Filipino American activists who fought the eviction of tenants at San Francisco’s International Hotel in the 1970’s are refusing to accept an award from the city over the same issue, the eviction of senior citizens in 2013.
The Bay Guardian reports the award was to be presented to board members of the Manilatown Heritage Foundation as part of a celebration of Filipino American Heritage Month.
In a written statement Tony Robles wrote the award would be refused as long as “elders are being preyed upon, evicted and given a de facto death sentence thereof.”
The rate of evictions have risen this year in San Francisco under the Ellis Act, which allows landlords to evict tenants as long as the units are removed from the rental market.
The International Hotel became the symbol for the struggle against the redevelopment in San Francisco that literally wiped out what used to be Manilatown on the edge of Chinatown and the city’s Financial District.
The elderly Filipino American tenants at the I-Hotel were only evicted after the city’s sheriff spent five days in jail for refusing to carry out the eviction and 2,000 protestors locking arms formed a human barricade as baton swinging deputies on horses pushed their way through to remove the tenants.
Even after the eviction, the struggle continued and today the site of the International Hotel is part of a public housing project, community center and home of St. Mary’s School and Chinese Catholic Center.
You can read a lot more about the I-Hotel struggle and the controversy over the award in the Bay Guardian.
Re: Angered by evictions, Filipino Americans Reject Honor from SF: It is encouraging to see there is still a fighting spirit in those who fought the good fight years ago….the law should be stricken off the books. Hope Mayor Ed Lee sees the writing on the wall.