Henry Yee, Longtime Chinatown Activist, Dies at 88

By Gilbert Ho

Mr Henry Yee, a beloved Chinatown community activist, passed away Saturday (March 19) afternoon peacefully. He was admitted to South Cove Nursing home a month ago with health issue and turned worst last few weeks. His age was 88.
2015_Henry_Yee_Chinatown
Henry Yee took this picture in Boston Chinatown in 2015(bostonese.com file photo).

He supported any and every issue related to Chinatown residents that is why he organized and found the Chinatown Residents Association(CRA), from a few members to now morn than 500 members.

The picture below is from one of mayoral candidate forums at CRA in July 2013. Affordable housing issue were coming from him at almost every meetings.
2013_Richie_Chinatown
Voting is his passion, you see him at the poll during every election to support his candidate. Another important and proud accomplishment was bilingual ballot passed in Massachusetts.

sampan.org/2014/08/chinatown-celebrates-victory-in-asian-american-voting-rights

bostonese.com/2014/07/gov-patrick-signs-bilingual-ballot-bill-into-law-in-boston-chinatown

May our beloved community voice rest in peace. Our Prayers to his family.

The family will hold a wake at the Wing Fook Funeral Home, 13 Gerard Street, on Monday 3/28, 5:00 – 8:00 pm. The funeral service will be held on Tuesday 3/29, at 9:30 am with burial at 11 am.

A Tribute to Henry She-Ang Yee By CRA

For 17 years, Henry Yee was truly the driving force of the Chinatown Resident Association. His unrelenting passion and commitment to the community’s future made him as familiar with the corridors of City Hall as he was with the apartment buildings and restaurants of Chinatown.

Following his involvement in the 18-month campaign to stop the thrice-proposed hospital parking garage on Parcel C, Mr. Yee and other activists recognized that Chinatown lacked what many other neighborhoods had—a neighborhood council elected of, by, and for Chinatown residents that would particularly stand up for their interests. He helped to found the Chinatown Resident Association in 1999.

Like the mailman, whether sun or rain, sleet or snow, you could always find Mr. Yee trudging the path to the State House to lobby for the bilingual ballot, to City Hall to register concerns about luxury development, or marching through East Boston and Chelsea on May Day to stand up for all immigrant workers’ rights, regardless of ethnicity or immigration status.

Mr. Yee was a core leader in the campaign to reclaim Parcel 24 for affordable housing, and to draft Chinatown Master Plans 2000 and 2010. He was an unrelenting advocate for affordable housing focused on the needs of Chinatown’s low income families, for a Chinatown library, and for community control of development. Last year, Mr. Yee played a founding role in launching the Chinatown Community Land Trust for this purpose.

Following elderly residents’ complaints of voting irregularities at the polls, Mr. Yee fought for the Chinese and Vietnamese bilingual ballot, and then for its renewal, for eleven years until the law was permanently renewed in 2014. During this period, Chinatown became one of Boston’s consistently higher turnout neighborhoods.

Even those who disagreed with Mr. Yee recognize the tremendous impact he and the Chinatown Resident Association have had on the community. In the face of massive luxury development and powerful market forces, Boston Chinatown’s ability to survive and maintain a foothold in the heart of downtown is due to the tremendous commitment and achievements of Chinatown’s residents, and most especially Mr. Henry Yee.

May he rest in peace.