Chinatown’s Casino Fears

There’s an interesting article in today’s Inquirer about Chinatown residents’ fears about a casino in town. Apparently, Chinatown’s residents will gamble away all their money if a casino is so close to home because of Asian culture or something. (I’ve read before that in, say, China, gambling is considered a skill — so a lottery or craps winner is viewed as a great gambler, not a lucky bastard. Neat!)

The argument makes some sense, yeah, though I think it’s silly to think there already isn’t gambling in Chinatown. But there is hope: All Chinatown’s residents need to do is become as annoying as effing possible and maybe the casino will move again! Then they can have a parade, like they did when the Phillies stadium went to South Philly.

Anyway: Yes, Young Philly Politics wrote about it and produced this great closing sentence: “There are lots of things wrong with this site, but dismissing Chinatown’s anguish over the sufferings of its own people is not only cruel, it’s environmental racism at its clearest.” Ahh, yes.

Photo by Jeff Kubina used under a Creative Commons license