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Feb. 11 - Feb. 17, 2022
FLUSHING’S NEW ‘HATE FREE ZONE’
WILL COMBAT ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
In light of increased anti-
Asian attacks in New York
City, the MinKwon Center
for Community Action, in
partnership with the Greater
Flushing Chamber of Commerce
and other community
organizations, launched a
new campaign on Thursday,
Feb. 4, to create safe spaces
in the community. As part of
the campaign, the center will
host “Know Your Rights” sessions
on immigration, housing
and safety.
The Hate Free Zones will
work alongside small businesses
in Flushing and other
community organizations
that provide support to the
Asian American and Pacific
Islander (AAPI) community
to create sanctuary spaces.
Plus, the campaign will begin
conversations about what
it means to re-open Flushing
the “right way,” after the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic
devastated small businesses.
The project aims to create
an inclusive, welcoming
Flushing community as a direct
counter to the xenophobia
that has been directed toward
the AAPI community.
According to John Park,
executive director of the
MinKwon Center, the rise in
violent hate crimes against
the AAPI community is a
citywide, statewide and nationwide
issue that has spiraled
out of control with no
lack of accountability. The
solution, Park says, is coming
together as a community
to combat hate.
“If you can’t do it through
policy, you have to do it by
shifting the needle of a culture
of a community, and
The MinKwon Center, in partnership with local organizations and local officials, announced the Flushing Hate Free Zone to combat a rise
in anti-Asian hate, on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. Photo by Paul Frangipane
activate our members,” Park
said. “In this new Lunar New
Year, the Year of the Tiger,
we are going to move ahead
in a different way, and build
back in a different way, but
in the right way, and because
Flushing is an international
community, we have that
legacy of our commitment to
always protect those who are
vulnerable or are at risk of
prosecution. We are going to
continue that commitment.”
The MinKwon Center and
the Greater Flushing Chamber
of Commerce, along with
its partners, will launch a
pledge campaign and a visibility
campaign while targeting
at least 20% of Flushing
businesses to participate in
the Hate Free Zone initiative.
The center will also distribute
“Know Your Rights” brochures
to business owners
to display on their windows
and in their stores. The posters
and brochures are translated
into English, Chinese,
Korean, Bangla and Spanish.
Many small business
owners who may have experienced
hate or have witnessed
a verbal or physical
assault, will learn how to
provide safety and report
an incident, said Jennifer
Sun, co-executive director of
Asian Americans for Equality
(AAFE).
“It starts with each of us
in the community, building
these relationships and
breaking the isolation,” Sun
said.
John Choe, executive director
of the Greater Flushing
Chamber of Commerce, said
the message is clear: Hate has
no place in Flushing.
“We stand for Black Lives
Matter, our Latino neighbors
are important and Asian
American hate is something
we all must oppose,” Choe
said. “In 1657, the people of
Flushing rose up against the
authoritarian rule of Peter
Stuyvesant, who told them
to persecute Quakers and
other religious minorities. It
was the people here in Flushing
who said, no we have our
rights, and we will protect
our brothers and sisters regardless
of whether they’re
Muslim, Jewish or Christians
— welcome them with
love and open arms.”
Hailie Kim, a Sunnyside
resident and housing organizer
for the MinKwon Center,
said she hopes that other
communities will use Flushing’s
new Hate Free Zone as a
model for their own, after recalling
an incident that took
place several weeks ago while
she was heading to work.
“A man was screaming
about the shape of East
Asian people’s eyes and this
was around the time when
we couldn’t go a day without
another member of our AAPI
community being attacked,”
Kim said. “I was hoping he
would outpace me.”
Read more on QNS.com.
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718) 260–
4526.
Vol. 88 No. 6 32 total pages
/QNS.com
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