Highlights:
Students Against Sixers Arena: The Youth-Led Fight for Philadelphia's Chinatown
Amy Liao, Sandy Nguyen, and Erica Zhong
Jun 7, 2024
From left to right: Sandy Nguyen, Celina Seck, and Celine To pose with their hand-made signs to use in the rally. (Credit: Jasmine Lie, Chloe To, and Erica Zhong)
The proposal has developed concerns about a surge in already-high housing costs, traffic problems, and forcing elderly and low-income residents to leave. In 2023, Philadelphia high school students united to stand in solidarity with Chinatown, creating Students Against Sixers Arena (SASA).
This high school student-led organization began as a small group of Central students in late May of 2023 who collectively wanted to advocate and bring awareness to the issues with the 76 DevCorp, a corporation working to develop the 76ers arena in the neighborhood. Celine, one of the founding members, has spent her free time walking into restaurants and small businesses, like Ting Wong, asking owners to put up posters that read “NO ARENA IN CHINATOWN” and informing people about the importance of protecting the community. .
From left to right: Faye Liu and Celina Seck hold up a SASA banner displaying the Chinatown Friendship Arch. (Credit: Jasmine Lie, Chloe To, and Erica Zhong)
SASA has also hosted movie nights and teach-ins where students learned about the historical significance of Chinatown and the potential consequences of the arena. Celina Seck (283), another founding member, notes the immense impact working with the organization has had on her Asian American identity: “SASA has helped me connect with my culture and find a sense of community in Chinatown, and I have really learned to appreciate my identity.”
SASA hopes to ensure that Chinatown is a place where
rich cultural heritage cannot be exchanged for corporate interests, stating in a heartfelt message“We can use our power to protect and advocate for Philadelphia's Chinatown and preserve the culture, identities, and community of Chinatown the best we can. We strive to make the issues more known and allow a space for high students to discuss. The fight is not over yet.”
Nine-year-old Celine To sat with her family at the bustling Ting Wong, a small business restaurant in the heart of Chinatown, gorging on platters of noodles and dim sum while savoring spoonfuls of congee. Little did she know that eight years later, she would be back at the same restaurant — only this time, as an activist fighting for her second home.
For Asian Americans across the country, Chinatown is an essential part of their culture, heritage, and history that has provided them with a lasting community and home for over a century. However, the recent plans to build a 76ers basketball stadium near Philadelphia's Chinatown have threatened to decimate this beloved community.
SASA members rally together to save their beloved community. (Credit: Jasmine Lie, Chloe To, and Erica Zhong)
The burning passion of students like Celine to protect the place they grew up in is the driving force behind the founding and success of SASA. “I feel that it is important to give students a safe space like SASA to come together and talk about what's going on as well as amplify student voices,” she says.
SASA began communicating with students from other high schools interested in the fight and were then able to gather as an official group at the “No Arena in the Heart of Our City" rally on June 10th, 2023 to protest. From then on, the organization has continued to build its community and now has over seventy members who consistently work with other organizations and coalitions to further the cause. Recently, SASA helped to create the Ginger Arts Center, a space where various workshops and art events will be held to foster a sense of community for the youth in Chinatown.
"Greed Can't Get Us!" indeed. (Credit: Jasmine Lie, Chloe To, and Erica Zhong)
(Editor's note: And they were right! The fight was most certainly not over yet. The Philadelphia 76ers' plan to build an arena in Chinatown was canceled in January 2025, after years of protesting and activism. The arena will now be built in South Philadelphia.)