Since the construction of the Capital One Arena, gentrification has reduced Chinatown’s Chinese population from 3,000 to around 300. Museum Square Apartment houses many of the remaining Chinese Americans in DC’s Chinatown, most of whom are working class, immigrants, elders, and non-English speakers. For over a decade, the Black and Asian American tenants of Museum Square have been embroiled in a battle with their landlord, Bush Companies, whose clear objective is to empty and sell the 302-unit building for profit.

Earlier this month, DC council voted to spend $515 million on a public-private plan to further develop Chinatown and boost its strength as a revenue generator. The new Chinatown Taskforce and the Mayor’s Downtown Action Plan were created without resident involvement. They threaten to further displace the Chinatown community. The Save Chinatown Solidarity Network (SCSN) has been working with the tenants in their anti-displacement fight to pressure their landlord to sell the building to their chosen development partners and improve current building conditions. The fight for Museum Square is a fight for affordable housing and the right of low-income Black, brown, and people of color to live in DC.

SCSN plans to hold “Museum Square Blooms'' as an event to strengthen community bonds in Chinatown and amplify tenants’ voices in Museum Square. The event will consist of a floral arrangement centerpiece and an altar-making activity. The floral centerpiece will be composed of a bench and garden arch trellis filled with live flowers, where community members will be able to contribute to the flower arrangement. The altar-making activity will honor the current Museum Square tenants and act as an expression of the reclamation of home, where tenants will bring household items to be placed on the altar. We will have ample documentation of this invite for digital impact. This event will be a valuable and impactful cultural intervention amid a critical moment for Chinatown