Boston

April 11, 2025 0

‘We Don’t Want to Repeat History’: State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven Discusses Activist Fred Korematsu, Öztürk, and Trump

The day before the Sampan had a scheduled interview with State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, her district was suddenly under an international spotlight. Thousands of people had come out to rally in the city of Somerville, part of Massachusetts’ 27th Middlesex District, for Rümeysa Öztürk. Öztürk is the Tufts University doctoral student who was detained by the Department of Homeland Security and was set for deportation back to Turkey — apparently, because she co-wrote an Op-Ed in her university newspaper a […]

April 11, 2025 0

As Some See a Taller Chinatown With New Zoning, Let’s Focus on Getting to the Right Heights

by Mingjia Chen

In the black box theater inside Chinatown’s Josiah Quincy School last month, hundreds of people reached into their little gift bags and pulled out small bottles of soap. As Dr. Heang Leung Rubin led the room in a collective wish, her voice was gentle: “Close your eyes and imagine — what could Chinatown look like in ten years?” Kids, young families, seniors, city officials and others all held their wishes in silence. Then, as bubbles filled the room, they caught […]

April 11, 2025 0

Knowing About Birthright Citizenship’s Past Critical to Ensuring Its Future, Say Experts

by Darren Liu

“I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.” That quote, from the first U.S. president, George Washington in a letter penned in 1788, kicked off a panel discussion last month on the future and history birthright citizenship and Trump administration’s attempts to reinterpret the 14th Amendment. As clear-cut as Washington’s quote sounds, history tells a different story. That was a […]

Nita Slay outside the Mission Hill Church; Photo by Adam Smith

March 23, 2025 0

Killin’ It: Musician Nita Slay Talks About Cambodian Roots, Love of Language & Christian Influences

by Ava Belchez

Nita Slay, a musician and rapper from Lynn, said she finds pride in the lyrics of “Cambodian Ties,” a song by Foule Monk in which she also sings. In the song, Slay sings: “Cambodian ties / Cambodian in my skin / Breathing in this life / Rejuvenated skin / Cambodian gold / Cambodian sins / Breathing in this life to find the peace within.” “It gives me another lane that I can use that no else can,” said Slay, who […]

March 21, 2025 0

Nobuko Miyamoto Takes Fight for Rights to Boston Stage

by Harmony Witte

Activist legend Nobuko Miyamoto came to Boston for the ArtsEmerson screening of the documentary about her – “Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement” – and the timing could not have been more appropriate. Amid the anniversary of Executive Order 9066 – which led to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II – and just before immigration authorities began coming after pro-Palestinian protesters, Nobuko Miyamoto graced the stage and enraptured the audience by performing a set of four of […]

March 7, 2025 0

AACA Is Offering Free Tax Prep, Dispute Help

by Mark Cotton

As the 2024 tax filing season is upon us, the Asian American Civic Association, publisher of the Sampan newspaper, is providing free, bilingual tax services vital to many low-income individuals and families.The program, sponsored by two initiatives implemented by the IRS, offers tax preparation help as well as assistance in resolving tax disputes. The Volunteer Income Tax Clinic, also known as VITA, provides free tax preparation services to clients ready to file their 2024 tax returns. For people who need […]

March 7, 2025 0

Zoning Plan to Boost ‘Affordable’ Units Will Still Price Out Many

by Mingjia Chen

As the light snow whispered down Harrison Avenue on the morning of Feb. 9, it seemed to carry some quiet promise. Soon, Phillips Square would warm up as hundreds gathered in clusters, their anticipation bright in the winter. Lion dancers moved with radiant grace, while firecrackers burst, clearing the path for good luck in a new year clouded by uncertainty. Chinatown is indeed facing its own uncertainties. Just two days before the parade, the City of Boston closed public comments […]

February 21, 2025 0

Behind the Drum, Cymbal and Lion, There’s Adrenaline, and Then Hunger

by Anna Hu

This is at once a specific story —one day in Boston Chinatown during the lunar new year parade — and an expansive one, which has played out time and time again in cities around the world. This is a story about colors, red fabric draped over a dancer’s back, golden sequins that catch the light, yellow fur in the lion’s mane, the whites of its eyes. This is a story about sound, the bright crash of red tasseled cymbals, the […]

February 21, 2025 0

Snake Mural Lets Viewers Send Wishes, Artist Hold onto Chinese Heritage

by Adam Smith

A red snake with gold “scales” is winding through the walls of the Pao Arts Center in Chinatown as part of a celebration of the Lunar New Year. “We invited people to come and cut out scales from a gold shimmery paper, and then we prompted them to write or draw their Lunar New Year wish,” said artist Amanda Beard Garcia, who painted the indoor mural over several days in January. “Some people made one wish and a few people […]

February 21, 2025 0

Order Said to ‘Criminalize’ Some Non-Citizen Students for Protest

by Adam Smith

With additional reporting by Harmony Witte and D.Y. Photo by Witte. In the spring of 2024, students at colleges all over Greater Boston called out what they viewed as a campaign of genocide in Gaza. The students objected to the U.S. paying for much of Israel’s military expenses. They protested their universities’ ties with U.S. companies who build the weapons and fighter jets used by Israeli forces, by calling for divestment and boycott. And they marched against Israel for dropping […]

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