43 years ago today, police evicted mostly older Filipino & Chinese elders from the I-Hotel in San Francisco's historic Manilatown to make room for a parking garage.

...But not before an amazing coalition of labor orgs, community groups, Black and brown folks tried to fight it.

The I-Hotel was the epicenter of Filipino life in San Francisco for a whole generation of Filipino elders. Their eviction from the I-Hotel in 1977 was part of the "urban renewal" in San Francisco.

The robust Filipino community along Kearny St was forever changed by this moment.

It strikes me how relevant the images from the anti-eviction protests at the I-Hotel are today....The power of coalitions of Black/brown/yellow folks. The fact that "housing is a human right" is a chant we hear today. The continued eviction of immigrant/low income ppl in the Bay.

“The I-Hotel was the life of the manongs, the life of the Filipinos. It was their heart, it was their poetry, it was their song. It wasn't only a hotel: it was a gathering place that brought them together."

More on the I-Hotel's history here: http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Battle_for_the_International_Hotel