Jack Liang Li, Period 7, 10/16/2023

Jack Liang Li 

Period 7 10/16/2023 

    Racial violence is an issue that many have fought against, protested about, and continued to advocate for change: it affects not just individuals but, entire communities. Ever since the death of George Floyd on May 25th 2020, there’s been a huge increase in protests of racial violence from many communities that was shocked and angered from the cruel actions of the police that took the life of George Floyd. 

    At first it was a protest about the racial violence/police brutality shown against African Americans, many of which were confronted by the police, detaining protesters and firing rubber bullets into the crowd according to the news coverage of June 1st on NBCNews.com. However, the rise of racial violence against Asians and Asian Americans began to increase by a shocking 339% compared to the year 2020 according to a report by Kimmy Yam on NBC news. Based on the statement given by John C Yang , president and executive director of the nonprofit Civil rights group Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the concern towards these acts of racial violence peaked after the shooting at Atlanta area spas where 8 casualties occurred, with 6 being Asian Women. 

    However, even with protests against these racial acts of violence, they don’t seem to decrease with many continuing to take place. For instance, just two months ago, an Asian family was assaulted by three females on the subway; based on the report given by Joanna Lin, the person filming the incident, not only did the culprits made anti ethnic remarks, but also one of the culprits had grabbed the hair of the 51 year old mother and also repeatedly punched her and Joanna Lin. It was heart wrenching to see the elderly with their young child being assaulted because of their race, not to mention that this was only one of the many infuriating incidents that have happened. 

    Another incident that happened recently on September 30th 2023, was when Ting Duo Lei, a 52 year old father who defended his son (Brian ) from a 24 year old Hassan Saab, was arrested. Based on the report of Brian, Saab had assaulted Brian after a disagreement with a classmate that led to violence. Yet, Saab was not done and came back two days later to Brian’s house, armed with a baseball bat and shouting anti-Asian slurs, to find Brian when he was spotted by Ting Duo who armed himself with a broom and shovel to defend his son. During the encounter, Ting Duo suffered a gash on the head that required 6 staples along with other injuries while Saab claimed that Ting Duo bruised his right arm by hitting it with a shovel. Although Saab was arrested and charged with assault, weapon possession, and harassment charges, Ting Duo was also charged with assault. Seeing a brave father carrying out his responsibility to protect his family charged with assault was infuriating, many parents arrived at the school board meeting to rally for justice, for the maximum charge for Saab and the case against Ting Duo to be dropped. 

    Although there may be many cruel people that commit acts of racial violence, I’m glad that entire communities are more than willing to extend a helping hand to the victims to show their support and compassion. There may not be total prevention, but with our efforts as a community, a society, we can prevent it from happening so often. 

“June 1 Coverage of Nationwide Unrest and Ongoing Protests.” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group, 2 June 2020, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/blog/2020-06-01-nationwide-protests-over-george-floyd-deat h-live-n1220761 

Yam, Kimmy. “Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Increased 339 Percent Nationwide Last Year, Report Says.” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group, 14 Feb. 2022, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased-339-percent-nationwi de-last-year-repo-rcna14282. 

Bardolf, Deirdre. “Hundreds of Outraged NYC Parents Protest after Video Shows Man Beat Boy, 13.” New York Post, New York Post, 14 Oct. 2023, https://nypost.com/2023/10/14/hundreds-of-nyc-parents-protest-after-video-shows-man-beat-bo y-13/ 

Wang, Lindsay. “Father Arrested for Defending 13-Year-Old-Son from Adult Assailant.” AsAmNews, 15 Oct. 2023, https://asamnews.com/2023/10/15/brooklyn-father-charged-assault-protect-teenage-son-adult-a ttacker/ https://youtu.be/nSYPC3-6-l0?si=M4fcFNqm8tCp4JXo (Warning: some uncensored language in the video)