The Abolitionist Law Center stands proudly in solidarity with our community partners who successfully opposed the construction of a 76ers arena in Chinatown, one of Philadelphia’s most important cultural enclaves.  Their organizing efforts – and their victory – are a testament to the power and importance of community-led coalitions and of letting those most impacted by issues take the lead in deciding and advocating for the best outcomes.

This final outcome was always what was best for this community and for Philly as a whole, and every stakeholder wins with the final arrangement. We’re left to ask why the Parker administration and City Council allowed billionaires to play such an outsized role forcing the city to make plans that overrode the will of the people?  Why did they spend so much time and energy on a sports stadium, in a poorly vetted location, that the Sixers’ own studies showed would have significant negative impacts on the area around it?

In thinking about this question, we at ALC think back to the fact that, in 1993, Chinatown residents successfully fought against the construction of a federal prison at Eighth and Vine. The city trotted out the same arguments then as now – creating jobs via special interest infrastructure projects (rather than community-focused ones), making use of “dead” land in Center City in need of revitalization, prioritizing the bottom line over impact studies – and Chinatown’s residents and business owners, then as now, had to demand that immigrants and working communities be allowed to live and thrive in spaces they’d called home for years. 

Chinatown residents have needed to organize and resist these takeovers other times as well, fighting back the same cluster of moneyed/billionaire interests, gentrification, and police/prison systems that the majority of politicians continue to see as the only way to “improve” cities or deal with long-term issues that beset working class areas. When a billionaire has wanted to build a plaything for themselves, or when federal politicians have offered incentives to build tools of oppression, the city has ignored best practices and fought hard for these interests–and only dogged and principled organizing by these communities’ residents has opposed them. 

As we salute and celebrate the organizing work in Chinatown against the arena, we also note the same dynamics playing out with Philadelphia’s police and prison systems. There is an active crisis in Philly’s jails that the city continues to ignore best practices in addressing. Crumbling and dangerous facilities hold thousands of people who have been denied out-of-cell time; people with significant mental health issues sit isolated and deteriorating in solitary confinement; and 63 people have died due largely to medical neglect and/or security issues. There’s also an active effort to criminalize and lock away those suffering from addiction in Kensington, to defund harm reduction and mobile services, and to disappear unhoused people from Philly’s streets. City officials continue to steamroll research and best practices, and ignore humane and productive ways of remedying any of these issues. History and recent experience tells us the only way to fight back and demand better is when communities impacted by these systems get organized, educated, and loud. 

We join our community to celebrate the news that Chinatown will be spared an unnecessary, destructive stadium, and we look forward to standing in continued solidarity to fight for what’s best for residents in every community throughout Philadelphia.