Cleveland.com, March 27, 2021
Excerpt from the article:
“We really appreciate the recent resolutions, but resolutions are not going to stop people from being killed, or it’s not going to improve the quality of our lives,” Hui said. “Resolutions and statements are the bare minimum. It’s about recognizing us and humanizing us.”
Another task of the Asian-American community is to ask for non-police community led safety solutions. They are asking the Cleveland City Council to create and fund violence prevention, crisis intervention, and transformative justice programs that are both culturally and linguistically accessible, and focus on protecting the most vulnerable members of the Asian community.
Hui said organizers don’t want to use Sunday’s event to blame anyone, including former president Donald Trump who insinuated that Chinese and Asian people were responsible for the pandemic. He even gave racist nicknames to the virus calling it the “Chinese Virus” and “The Kung Flu.” Instead, they want to shed light on how overt and unconscious racism impacts their lives.
“As soon as I heard that this virus could be traced back to China, I was immediately afraid for my parents, for my sister, for my family, and for my Asian-American friends,” Hui said. “I knew immediately that it was going to be bad for us, and even without Donald Trump’s help, people were going to blame us for the virus.”