Kevin C. Downs

In Corona, Queens, outside of the new Citifield, is an area known as the Iron Triangle. It is a junkyard full of chop shops and people making a living. Young men and women are working to save and send their children to school. Some are even sending money to their home countries in order to give their families a better life. This story is about their fight to keep their small businesses because the city wants to relocate or close the businesses so that they can create new malls. The city has refused to give social services. The immigrant workforce that makes up the Iron Triangle is mainly made up of Latino and Afghan workers, working side by side to achieve the American dream. This is a project that I have been working on for the past three years. . I hope that the photos in this project would give the community back their voice, a sense of self and a sense of worth that the mayor and his push for gentrification throughout the city has taken away.