(BONUS) Hunger Strike! How Immigrant Taxi Drivers Took on City Hall
05/18/22 • 29 min
When Augustine Tang’s father passed away, Augustine decided to inherit his taxi medallion – the license that had allowed his father to drive a yellow taxi cab in New York City for decades. But the medallion came with a $530,000 debt trap and years of struggling to escape it. Augustine’s friend Kenny, a fellow taxi cab driver, committed suicide. So did several other drivers who were crushed under the weight of these impossible debts. In hopes of preventing another death, Tang joined a push by the local taxi drivers’ union, to campaign for debt relief. And eventually, city resistance to worker demands culminated in a 15-day hunger strike to convince City Hall that immigrant taxi drivers deserved a fair deal. The drivers’ struggles for livable working conditions showed how political power doesn’t just come down to votes. It’s a reminder how strong collective will can be, especially for those often silenced and ignored by our imperfect democracy.
Resources and Reading- After listening, please take our survey about this story — to help us fund more stories like this one!
- This show mentions instances of suicide. We understand this topic may be difficult for some listeners. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 1-800-273-8255
- WATCH: “Cheated, Desperate, Financially Ruined NYC Taxi Drivers Go on Hunger Strike” by Maximillian Alvarez of the Real News Network
- WATCH: “New York Taxi Drivers Hunger Strike for Debt Relief” by More Perfect Union
- READ: “‘They Were Conned’: How Reckless Loans Devastated a Generation of Taxi Drivers” by Brian Rosenthal for the New York Times
- READ: “How the Taxi Workers Won” by Molly Crabapple for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project
- READ: “Distressed Drivers: Solving the the New York City Taxi Medallion Debt Crisis” by Aaron Jacobs for Columbia Human Rights Law Review
Augustine Tang, Jaslin Kaur, John Duda, Kader Guerrab, Kuber Sancho-Persad, Maria Santana, Maximillian Alvarez, Michelle Faust Raghavan and Alec Saleens, and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance Media Team
Credits:- Produced by Self Evident Media
- Reported by Sahil Nisha, with help from Alina Panek and Janrey Serapio
- Interview recordings by Sahil Nisha, Stacey Wong, and James Boo
- Public protest and demonstration recordings by NYTWA, Augustine Tang, CM Zohran Mamdani, and Former CM Brad Lander
- Edited by James Boo and Julia Shu
- Fact checked by Harsha Nahata and Tiffany Bui
- Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly
- Music by Epidemic Sound
- At the Moment theme music by Satoru Ohno
- Our Executive Producer is Ken Ikeda
- This episode was made with support from the Solutions Journalism Network’s Advancing Democracy program
When Augustine Tang’s father passed away, Augustine decided to inherit his taxi medallion – the license that had allowed his father to drive a yellow taxi cab in New York City for decades. But the medallion came with a $530,000 debt trap and years of struggling to escape it. Augustine’s friend Kenny, a fellow taxi cab driver, committed suicide. So did several other drivers who were crushed under the weight of these impossible debts. In hopes of preventing another death, Tang joined a push by the local taxi drivers’ union, to campaign for debt relief. And eventually, city resistance to worker demands culminated in a 15-day hunger strike to convince City Hall that immigrant taxi drivers deserved a fair deal. The drivers’ struggles for livable working conditions showed how political power doesn’t just come down to votes. It’s a reminder how strong collective will can be, especially for those often silenced and ignored by our imperfect democracy.
Resources and Reading- After listening, please take our survey about this story — to help us fund more stories like this one!
- This show mentions instances of suicide. We understand this topic may be difficult for some listeners. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 1-800-273-8255
- WATCH: “Cheated, Desperate, Financially Ruined NYC Taxi Drivers Go on Hunger Strike” by Maximillian Alvarez of the Real News Network
- WATCH: “New York Taxi Drivers Hunger Strike for Debt Relief” by More Perfect Union
- READ: “‘They Were Conned’: How Reckless Loans Devastated a Generation of Taxi Drivers” by Brian Rosenthal for the New York Times
- READ: “How the Taxi Workers Won” by Molly Crabapple for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project
- READ: “Distressed Drivers: Solving the the New York City Taxi Medallion Debt Crisis” by Aaron Jacobs for Columbia Human Rights Law Review
Augustine Tang, Jaslin Kaur, John Duda, Kader Guerrab, Kuber Sancho-Persad, Maria Santana, Maximillian Alvarez, Michelle Faust Raghavan and Alec Saleens, and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance Media Team
Credits:- Produced by Self Evident Media
- Reported by Sahil Nisha, with help from Alina Panek and Janrey Serapio
- Interview recordings by Sahil Nisha, Stacey Wong, and James Boo
- Public protest and demonstration recordings by NYTWA, Augustine Tang, CM Zohran Mamdani, and Former CM Brad Lander
- Edited by James Boo and Julia Shu
- Fact checked by Harsha Nahata and Tiffany Bui
- Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly
- Music by Epidemic Sound
- At the Moment theme music by Satoru Ohno
- Our Executive Producer is Ken Ikeda
- This episode was made with support from the Solutions Journalism Network’s Advancing Democracy program
Previous Episode
Say Goodbye to Yesterday
Amidst the ongoing crush of anti-Asian violence in America, Producer James turns to a personal source of restoration: ska music (yes, that ska music).
