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. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Activists rally against anti-Asian hate crimes
on steps of Queens Public Library in Flushing
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
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.
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.
TIMESLEDGER | Q 2 NS.COM | APRIL 2-APRIL 8, 2021
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.
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