Looking back, looking ahead at 45 years

Upstairs, the I-Hotel housed more than 100 elderly Filipino and Chinese bachelors.

Downstairs, the building — perched between San Francisco’s Chinatown and Manilatown — rented out storefronts to progressive Asian American groups that grew out of the political turmoil of the late 1960s.

“It was an uplifting of young people and their experiences and their passions: those into arts and culture and theater, who wanted to serve the people like the Black Panthers, who wanted to pursue careers in the legal arena, who wanted to help out in terms of police harassment, and who wanted to protect our young men from going to war,” said Pam Tau Lee, co-founder of the Chinese Progressive Association, which organizes and fights for working-class immigrants. “This became a place that was open from 9 a.m. to 10 at night, where people could come and talk about politics, their hopes and their issues.”

In August 1977, the IHotel’s residents were evicted to make way for redevelopment, despite a nearly decade-long fight that brought out thousands of protesters who surrounded the building in a final showdown. But tenants Chinese Progressive Association and arts group Kearny Street Workshop live on. Both groups are celebrating their 45th anniversaries this year, and their leaders past and present reflected on the enduring role of these organizations.

By surviving, they’ve beaten the odds. According to the University of New Haven’s Non-Profit Institute, 64 percent of such organizations that obtained tax-exempt status from the IRS in 2005 were still considered active 10 years later. Just over half of nonprofit groups from 1994 were active two decades later.

Lora Joh Foo, who grew up in San Francisco’s Chinatown, co-founded Kearny Street Workshop with Mike Chin and Jim Dong. “In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, we were making our presence known,” said Foo, then a fashion designer. She went on to become a labor organizer and attorney. “We weren’t Chinese, and we weren’t white. We were coming to grips with the forces in society that shaped us, trying to understand the oppression and exploitation and discrimination against us. We were creating art that reflected that experience.”

After its eviction from the I-Hotel, Kearny Street Workshop became nomadic, going wherever it could find affordable rent, but even so, it launched ambitious projects, including the Asian American Jazz Festival and book publishing.

In 1999, amid the dot-com boom and rising rents that were driving many artists from the city, then-executive director Nancy Hom spearheaded the APAture festival, not only to feature emerging writers, musicians and performers, but also to foster the organization’s next generation of leaders. It served as a training ground for those who wanted to learn to fundraise, curate and program in the arts, she said.

Comedian Kristina Wong, who is being honored at this year’s festival, along with fellow alums such as comedians Hasan Minhaj and Ali Wong, said her performances at APAture helped her grow as a performer.

“It was a stepping stone that helped me understand how to articulate myself to an audience,” said Wong, a San Francisco native. “It was a cool landscape, a bunch of artists at once, and if there had been Facebook then, I would have filled my dance card and left with 200 friends.”

This year’s monthlong APAture, which kicks off on Saturday, Sept. 30, includes work by visual artist Rea Lynn DeGuzman, musician Kohinoorgasm, filmmaker Cyrus Tabar, children’s book author and illustrator Innosanto Nagara, performance artist Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and myself.

The mission of both Kearny Street Workshop and the Chinese Progressive Association remains vital at a time when immigrants and people of color are under attack by President Trump and his administration’s policies. In the past week alone, he announced new travel restrictions, sparred with professional athletes over their peaceful protests, rattled sabers at North Korea and announced plans to collect how immigrants — including those with green cards and naturalized citizens — use social media, as well as their search results.

“The community evolves and changes, but the voices of those who face injustice and the working class — that perspective is still very strong,” said Lee, who chairs the board of the Chinese Progressive Association. The group, whose victories include helping workers collect $4 million in back wages from the restaurant Yank Sing, marks its anniversary on Oct. 7 at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco.

“If you watch the news, you could curl up in a ball in bed,” said Hom, who remains a supporter of Kearny Street Workshop. “Art can be many things: as simple as an outlet for your emotions, but it’s also a political organizing tool. In these times, arts organizations can serve so many purposes, to educate people about what it’s like to be a part of another culture, to gather community for healing and strength, and as a place to go so you don’t feel alone and devastated.”

“Art can be many things ... but it’s also a political organizing tool.” Nancy Hom, Kearny Street Workshop supporter