Hundreds Stand Out Against Anti-Asian Hate In Brookline

BROOKLINE, MA— Around 300 people showed up Friday evening in front of Brookline High School to stand in solidarity with Asian Americans and to honor the eight people, including six Asian women, killed in a mass shooting in Atlanta.

The school's Asian Pacific American Club organized the rally and candlelight vigil to put a spotlight on the rising anti-Asian violence and racism in the U.S. during the past year, marked by the March 16 mass shooting.

“For many of us, not only did these six Asian women look like us, but they also reminded us of our own mothers" said co-organizer Ashley Eng, a recent Brookline High School graduate. "And it breaks many of our hearts to think, 'What if it had been my own mom?'"

The vigil was one of a number that have sprung up across the country in the wake of the mass shooting. It comes, too, on the heels of a report released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism that reported while hate crime in major cities generally went down, hate reported against Asian-Americans went up. In Boston, for example: there were 170 reported hate crimes in 2019, in 2020 those actually went down to 146. However, the number of reports of hate crime incidents classified as anti-Asian jumped from just six to 14 reported incidents, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, CSUSB.

Organizers pointed out that everyone has a role in helping end such hate.

“To the allies that are present here with us, I offer you this: Learn to pronounce our names correctly," said Brooklie High School junior Yuki Hoshi, a co-organizer. "Learn to understand our cultures beyond what Western media portrays of us. Learn our history, both in this country and beyond. Learn to recognize when someone’s being racist, and learn to call them out on it.”

A group holding signs representing Greater Boston Asian American Seniors for Peace and Justice took to the mic to share what it was like to be Asian in America during the Vietnam War and face anti-Asian harassment and racism. What the U.S. is going through now was not far off from that, they said.

It's important to take a stand, they said.

And that was just what many who came to the vigil came to do.

"We wanted to stand up and share our voices," said Bo Jian, as she held a bouquet of yellow flowers she planned to leave on the steps of the high school.

Following the Atlanta shootings, some 250 Brookline leaders signed a statement denouncing hate, racism and expressing solidarity with the Asian American community.

And several boards, from the town's diversity and inclusion committee to Brookline Commission for Women, released statements of solidarity and condemnation of the anti-Asian xenophobia.

"We know that Brookline is not immune to this racism," wrote the Brookline Commission for Women.

The Select Board also released a statement acknowledging it needed to involve all peoples in its anti-racist discourse and policymaking, to ensure "that their perspectives are represented everywhere decisions are being made."

"An attack against one segment of our community must be seen as an attack against us all, and we all must mobilize to support and comfort the people who are most impacted and take appropriate steps to fight racist acts and injustices and support initiatives to create a safer and more inclusive Brookline," the statement read.

For some today's vigil was the first they'd been to honor lives lost to hate. Bernardine Chan, whose cousin was murdered about 20 years ago by a white supremacist, has been to many over the years.

As she stood listening to the names of those lost on March 16, three young children sitting by her feet, she said what compelled her to participate in this vigil was solidarity.

"Not only for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders but against racism," Chan said. "Racism is a public health issue. It is a humanity issue. And every chance we get to just state that we have to —especially for our children. It's not enough to say, in the quietness of the home 'oh, this shouldn't happen.' We have to go out as a community and speak."

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