Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
Protest against discrimination
Conshohocken event draws attention to acts against AAPI
CONSHOHOCKEN >> For Conshohocken resident Julia Park, organizing last weekend’s Vigil for Victims of Anti-Asian Hate Crimes was something she needed to do.
“I’ve been harassed in probably every shape and form from when I was 5 years old until right now when I’m 37, going on 38,” Park said. “So all the stories that were expressed at the vigil, I think a lot of people in the crowd who are AAPI could sympathize, empathize, could share similar stories and sentiments. It’s unfortunately much more common than any of us are willing to admit and see.”
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, verbal and physical actions associated with instances of racism against the Asian American Pacific Islander community have been on the rise, and Park said she has encountered that firsthand.
“I personally have experienced being verbally accosted, getting glared at in stores; people keeping more than their social distance from me because they see my face; they see the shape of my eyes; they know I’m Asian,” Park said.
“It makes you feel so unsafe, and it makes you feel like you can’t go anywhere because our target is built in, and there’s no real way for us to hide it,” she went on to say.
According to findings from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, reported by NBC News, anti-Asian hate crimes “in 16 of America’s largest cities” including Philadelphia, “increased 149 percent in 2020 according to an analysis of official preliminary police data.”
The study also noted “the first spike occurring in March and April amidst a rise in COVID cases and negative stereotyping of Asians relating to the pandemic.”
Additionally, the Stop AAPI Hate National Report logged 3,795 incidents from its reporting center between March 19, 2020 to Feb. 28, 2021.
“The number of hate incidents reported to our center represent only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur, but it does show how vulnerable Asian Americans are to discrimination, and the types of discrimination they face,” the report states.
More than 100 area residents, legislators, as well as members of the Cheltenham and Norristown branches of the NAACP came together last Sunday, March 21, to stand against acts of discrimination against the Asian American Pacific Islander community.
“I wore a shirt on Sunday that said written in Korean on the front, ‘Black lives are precious,’ and on the back, it said ‘stop AAPI hate,’” Park said.
Co-hosted by the Colonial Area Anti Racism and Social Equity Alliance and Community for Change, the nearly hour-long event was a combination of a vigil, a protest and a rally, Park said of the demonstration at Sutcliffe Park, West 10th Avenue and Freedly Street in Conshohocken.
“My main motivation for wanting to do this was because I felt it was really important during this time to have our community, our local community, show real live, in-person, tangible support for our local AAPI community members, and for the AAPI individuals to be able to see with their own eyes ... that there are these people out there who are willing to show up for us, who are willing to stand with us, and say, ‘No this is wrong, and we’re here. If you need us we will be there for you,’” Park said.
Attendees made signs, and listened to speeches from high school students, elected officials and aspiring politicians.
“I thought that it was really important to have an array of speakers of different Asian ethnicities, different age groups, [and] younger representation,” Park said. “I think it is really important because they’re the ones who will be continuing this fight so I really wanted to have their voices in this as well.”
They also participated in a moment of silence for the six Asian women who were killed earlier this month in a shooting in Atlanta. The incident in Georgia left eight people dead, but authorities investigating the shootings have not cited any racial motive.
“People who are not Asian are really unaware that this is an issue, that it’s an ongoing issue, that it existed before the pandemic,” she said. “So it reaffirmed for me that there is truth to Asian American Pacific Islander invisibility — us being this sort of model minority that goes unnoticed, and we don’t speak up a whole lot. We don’t make a lot of noise, and so it allows that to continue unfortunately.”
PA Women Rise organizer Danielle Kwock Phillips also spoke during last week’s vigil.
“I think that with the AAPI community, myself being an Asian woman, there is often a sense of us not really mattering,” she said. “That we don’t have it that bad; that we don’t experience racism; that other groups have it worse, and we really shouldn’t say anything about racism that we experience, but I think the shootings in Atlanta, and increasing violence towards Asian Americans in the last year has really kind of changed that situation in that now a lot of Asian Americans are realizing that we need to be more visible, and start speaking up for our interests.”