When he was a teenager, the do-it-yourself ska scene — and an indie record label called Asian Man — taught him to take racism seriously, embrace the road less traveled, and never wait for anyone else’s approval to be himself. But as James starts connecting with all of the Asian American ska fans he’s met over the past few years, he also starts to question how much his own memories are wrapped in a black-and-white-checkered blanket of nostalgia.
Eventually, these connections all lead to Mike Park, Korean American founder and still-only-employee of Asian Man Records — and Jer Hunter, a younger Black and queer musician who’s carrying the torch for ska music as a home for anti-racist activism.
And the more these conversations peel away the layers of nostalgia surrounding ska, the more James believes that this oft-misunderstood subculture has something real to offer in a world that can feel like it’s crumbling beneath our feet.
Resources- WATCH: “Racism in East London,” an episode of the 1970s docuseries Our People by ThamesTV
- WATCH: The entirety of Dance Craze, the documentary about 2-Tone that hooked Mike Park (and countless others) on ska music
- WATCH: Skatune Network’s life-giving cover of the Koopa Troopa Beach theme from Mario Kart 64
- LISTEN: Ska Against Racism 2020, the benefit compilation by Bad Time Records, Ska Punk Daily, and Asian Man Records
- LISTEN: SKA DREAM by Jeff Rosenstock
- LISTEN: “Five Miles to Newark,” the full-length debut album by Chris Erway’s high school ska-punk band, Taxicab Samurais
- LISTEN: Mike Park chats with Charlene Kaye on The Golden Hour podcast
- READ: “Tracing Ska Music’s Great Migration” by Evan Nicole Brown for Atlas Obscura
- READ: “The Chinese Jamaicans: Unlikely Pioneers of Reggae Music” by Tranquilheart for Spinditty
- READ: “It Came From the Garage: Celebrating 25 Years of Asian Man Records,” a comic by JB Roe
- READ: In Defense of Ska by Aaron Carnes
- READ: “Skatune Networks’ Jer on Pushing Ska Forward” by Eve Sicks for Reverb.com
- READ: “Ska’s New Generation is Here to Pick It Up Pick It Up” by Arielle Gordon for Stereogum
- READ: “Ska is Thriving Right Now: Here’s a Look at the DIY Scene That’s Keeping It Alive” by Andrew Sacher for Brooklyn Vegan
- Produced, written, and sound designed by James Boo
- Edited by Julia Shu, with help from Cathy Erway
- Sound mix by Timothy Lou Ly
- Fact checked by Tiffany Bui and Harsha Nahata
- “No Guarantee” written and performed by James Boo, feat. Dorian Love on bass and Chris Erway on trombone, trumpet, and alto saxophone
- Ska Dream by Jeff Rosenstock; original compositions for “No Time to Skank” and pickitup” licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
- Music provided courtesy of Asian Man Records:
- “Still Down for Tomorrow” by the Bruce Lee Band
- “Signature” and “You Don’t Know” by The Chinkees
- “Riptide 28” and “Sultan’s Cross” by Let’s Go Bowling
- “David Duke Is Running For President,” “Pabu Boy,” “Onyonghasayo,” and “Thick Ass Stout” by Skankin’ Pickle
- “Mutually Parasitic,” “Achilles’ Dub,” and “Stash” by Slow Gherkin
- Photos of ...
Next Episode
Self Evident Presents: "Get Up Stand Up" (by Re:Work)
When you get into a taxi, you usually know where you’re coming from, where you’re going, and what you’ll do when you get there. But what about your taxi driver – someone whose work is in constant motion, moving from destination to destination, meeting new people by the hour? What was the road that brought them to this moment, what is the journey they'll take next?
On this episode of Re:Work, by the UCLA Labor Center, join host Saba Waheed as she travels with Javaid on the path that brought him from a small agricultural town in Punjab, Pakistan to driving cabs in New York City.
Reading and Resources:- “Taxi!: Cabs and Capitalism in New York City” by Biju Mathew
- Self Evident’s audio story on the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance Hunger Strike of 2021
- UCLA Labor Center.
- The New York Taxi Workers' Alliance
Credits:
Produced by Stefanie Ritoper, Saba Waheed, Ob1, and Asif Ahmed. Music supervision by Francisco Garcia Nava.
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