Nassau County, Long Island, New York (Nassau County) County Legislator candidate Yan Weihua held a rally in Long Island on October 6 to protest that one of his youth volunteers was pushed, punched and attacked with racial slurs while distributing leaflets. He called for Nassau County to establish a racial discrimination crime task force to provide resources and education to the police department and the community. Local officials and community leaders on Long Island attended the rally and said "hate has no place."
As Mr. Ngan described it, a 14-year-old volunteer from his campaign and another adult volunteer were handing out leaflets in the district recently when the teen volunteer was rudely pushed by a homeowner who knocked on the door, then shouted, chased and attacked the victim in the face. Yan Weihua stressed that during the whole process, the volunteers did not have any arrogated or excessive words and behaviors, which can be seen in the video taken after the incident, "the attacker knew that he was being photographed, but was very arrogant and loudly said to the camera, 'I will attack you! (I assaulted you!) 'and shouted racial slurs."
Yan Weihua said that for fear of being hurt twice, the parents of the victims do not want to report the case and do not want to release their information for the time being. According to Yan, more than 80 percent of crimes go unrecorded because victims fear reprisals. Although the teenage victim did not suffer major physical injuries, psychological trauma was inevitable. Mr. Ngan said his wife faced similar discriminatory verbal attacks a few months ago while standing on the side of the road talking to a friend.
Christine Liu, a candidate for town council in North Hempstead (District 4) in Nassau County who attended the rally, said her district was already 53 percent Asian and that she had recently been targeted by her opponent on social media. The other side spread rumors for the purpose of intimidation. It is reported that the rumor spreading account has been closed.
Clifford Robin Temprosa, co-chair of the Queens Asian Caucus, said hatred of one community is hatred of all. "We have fought for our rights for decades, generations, centuries, from the era of Chinese exclusion to the era of legislation that prevented us from getting decent jobs. This prevents us from building intergenerational wealth and culture in this country. When any individual or organization takes extreme measures to prevent us from being represented in our communities. We will fight back hard."
Chen Yi, co-chair of the Queens Asian Caucus, said that in the Long Island area, it is not surprising that Yan and Liu, as pioneers of Chinese political participation, were subjected to such treatment and verbal attacks, and they participated in politics to promote the status of Chinese, and prove that Chinese elected can also work well with various ethnic groups to benefit all local residents. So we need to fight for their own rights and interests.
Ang Wang, a police officer who came to support the event, said, "This incident reminds everyone that discrimination and suppression against Asians has never stopped, and from the 'China virus' in previous years to the China Action Plan, Chinese scholars, scientists, police (myself) and community leaders have been wronged." Today is to tell you that no matter where Asian people come from, in the climate of hatred against Asian people, we must unite, resist and fight together, for our children and the future. Your ethnicity should not be your original sin."
