Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz last week hosted a Zoom webinar filled with tributes and performances to mark the Lunar New Year and celebrate the Year of the Ox.
“Lunar New Year marks a time of happiness and prosperity, and good health and good fortune, and it’s more important than every now with COVID and the global quarantine,” Katz said during the Feb. 18 Zoom celebration. “It’s fitting that we’re celebrating the year of the ox. A symbol of strength and a symbol of diligence. We really need that.”
State Senator John Liu spoke on the hardships that the previous presidential administration caused to Asian communities, not just in New York, but nationwide, by dubbing COVID-19 as the “China virus.”
He then honored Hugh Mo, who serves as chairman on the AAPEX Advisory Board. Mo was honored for his lifelong career as one of the first Asian Americans to practice law in New York.
“It is wonderful that the Queens District Attorney’s office is celebrating Lunar New Year in recognition of the diversity and the contributions of the Asian Americans in Queens County that have strengthened and enriched our city,” Mo said.
Mo expanded on the accomplishments of the AAPEX saying that almost 10 percent of the total number of captains in the NYPD are Asian-Americans. Of the 36,000 uniformed officers of the NYPD, about 2,200 of them are Asian.
After Mo’s speech, Yana Ballet of Flushing performed two routines entitled, “Beautiful Flowers” and “Full Moon.”
To close the celebration, Deputy Bureau Chief, Herman Wun, held a moment of silence for Chinese American photographer Corky Lee who died from COVID-19 related causes.
The final performance of the event was by the New York Wu Tang Chinese Martial Arts Institute, which included demonstrations of Kung Fu and Tai Chi mixed martial arts.
