NYC’s Chinatown Devastated After Sandy, Advocates Say Race to Blame

What happens if you're not Wall Street or Times Square post-Sandy.

By Jorge Rivas Nov 02, 2012

"Income and race have a lot to do with the situation that we’re in, I went by Wall Street last night and all the lights were on, the buildings were empty, there were christmas lights on the trees and it was absolutely crazy because we had just left here [Chinatown] and it was pitch black," said Helena Wong in an interview with [The Nation](http://www.thenation.com/video/170970/weathering-super-storm-sandy-chinatown?_r=hpyr#). Wong is the executive director of the Chinatown-based organization [CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities.](http://caaav.org) "What we’re seeing is no officials are coming here, there are no translated documents, there’s no FEMA, Bloomberg isn’t here, no ones invested any resources in to this community and there are other communities as well that aren’t Wall Street and aren’t Time Square and it’s pretty clear that it’s profits over people right now," Wong went on to say. [The video was shot and produced by Francis Reynolds at The Nation. ](http://www.thenation.com/video/170970/weathering-super-storm-sandy-chinatown?_r=hpyr#) [CAAAV is currently accepting donations for flashlights, batteries, food and bottled water. Visit their website for more information.](http://caaav.org/post-hurricane-sandy-caaavs-office-opens-to-accept-donated-goods-and-provides-critical-information-for-chinatown-residents-left-behind-in-citys-efforts)