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Helen Gym Profile picture
Helen Gym
@HelenGymPHL
Passionate about our schools. Believer in transformative power of our communities. Not waiting.
Mar 18, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
One additional note for those trying to understand more about roots of AAPI hate. Religious zeal and Asian America have a complicated history. Missionaries viewed Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, and other Asian religions as a threat to Christianity (Note: We outnumber y'all). Christian missionaries were intertwined w/imperialist warfare against Asian nations & competition over global capital. Demasculation of our men, hyper-sexualization of women, stereotypes of submissiveness/obedience all come out of that era & are still wielded today.
Mar 18, 2021 • 15 tweets • 7 min read
Opening this morning with a thread on the power of the AAPI movement here in Philadelphia, a community of matriarchs who welcomed, raised up, and drove me and 1000s others to make change in this city. Our story is about voice, visibility and self-determination. Image in 1973, Chinatown activists blocked bulldozers that would have turned 10th Street into I-676 offramp and forced the Vine Street Expressway underground. nytimes.com/1973/08/05/arc… Image
Jun 25, 2020 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Today @nytimes released a comprehensive video of the police assault on peaceful demonstrators on I-676 in June. It’s horrifying and a complete indictment of our city’s failure to a manage the events surrounding demonstrations against police brutality. nytimes.com/video/us/10000… I-676, the teargassing in residential neighborhoods in West Philadelphia, allowing largely white armed mobs to menace demonstrators - all exposed not just a police force that can’t manage itself but a breakdown in morality and decision making. inquirer.com/news/philadelp…
Dec 16, 2019 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Early morning outside of York County prison as we await the bond release of two parents abducted off Philly streets by ICE this past summer. 1/ Image Yulius and Elliyana have lived in Philly at same address for 20 years, are raising two beautiful and brilliant daughters and were “disappeared” by ICE on their way to work. No one knew what had happened to them, least of all their children. 2/
Dec 5, 2019 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
I want to make it clear that I will vote NO on any amendment to change the 10 year tax abatement as it currently stands in Council. It’s embarrassing for our Mayor and City to freak out about tax subsidy reform while residents are being displaced and schools crumble. The tax abatement was introduced in the 1990s as a THREE year abatement and deemed a resounding success back then. It’s been a two decade free ride for development community on a 10 year abatement that is the most expansive in the nation.
Jul 19, 2019 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
A friendly note to @emrosenberg about what you missed when you wondered what was behind our city’s national treasure (aka Inga Saffron) having a truth-to-power moment in calling out sexism and bigotry in your industry. 1/ Stu’s not just “polarizing.” He lives in his own mind where newspapermen were just men & real Americans could tell the immigrants to go back to where they came from. But don’t take my word for it. Let’s review his record. As Inga reminds us, they’re still online. 2/
Sep 28, 2018 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
I wasn't much older than my daughter is today when the Anita Hill hearings went on TV. I remember them vividly because shortly after in my first job, I had a copy editor anonymously call me for months saying the most sickening things, promising to rape me and so on. 1/ I was shocked when the police finally tracked down the calls. The detective couldn't have been kinder when he broke the news that the calls came from my own newsroom but they didn't know who yet. He said he was worried about me and that I should be careful. 2/
Jul 1, 2018 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
.@waltshaub has been great on Twitter but he couldn’t be more wrong in mistaking a hashtag from a substantive argument. #AbolishICE is a clear and necessary phrase for an agency that has gone largely rogue. As a community organizer and now as a City Councilmember, many of us called for #AbolishICE in mid-2000s when we dealt with T. Don Hutto and the abusive deportation of a pregnant Philly Chinese businesswoman who miscarried twin fetuses after a violent deportation attempt.
Dec 27, 2017 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
It takes a special kind of somebody to shill for vouchers, charters, and defunding of public education, then claim that biggest danger to kids is "discipline reform" i.e. reducing school suspensions. And yet @Phillydotcom gives this guy the bandwidth: philly.com/philly/opinion… 1/ I'm mom to 3 #PhlEd kids, former teacher and as a Councilmember fully support call to end K-5 suspensions. They're a result of poor practices & lack of resources/supports for kids. Thx to @edlawcenterpa @YUCphilly @215studentunion for leading that call. 2/