As the show of support for Asian Americans continues to grow, more than 150 protesters rallied outside the Queens Public Library in Flushing on March 27, demanding an end to anti-Asian racist attacks, violence against women and white supremacy. The protest was part of ANSWER’s National Day of Action, held in over 60 cities and towns across the United States on Saturday.
ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) and co-organizer Justice Center en el Barrio — groups that fight for social justice and demand an end to wars — also called on authorities to label the Atlanta mass shooting, which killed eight people, including six Asian American women, a hate crime.
Chanting “Stop the hatred, stop the violence, Asian Americans won’t be silenced,” the diverse crowd held up signs expressing their frustration with systemic racism and calling for unity before speakers addressed the protesters, among them family members of Christian Hall.
Christian Hall, a 19-year-old who was adopted from China when he was 1, was shot seven times and killed by Pennsylvania State Troopers on an I-80 overpass on Dec. 30, 2020, while he had a mental health crisis and was suicidal. PA State troopers claimed that Hall was pointing a gun at them, but a video shared by civil rights attorney Ben Crump shows that the young man had his hands in the air when troopers began shooting.
19yo Christian Hall needed HELP. On 12/30, he experienced a mental health crisis and @PAStatePolice were called to assist. Instead of helping Christian, deputies fatally shot him with his hands raised. This is NOT how cops should handle mental health crises! #JusticeForChristian pic.twitter.com/QVDggTq44u
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) February 3, 2021
Wearing red shirts picturing Christian and holding up a family portrait of Hall and his parents Fe and Gareth, family members rallied around Christian Hall’s cousin, Nicole Henriquez-Otero, a Flushing resident, when she addressed the crowd.
Henriquez-Otero recalled a loving, curious and exciting teenager who stood with the Black Lives Matter movement last summer and explained that the pandemic had affected his mental health. When he was on the bridge, a witness called the police to help him.
“He needed help, but instead, they killed him. They shot him seven times. No one tried to help him. He was on that bridge by himself. And if you’ve seen the video, you’ve seen his hands drop,” his cousin said.
She also had this to say about the “bad day” defense of the Atlanta shooter.
“He was having a bad day. But guess what? We don’t get to have a bad day, do we? When we have a bad day, we get killed. But when that murderer killed those people in Atlanta, he got sympathy from that police officer. I wish they would have given sympathy to Christian,” Nicole Henriquez-Otero declared.
Speakers also recalled the United States’ long history of racism against Asian Americans, harking back to the 19th century when Chinese laborers were exploited to build the nation’s railroad system or work in gold mines.
Amanda Yee, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said that back then, white Americans believed that Chinese workers carried diseases like smallpox and the plague, much like today, when Asian Americans are blamed for COVID-19. Additionally, many Americans blamed Chinese workers for declining wages, leading to the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1892, prohibiting Chinese immigration for decades.
“I’m here to tell you that anti-Asian racism and Sinophobia that we see directed at the Asian working class. Those are fundamentally American values,” Yee declared.
After the rally, the protesters marched through the Flushing, drawing cheers from residents along the way.
Monica Cruz with the Party for Socialism and Liberation felt terrific about the turnout, and to her, it was a sign that people want their voices to be heard.
Addressing the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, especially during the pandemic, Cruz said, “Anti-Asian racism has always been a core fabric of American society of white supremacy. There’s a long history of this.”
“It’s very clear that the community is sick and tired of this racism. Sick and tired of Sinophobia and sick and tired of war drives and the pain,” the activist explained.
Marcus Valeria, a Brazilian immigrant and member of Defend Democracy in Brazil, attended the rally and march in solidarity with the Asian American community.
“When there is hate, there is hate towards everybody. So we all have to stick together and fight back,” Valeria said.