Phillips said it’s a difficult road to navigate.
“Society has made it very clear that we are not accepted as white, but we’re also not Black, and so it’s a weird space to be in, because we’re constantly ‘othered,’ but then also told that it’s not that bad and so we just shouldn’t say anything,” she said.
“On one hand you’re happy because you’re like finally, I get to take up space, and I get to say, ‘Yes, I’m an Asian woman, and yes I’ve experienced this,’ but on the other hand, it’s like did it have to take the murder of six women for that to happen? That’s also upsetting,” Phillips told MediaNews Group.
In recent weeks, local leaders have made public comments decrying prejudice against AAPI area residents.
“I would just ask our Montgomery County citizens to reach out to our friends, our neighbors, they’re a crucial part of this community, and right now, they are frightened,” said Montgomery County Commissioners’ Vice Chairman Ken Lawrence Jr. during a March 4 board of commissioners meeting.
Lawrence referenced a letter circulating that was penned earlier this month by several area local leaders including Royersford Mayor Jenna Antoniewicz, as well as a coalition of school board candidates and municipal officials. He aligned with representatives who swiftly condemned the spike in discriminatory acts.
“There’s no place for it anywhere in America, but there’s no place for it here in Montgomery County,” Lawrence said.
Montgomery County Commissioners’ Chairwoman Valerie Arkoosh shared similar sentiments during a virtual COVID-19 town hall last month where concerns of racism were raised amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We saw some of these similar issues come up early in the pandemic when we first had the virus here, and I just again want to reiterate on behalf of myself, and my colleagues, that that is unacceptable to us here in Montgomery County, and we will always stand with the AAPI community, and absolutely abhor any attacks on the AAPI community,” Arkoosh said.
Park and Phillips said the discrimination is not new.
“I grew up in a middle class to upper class, predominantly white area when I was younger, and I was one of maybe a handful of Asian American Pacific Islander people in the entire town, and so I stood out like a sore thumb. I got picked on. I was bullied,” Park said.
“People have asked me if I was a sex worker,” Phil
lips said. “They’ve asked my husband if we met in the Orient even though I speak perfect English, and have an American accent, and have a degree in English, they’ve asked me that.”
“People assume that I’m not American, and they will approach me, and ask me if I speak English, ask me where I’m really from,” Phillips said. “If I say ‘California,’ they’ll say, ‘well where are your parents from?’ And I’ll say, ‘they’re also from California,’” Phillips said.
“It becomes very confusing for everybody, and there is just a refusal to see Asian people as American, even if we’re several generations in,” she continued.
Phillips added it’s been “really, really jarring” having suddenly become “a hashtag.”
“The world went from saying you don’t count, you’re not minorities, you’re not oppressed, to saying we stand with you and look at all the hate the Asians have experienced,” Phillips said. “For many of us, it feels like the first time anyone has acknowledged that we even exist.”
Park agreed. “Feeling invisible for so long, and then suddenly being noticed, it’s almost like coming to life, and ... there is something positive to all the attention, but at the same time it’s really difficult and upsetting that it had to come to this in order for it to be a realization that more people have,” Park said.
Park and Phillips emphasized that it’s crucial to forge ahead.
“It’s really physically, mentally, emotionally exhausting, but it’s important that we all stay diligent and aware, continue to educate ourselves, learn about one another’s experiences, allow each other to express our thoughts and ask questions, and have real open honest dialogue, and I think that will help us get closer to a world where we’re less afraid of the things that seem different,” Park said. “This idea of ‘other’ maybe won’t be so prominent.”
“No one is saying that these issue with Asians are new, but there’s a new awareness that yes, we are included as people of color, and [we’re] ... just starting in some ways to recognize our identity as Asians, especially Asian women, and just say our identity deserves to be respected, and honored, and we’re not white, and we’re not Black, and we’re not Hispanic, we’re Asian,” Phillips said.