San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
RALLY, VIGIL SUPPORT ASIAN COMMUNITY
Diverse crowds join to protest, mourn year of violence
Diverse groups gathered in solidarity in San Diego and throughout the nation Saturday to protest and grieve the recent slayings of six Asian women in Georgia and a year filled with racially motivated attacks against the Asian and Pacific Islander community.
The day started with a solidarity vigil at the Weingart Library in City Heights and a Stop Asian Hate rally at Waterfront Park on San Diego Bay. That location drew a second event — a candlelight prayer vigil — in front of the county administration building later that night.
Social media notices drew groups of people that have never met in person before, extending the still relatively new phenomenon of Internet-ignited indignation spilling into the real world, drawing people together to collectively say “this shall not stand.”
Though not of Asian heritage, Amanda Rader of San Diego said she saw Saturday morning’s rally promoted on the Facebook page of the Racial Justice Coalition of San Diego, which she follows, and felt compelled to attend even though she had never met the event’s organizers.
The Internet, she said, has simply changed the equation, making it easier to join up with a plan as it’s forming.
“Injustice for any of us is injustice for all of us,” Rader said, “and we have to come out in full force and say, ‘No, this is not OK.’”
Hate-motivated incidents against those of Asian and Pacific Islander descent have spiked over the past year with some 3,800 incidents reported to the nonprofit Stop AAPI Hate. Many of the attacks are related to bigoted notions linking Asians to the spread of coronavirus.
The rally was the creation of a local couple, Alice and Toni, both members of San
Diego’s Asian community, who said they simply could not be still any longer after Tuesday’s massage business murders. While the man arrested in the case told investigators that the slayings were motivated by a “sex addiction,” many Asian Americans suspect race played a factor one way or another.
So Alice, a psychologist, and Toni, a nurse — both declined to provide their last names — put on their combat boots and set up a table under the banner “Stop Asian Hate” on the broad lawn that faces Harbor Drive.
The idea, she said, was to rally anyone and everyone who cared, regardless of their pigmentation.
“It’s about all of us needing to stand together and make a difference together,” Alice said. “No small minority population will make the change on their own.”
Toni said the last straw came in her personal life.
During a recent run near her home, she said, a male runner shoved her to the ground while pushing past. Though she said she couldn’t be sure if the incident was racially motivated, it elicited a surprising response. She apologized.
She wanted to — knew she should have — but somehow she just didn’t let that guy have it.
“In that moment of needing to use my voice, I couldn’t, and it just killed me,” she said. “I was just so shocked that I wasn’t stronger, and I want to help other people practice using their voices so that, when the time comes, they’re ready to defend themselves or stand up for their grandparents or just anybody they see being mistreated.”
Subsequently hearing from some in her community that this was a time to stay home because “people are attacking us” was pure kerosene on her fire, she said. Now, she said, just didn’t feel like a time for holding back out of a fear of personal harm.
Nearly 100 agreed, showing up to march and chant “this is what community looks like” through downtown streets, turning plenty of heads and drawing a few honks of encouragement from passing vehicles. Police said the event was peaceful and did not draw any counter protests.
Later in the evening, at a vigil organized by the Alliance of Chinese Americans, San Diego, more than 100 mourners gathered back on the lawn, pausing in remembrance at a memorial that included photos of the Georgia victims and LED candles arranged in heart shapes.