GoldenVenture,Golden‘Citizen’
TheSmugglingofaNewImmigrantinaReversaloftheWelfareState,1992-1996
ThiscollectionisplacedinthecontextoftheGoldenVenturecrash Ataquartertotwoonthe moonlessSundaymorningofJune6,1993,aHonduranhundred-and- fty-foottrampsteamerran agroundinRockawayBeach,Queens.1NamedtheGoldenVenture,theship’scargowasnotbulkgoods, butrathernearlythreehundredChineseimmigrantssmuggledfromFujian,China.Someofthe286 peopleontheshipjumpedintothecoldAtlanticcurrents,abouthalfoftheship’spassengerswere deported,andotherswereheldinI.N.S.detentionfacilities.2CriminalizedbytheBillClinton administrationonthefearof“gangbehavior,”3andassociationwiththeseoperations,mostpassengers hadtheirclaimstoobtainasylumdeniedandputbehindbars 4Iarguethatthesametoxicadmixtureof racialfear,partisanpolitics,andsocialpanicthathadpropelledBillClintontowardsponsorshipofharsh welfarereforminacontroversialbreakwithNewDealliberalismalsomadehimthearchitectofa draconiancrimecontrolregime–criminalizingpeopleofcolorandthesurveillanceofimmigrantslike thosefromtheGoldenVentureCrash Coalitionscomposedofadvocatesandtownresidentscalledfor thereleaseoftheseimmigrantswhohadtraveledsome17,000milesin112daysandarrivedinNewYork viaSoutheastAsia,Africa,andLatinAmerica.5Somewerereleasedandmanyoftheimmigrants relocatedtoethnicenclaveslikeFlushing,Queens,andEastBroadwayinManhattan’sChinatown.These smuggledimmigrantsshiftedtheclassdemographicsoftheselocalitiesandanationalpoliticallandscape shapedbyearlierimmigrationwaves.
GoldenVenture,Golden‘Citizen’exploreshowethnicenclavesandself-sustainedeconomies bothgivewayanddisruptAmericanmythologiesthatimmigrantshavedefended,laboredtowards,and resisted–inanactofmakingsenseofnewlocalitiesandtopographies Whataretheculturaland religiouspracticesofethnicenclavesthatimmigrantshavedismissedorheldonto–thatareoften deemedforeignandtransgressional–astheyarenavigatingnewland.Iamtoexplorehowthe institutionsofethnicenclavesserveasalocustoreckonwiththemythmakingofcorruption, racialization,self-suciency,andtheAmericanDream.Instead,theyconstructtheirownstandardsand expectationsofkinshipandmutualaid.
1RobertD McFadden,“SmuggledtoNewYork:TheOverview--7DieasCrowdedImmigrantShipGroundsofQueens; ChineseAboardAreSeizedforIllegalEntry,”TheNewYorkTimes,June7,1993, https://wwwnytimescom/1993/06/07/nyregion/smuggled-new-york-overview-7-die-crowded-immigrant-ship-grounds-of f-queens.html.
2PatrickRaddenKeefe,"TheSnakehead:AnEpicTaleoftheChinatownUnderworldandtheAmericanDream"(New York:Doubleday,2009)
3BillClinton,"PresidentialDecisionDirective9-AlienSmuggling,"June18,1993,ClintonDigitalLibrary,National Archives,WashingtonDC
4CeliaWDugger,“DozensofChineseFrom1993VoyageStillinJail,”NewYorkTimes,February3,1997, https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/03/nyregion/dozens-of-chinese-from-1993-voyage-still-in-jail.html.
5MaryaliceYakutchik,“PeopleoftheGoldenVisionUnlikelyactiviststakeupthecauseofimprisonedChineserefugees,” TheBaltimoreSun,June23,1995,https://wwwbaltimoresuncom/news/bs-xpm-1995-07-23-1995204040-storyhtml
MypoetryisinspiredbythearttheGoldenVenturepassengerscreatedwhileindetention includingmagni centfoldedpapersculpturesandbeautifulpoetry.Ai,oneofthefewwomenGolden Venturepassengers,wrotepoetrywhileintheLerdoCountyDetentionFacilitiesinCalifornia.Written onSeptember20,1994toherAmericanadvocateDemian,apartofherpoemreads“..Howyouopened myeyesandmademesee,,,thateverything’snotasbadasitsometimesseems,,,andtheycannevertake awayaperson ’sdreams.”
Giventhenuancesofinformalinstitutionsandpoliciesinethnicenclaves,theyalsoserveasaframework forrethinking“self-suciency”or“corruption”asamodeoftransgressingnormativeconceptionsof historicalprogresswithintransitionalgovernance.Iwanttoexplorethepossibilitiesofembodying alternativewaystoimaginewhataninclusivesocietyformigrantsandworkerscanlooklike–whilealso navigatingthroughthetensionsoftheseinstitutions.Asaresponsetothelackofwelfareandcodied policies,immigrantsandworkershavedevelopedalternativemodelsofmutualcare,economicmobility, andwork–whichcanbegenerativeofnewcodiedinstitutions.PerhapswhenAiwrites,“theycannever takeawayaperson’sdreams,”sheisconsciousoftheframeworksinsheandtheGoldenVentures passengers:lookingbeyondpolitics,butanindividualchangeinthemidstofhistoricaldevastation–not attachedtowork,topolitics,andthemythsandgripofhistory.
whyhavemyFOLDedboatsdrownedand /and thiefofmyskinthey they arebrownlikeathunderstormcan /can dotothedirtandthe
shmenarenever /never homebecausetheseahastotake /take theirlaboringsoulsbuttheyhave oatedaway /away andwhyhavemyFOLDedboatsdrowneda /a mileawaybutIfoundthemagainnoproblemsinceaperson’s /person’s birthshouldalwaysbeexcused noproblemandlongtimenoseeI’lllearntosayformydreams /dreams.
“ andtheycannevertakeawayaperson’sdreams”
–Ai,oneofthefewwomenGoldenVenturePassengers,September 20,1994,LerdoCountyDetentionFacilities,California