‘We’re done with being invisible’
Asian-Americans lead march in Bensonhurst after 89-year-old woman set on fi re
BY ROSE ADAMS
Hundreds of New Yorkers
took the to the streets of Bensonhurst
on Saturday to show
their support for an 89-yearold
Asian woman who was attacked
by a stranger — and to
condemn the police’s decision
not to classify the incident as a
hate crime.
“I said to myself, ‘This is
too close to home, and enough
is enough, and I have to do
something about this,'” said
China Mac, a Brooklyn-born
rapper who helped organize
the march. “We have to go into
Brooklyn and take a stance and
make people uncomfortable.”
The 89-year-old victim was
approached by two unknown
men on 77th Street and 16th
Avenue shortly after she left
her Bensonhurst home on the
evening of July 14, authorities
said. One assailant slapped her
in the face, and moments later,
her shirt was lit on fi re by a
match or a lighter, police said.
The victim raised her
hair and rubbed her back on
a nearby wall to put out the
fl ames, she told ABC7, preventing
COURIER L 12 IFE, AUGUST 7-13, 2020
her from suffering serious
injuries.
Police have made no arrests
and an investigation is ongoing,
a police rep said. The incident
had not been deemed a
hate crime as of Aug. 4.
The attack — and the
NYPD’s decision not to investigate
it as a hate crime
— sparked outrage throughout
the Asian-American community,
said actor William
Lex Ham, who organized the
march with China Mac.
“Police said it wasn’t a
hate crime because there were
no racial slurs that were said,”
Ham said. “The woman doesn’t
even speak English, so how
could she know? This was an
unprovoked attack.”
Ham, China Mac, and
their mutual friend organized
the Aug. 1 protest, called the
#TheyCantBurnUsAll March..
The demonstration, which
drew supporters from as far
as Philadelphia, began at Seth
Low Playground at 1 pm. Speakers
including China Mac, MC
Jin, and Borough President
Eric Adams blasted the attack
on the elderly woman, and reaffi
rmed their support for Bensonhurst’s
Asian community.
“We are not here to march
against white people, Black
people, Italian people, Spanish
people,” said China Mac at the
rally. “We are here to march
against racism. This is not a
race war.”
Following the remarks,
more than 500 rally-goers
marched to the 62nd Precinct
on Bath Avenue by Bay 22nd
Street.
One protester said that he
was happy to see a diverse
group come together to speak
out against the police’s decision
to not classify the assault
a hate crime.
“If that wasn’t a hate crime,
I don’t know what is,” said 15-
year-old Jonathan Rampagoa.
Ham, a Queens native, said
that the march aimed to uproot
the stereotype that Asians are
quiet and non-confrontational.
“We’re often silenced and
when we express our grievances,
and when we express
our pain, the outside perception
is, ‘Why don’t you speak
up?'” he said. “We’re done with
being invisible in our own
country.”
China Mac, born Raymond
Yu, added that his 11-year
prison sentence following his
involvement in a gang shooting
taught him to fi ght for himself
and other Asians.
“Culturally, we’ve been
taught to not fi ght, to avoid
problems and when things
happen,” he said. “That probably
worked before, but it isn’t
working now.”
Protesters marched through Bensonhurst on Aug. 1 for the #TheyCant-
BurnUsAll march against a possibly racially-motivated attack on an 89-
year-old Asian woman on July 14. Cameron Blumberg
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