Yang joins fellow Asian hopefuls vs. bias attacks

In a move that clearly framed him as the city’s leading Asian-American politician, mayoral contender Andrew Yang joined more than a dozen other Asian candidates Monday to once again speak out against the recent bias attacks that have shocked the city.

Yang and 13 Asian-American City Council candidates decried anti-Asian violence at the Canal St. subway station and rode the N train together to Times Square to urge New Yorkers to step up if they see someone being harassed or attacked. “We all need to take care of each other,” Yang said. “If you are on the street or on the subway and you see something amiss, take it upon yourself to act.”

But Yang was not in agreement with all of his fellow candidates during their train jaunt Monday.

Yang noted “the police are an important part of the solution,” but Julie Won, a candidate for the Queens Council seat now occupied by Jimmy Van Bramer, said the solution is “not going to be more policing.”

In addition to Won, Yang was joined by Council candidates Gigi Li, Jeffrey Omura, Richard Lee and Sandra Ung, among others.

Yang said of the candidates that he hopes “we have the chance to work together in City Hall,” but he did not endorse anyone Monday. Three of the candidates who appeared at the Monday event — Won, Badrun Khan and Hailie Kim — are vying for the same Queens Council seat.

Yang endorsed Li, who’s running for Manhattan Councilwoman Margaret Chin’s seat, weeks ago.

“Certainly, in my household, we didn’t talk about politics very much. And politics was not considered a destination,” he said Monday. “I just want to applaud all the candidates who are here running for the right reasons.”