Hundreds rally in Manhattan to condemn
COVID-19 related anti-Asian hate crimes
BY DEAN MOSES
Leading New York elected
offi cials, members of the
Asian American Federation,
and a victim of a recent anti-
Asian, hate-fueled assault took
a stand with hundreds of New
Yorkers on Saturday, Feb. 27,
against bigotry in the Big Apple.
During the COVID-19 pandemic,
many Asian-American citizens and
businesses have been the victims
of hate crimes created by ignorant
individuals — from the defacement
of Chinese-owned storefronts to the
physical attacks of Asian individuals.
However, these vindictive attacks
have grown into a rapid
spate of violence in recent weeks,
everything from brutal assaults in
Flushing to stabbings in Lower
Manhattan.
The Feb. 27 gathering at Foley
Square, only blocks from Chinatown,
sought to pose a united front
among Asian New Yorkers, their
elected offi cials and the public
against hate. The participants —
Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer, Mayor Bill de Blasio
and Noel Quintana, an individual
who was a victim of a hate-fueled
attack — condemned the rash of
crimes and called for investment in
community-based solutions to put
a stop to the xenophobic attacks.
Waving signs reading “I am
not the virus” and “We deserve
to be safe,” spectators raised fi sts
and chanted for justice as state
Attorney General Letitia James
addressed the incidents, one occurring
mere blocks from Foley
Square a few days ago. She began
her remarks by yelling, “No hate,
no fear, Asians are here to stay!”
James exclaimed that hate will not
be tolerated in a country of immigrants,
sharing that statistics of these
hate crimes go undocumented due
to the fear of making a report. She
urged anyone who has been attacked
or faced any sort of racial bias to
come to her offi ce and fi le a report.
Other political speakers were
deeply disturbed and disappointed
by the barrage of hate-fueled
crimes plaguing the city.
Queens Congresswoman Grace
Noel Quintana is left with a gigantic scar across his face.
Meng shared that hate crimes and
openly discriminatory behavior
has been exacerbated against the
Asian/Pacifi c American (APA)
throughout the former presidency.
“The APA community has been
fi ghting two viruses over the last
year. One being the pandemic
that people all of the world are
fi ghting, but one even before the
pandemic hit us here in New York.
The pandemic and the virus of
discrimination and bigotry,” Meng
said, referring to the many Asian
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
businesses who suffered even before
the pandemic hit New York City.
She pointedly stated that the
Trump administration fostered
bigotry, and that she would not
stop fi ghting against hate.
“We are here to say that we
will be invisible no more! We will
speak up,” Meng said tearfully,
adding, “We are American too!”
Quintana recounted his experience
from three weeks prior when
he was simply riding the L train
from Brooklyn to Manhattan on
his way to work. It was 8 a.m. that
morning, the usual morning rush
hour on a weekday and even during
a pandemic the train was jampacked
with stragglers. Quintana
quietly stood inside of the train,
pressed against the door with his
bag on the fl oor.
A man entered the train at
Bedford Avenue, and stood beside
him. After a short time the man
kicked Quintana’s bag repeatedly.
“He moved toward me and
slashed my face. I thought I was
punched on the face, but when I
saw the box cutter holding on his
hand, and the reaction of other
people on the train I knew I was
slashed,” Quintana said, bravely
looking out into the crowd. “I
called for help, but nobody came
for help. There were a lot of New
Yorkers there and I never knew
that nobody would help me in
this kind of instance. I hope that
there should be an awareness of
ordinary people especially riding
the subway of how to respond
and how to help a victim like me,”
Quintana said.
Chinatown BID/Partnership leader speaks out
after witnessing violent neighborhood stabbing
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
The leader of the Chinatown
BID/Partnership is well
aware of how the Chinatown
community needs to have
its guard up following a recent
stabbing in the neighborhood —
and how important it is to fi nd a
way to heal.
According to the NYPD, at
6:20 p.m. on Feb. 25, 23-yearold
Salman Mufl ihi approached
a 36-year-old man walking on
the sidewalk at the intersection of
Worth Street and Baxter Street.
Mufl ihi allegedly approached the
victim from behind and plunged
an 8-inch kitchen knife into the
victim’s back before fl eeing the
scene.
The victim was taken to Bellevue
Hospital, where he still
remains in critical condition.
Mufl ihi was taken into custody
that same night after reportedly
turning himself in.
Wellington Chen (l) speaks out following recent anti-Asian
crimes in Chinatown.
Chinatown BID/Partnership
Executive Director Wellington
Chen was in the area that night,
walking around Chinatown and
the surrounding area to see
how restaurants were doing in
the neighborhood and taking
pictures. Chen ended up being a
witness to this crime, though at
the time Chen did not realize that
it had happened.
“Within minutes the victim
and I were side by side. I saw a
man come running up the block
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
— he was sprinting — and got
to the victim and sort of shoved
him. I thought they knew each
other, they were both relatively
young guys and this young man
dashed up to him like a human
cannonball and tapped him on
the back,” said Chen. “The victim
turned around and in that time,
the attacker was already across
the street and mid-block. The
whole thing happened so fast, I
made nothing of it.”
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task
Force was initially brought in to
investigate, however, the indictment
from the Manhattan District
Attorney did not have any hate
crime charges. Many New Yorkers,
community leaders and members
of the NYPD rallied around the
District Attorney’s offi ce calling
for the charges to be amended to
include hate crime charges.
“Who carries an 8-inch knife
around in their pocket? The law
in New York is not to carry more
than a 4-inch knife,” said Chen.
“The fact that you carried a knife
that large, it can only mean one
thing: it was premeditated.”
As a result of the uptick of
hate crimes, the Chinatown
BID/Partnership is working with
a crisis management expert who
told Chen and the team that this
is history repeating itself.
“I don’t believe this is a refl ection
of the police or security in
the city,” said Chen. “We’ve been
warned that this is unavoidable.
Unfortunately, after this type of
thing, we have to fi nd the devil.
And in this case, the Asian community
is the Bronx Zoo tiger.
They say we have to hit you, and
we don’t know why. Most of us
have never been to Wuhan, many
of us were born here. Every Filipino,
Singaporean, anyone with an
Asian face got dragged into this.”
In an effort to help New Yorkers
support the Chinatown community,
Chen and the Chinatown
BID/Partnership teamed up with
Schneps Media to host a words
of kindness campaign in an effort
to bring comfort and warmth to
the hearts of struggling businesses
and residents in Lower
Manhattan amidst the COVID-19
pandemic. Named Warm Hearts
NYC, the neighborhood is asking
for readers to submit a sentence
(or paragraph) of up to 25 words
of encouragement that they believe
would lighten the lives of
business owners during this dark
period in their lives.
“This is calling on our common
humanity, putting a message out
will save a life,” said Chen.
Schneps Media March 4, 2021 3