BOSTON (WHDH) - Hundreds of people demonstrated along the Boston Marathon route Saturday to protest violence and hate against Asian-Americans, with organizers saying their work was just beginning.
“This is not a once and done event, this is going to be a marathon,” said Hua Wang, co-chair of the New England Chinese American Alliance. “This is a crisis moment for Asian Americans. But out of a crisis, comes an opportunity.”
The NECAA and three dozen other groups stood in solidarity from Hopkinton to Boston, expressing anger about escalating hate crimes against Asian-Americans, including a mass shooting in Atlanta where six of the eight people killed were of Asian descent.
The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University found anti-Asian hate crimes spiked 145 percent in 2020 and more than 3,800 incidents have been recorded over the course of the pandemic by AAPI Hate, a group that tracks discrimination and xenophobia against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders.
“I know that people are kind of suffering for a long time. Asian people are scared on the streets,” said rally organizer Ying Wang. “This is a great opportunity for us to stand up and let people know this is not OK.”
“This is our moment, and we’re not going to be silent anymore. We’re not going to be invisible,” Wang said.
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