December 20, 2024 | Vol. 53, Issue 24

The only bilingual Chinese-English Newspaper in New England

Press Releases

A Guide to Select Races in the 2022 Midterm Elections

Many political commentators have said that this year’s midterm elections could break the political norms. All 435 House seats are on the ballot this November, as well as 35 U.S. Senate seats and 36 governorships. The Republicans need a net gain of 5 seats to win the House and also win 1 more seat to control the Senate. Other races including the elections of secretaries of state, attorneys general and control of state legislatures may also affect the 2024 presidential […]

What has happened to Asian Enrollment at US Colleges?

College is a strategy for the students to build their future pathways. Yet for the Asian students, their access to college might be different compared with students in other races. This article presents the possible racial bias of colleges when applying, cultural expectation from the Asian students, competition of the colleges, and the impact to the students made by the COVID-19. Does racial bias really exist among the top schools? According to Robert VerBruggen’s report on racial preferences on campus, […]

The Orange Line: Ready by September 19???

This reporter attended a September 12, 2022 virtual media roundtable for the immigrant-serving community during which MOIA (The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement), BPHC (Boston Public Health Commission), the Streets Cabinet and the MBTA made themselves available for questions. As public transit commuters know, the entire Orange line and parts of the Green and Blue lines are currently not operating because of long needed emergency repairs to address structural issues, track issues and signaling issues. This shutdown has been impacting […]

Labor Shortages and Climate Crises: Immigrants Impacted in Food Supply Industry

Immigrants have long played a key role in the creation of the national food supply. Previously, the US faced a labor shortage in the food industry before COVID, only to have it exacerbated by the pandemic. According to a July 2022 report from the American Immigration Council, the existing labor shortage consists of two key parts: “an increase in retirements as the baby boom generation reaches retirement age, and lower labor participation rates since the pandemic.” Immigrants’ positive impact on […]

distributing a bag of food aid to a beneficiary

The Silent But Urgent Problem of Food Insecurity in Massachusetts: The Daily Fight Against Hunger

When considering the term “food insecurity”, one may at first think this is referring to paying the bills for food. The notion of food security certainly has to do with financial capability. If we have money we can prevent ourselves and loved ones from starving. However, the problem of food insecurity is deeper than that. Basically, it refers to one’s ability to regularly access nutritious and healthy meals and implement best eating practices into their lives. If we can’t do […]

Chinatown Row house

Preserving Chinatown, One Row House at A Time

To afford the average purchase price of a Boston home, a household would need to earn at least $181,000 a year, according to a recent Boston Globe story. In Chinatown, property values have skyrocketed since the luxury development boom and remain high despite the current recession. What has that meant for Chinatown’s immigrant, working class residents? The signs of gentrification now visible throughout the city took root early in this community. American Community Survey data for 2017 revealed that the […]

Leaving, Overcrowding, and Waitlisting: What are the next steps for Chinatown’s Affordable Housing?

While thinking about the settlement of Asian residents in Chinatown, one must consider its role as an ethnic enclave. It means that there is a great percentage of the residents sharing the ethnic and cultural identity, as well as their economic activity. As you walk down the streets of Boston Chinatown, you cannot help to notice the advertisements and brands in Chinese, to smell the sense of ethnic food, to hear people speaking languages such as Mandarin and Cantonese. Yet […]

Hate Groups Infest Massachusetts as Movement of Intolerance Grows Nationwide

Marching through downtown Boston, the hundred or so men wore the same style navy shirts, khaki pants, and baseball caps. White masks obscured their faces. But during their demonstration of intolerance on July 2, the group performed more than theatrics: Some members allegedly harmed a man named Charles Murrell, a Boston-area Black artist and activist during an alleged altercation. Murrell suffered injuries to his head and hand, but no arrests have been made yet in relation to the alleged altercation, […]

The Fall of Roe V. Wade: AAJC & NAPAWF Convene to Discuss National Impact

On June 24th, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion that had been upheld for nearly 50 years. In response to this decision, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) co-hosted a virtual briefing to discuss the details of the SCOTUS decision and how it will affect AAPI communities. The event, which this reporter attended, was moderated by Isra Pananon Weeks of NAPAWF, took […]

Sampan Interviews Former Government Official About Gun Violence in Haiti

[Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of SAMPAN interviews with people living in countries with strict gun laws.] Recent devastating mass shootings in the United States have yet again brought the issue of gun violence to the limelight. In 2022 alone, the Gun Violence Archive has counted more than 250 mass shootings in the United States. The director of the US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has even come out to say that gun violence in […]

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