Eight bouquets — one in honor of each life lost in Atlanta Tuesday evening — line the steps of a stage in Bicentennial Park. About 200 people gathered Saturday morning to rally against the increase in violence against Asians and Asian Americans. Credit: Owen Milnes | Campus Producer
Jessica Langer, Mary Kidwell, Owen Milnes, Bella Czajkowski and Max Garrison contributed reporting.
Eight bouquets — one in honor of each life lost in Atlanta Tuesday evening — lined the steps of a stage in Bicentennial Park as Ohio State students joined a crowd of about 200 Saturday morning to rally against the increase in violence against Asians and Asian Americans.
Robert Long is being charged with shooting and killing eight people Tuesday evening — Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan and Daoyou Feng — at three Asian spas in the Atlanta area; six of the victims were Asian women. One additional person was also shot and wounded.
The attacks came amid a year-long spike in prejudice and violence against Asians and Asian Americans. Stop AAPI Hate, a reporting center founded in March 2020 to track hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, received 3,795 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents between March 19, 2020, and Feb. 28, 2021.
Howard Fei, a third-year in world politics and economics who attended the rally, said he has experienced anti-Asian racism in the campus area. He said he was walking along North High Street near Lane Avenue when someone rolled down their window and yelled racial slurs at him.
“I find that really disturbing. I don’t think that should be happening in America,” he said.
Capt. Jay Baker, a Cherokee County, Georgia, sheriff’s deputy and the department’s spokesperson, said at a Wednesday press conference the suspect was having “a really bad day,” which was met with criticism. Baker is no longer a spokesperson for the case after that statement and several of his anti-Asian Facebook posts from 2020 surfaced.
Fei said he finds Baker’s language unacceptable and attended the rally to show solidarity with the victims and advocate for better treatment of Asian Americans.
Wesley Nguyen, a second-year in computer science and engineering, said his mom owns a nail salon similar to the ones at which the shootings took place, and he worries for her safety. He said he also fears his grandfather could be subject to a hate crime.
“I’m very fearful that one day, he will be one of these victims that I see on the news,” he said.
Nguyen said he feels increasingly unsafe with the continued racial rhetoric around COVID-19, especially when people use terms such as the ‘China virus.’
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther addressed the crowd, acknowledging that “harassment, intimidation, discrimination” also occurs in Columbus and declaring it unacceptable.
“The city, with all of our resources, commitment and people, stand with you,” Ginther said. “Our neighbors are suffering, they’re scared, they’re intimidated. We need to stand up and speak up and stand with them during this time.”
Isabella Guinigundo, a first-year in women’s, gender and sexuality studies, speaks at the rally. Credit: Owen Milnes | Campus Producer
Isabella Guinigundo, a first-year in women’s, gender and sexuality studies and a member of Ohio Progressive Asian Women’s Leadership, also spoke at the event. She said she wanted to bring people together with her speech.
“What we need to go forward is solidarity,” Guinigundo said. “And I’m not talking about some sort of a statement against hate crimes. I’m talking about real, substantial, tangible solidarity.”
Guinigundo said when she was younger, she did not think much of her race making her stand out from others, until she began recognizing other people’s racist and harmful attitudes toward her.
“Growing up, I really, really thought that Asians were white until I began to notice some small things,” Guinigundo said. “I began to notice that people would make fun of the way my eyes were shaped, people would turn their nose up at the food I brought to school.”
Guinigundo concluded her speech by asking the audience to join in a chant.
“It’s our duty to fight for our freedom, and our duty to win. We must love and support each other, we have nothing to lose but our chains,” Guinigundo said.
