hankyoreh

A demonstrator holds a sign reading “#STOP ASIAN HATE” during a National Day of Action rally against Asian hate in Los Angeles’ Koreatown on Saturday. (Lee Cheol-ho)

In the aftermath of a series of shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 16, in which six women of Asian descent were killed, large-scale protests have been held in Los Angeles and other American cities calling for the elimination of hate crimes and racial discrimination against Asians.

A “National Day of Action” rally was held on the morning of Saturday in Koreatown, Los Angeles. The rally was organized by 40 Korean American organizations, Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, and California State Assemblyman Miguel Santiago. More than 2,000 Asian Americans and others came out for the rally.

Holding placards that said “Stop Asian Hate,” the protesters marched down Olympic Boulevard, a major thoroughfare in the city while handing out T-shirts bearing the same message.

Large numbers of Korean American children and teenagers were in attendance, but there was also a remarkable turnout by older adults, who have been the primary victims of recent hate crimes against Asians.

“After that awful incident in Atlanta, I figured I couldn’t remain silent any longer. I think that’s how we can make a better living environment for our descendants. Korean Americans have always paid their taxes, but we need to reflect on the fact that we haven’t spoken up as a community,” said Oh Eun-yeong, 73, one of the attendees of the rally.

California Rep. Judy Chu, who is of Chinese descent, said in a speech at the rally that Congress would do its best to stop hate crimes from being committed against Asians.

Joining in the show of solidarity in Koreatown that day were numerous demonstrators from other Asian backgrounds — including Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai — and others who were Black, Hispanic and white.

Joy, a white University of Southern California student in her twenties, tearfully shared, “I have a lot of friends who are Asian, including Korean friends, and it’s been so sad to see the recent hate crimes against Asians because it makes me think that my own friends and their family members could be victimized.”

“Racism is deeply rooted in American society, and I don’t see there being any easy resolution to it, but I think we need to be educated to create a society without racism, and minorities need to keep speaking out,” she said.

Felicia Rosenfield, a white woman in her sixties, said, “It feels like racist phenomena in American society have gone as far as they can go.”

“It’s everyone’s duty to make an effort so that these kinds of terrible things never happen again,” she said.

A white man in his sixties who declined to share his name said, “America is supposed to be a country for everyone. What happened in Atlanta should never happen.”

“I’m here because I thought I needed to do something,” he added.

Demonstrators hold a banner reading “stopASIANhate” as they march during a National Day of Action rally against Asian hate in Los Angeles’ Koreatown on Saturday. (Lee Cheol-ho)

In addition to Koreatown, National Day of Action demonstrations were also held in other parts of central Los Angeles, including West Hollywood and Santa Monica Boulevard.

In front of Los Angeles City Hall, over 1,000 people gathered for a demonstration held around the same time by the group Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. The participants, many of whom were ethnically Chinese, chanted phrases such as “No one can touch us when we join together.”

Patrick Hugh, a Black minister, said that “all minorities need to come together and everyone needs to fight to break down systems that are rooted in white supremacism.”

“We need to get rid of the mindset that any race or any person is superior to anyone else,” he added.

Over 1,000 demonstrators gather in front of Los Angeles City Hall on Saturday for a National Day of Action rally against Asian hate, held by the group Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. (Lee Cheol-ho)

A large-scale demonstration to protest anti-Asian hate crimes was also held in San Francisco. The same day, a ceremony to commemorate the victims in the Atlanta shootings and peace demonstration and march for Asian human rights was organized by the Kim Jin-duk and Jeong Gyeong-sik Foundation — an organization that has previously campaigned for the military sexual slavery and Dokdo issues — along with Bay Area Korean associations and the Comfort Women Justice Coalition (CWJC), a primarily Chinese American human rights group working to address the military sexual slavery issue.

Participants marched with signs including messages such as “Stop hate against Asians,” “Stop racism, stop sexism, stop the violence.”

By Lee Cheol-ho, Los Angeles correspondent

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]