piece to the discussion around community safety. We are so grateful to be sharing with you this conversation with MPOP (Massage Parlor Outreach Project), who are an innovative local organization that supports massage workers in the Seattle area.

Content Warning: This episode will be discussing violence against Asian Americans, and specifically commenting on the violence that occurred in March 2021 against massage parlor workers in Atlanta.

You can find MPOP on facebook at Massage Parlor Outreach Project 女工互助小组 and on instagram @mpop_sea.