BY LUIS MONGE
On Friday, March 10, a rally was held at Corona Plaza for the Lai family, who were victims of a recent hate crime assault.
According to an ABC report, Cecille Lai and her son Kyle were verbally and physically attacked by three people in Queens.
Lai said she wanted this rally to happen to speak out against hate crimes and street violence. Congresswoman Grace Meng, who represents New York’s sixth congressional district and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, shared their thoughts about the assault.
“Too many times we’ve had to come together in this borough under the same circumstances. Unfortunate circumstances where there are those who for some reason don’t understand tolerance, don’t understand that it’s okay for people to be of a different skin color or to love who they love or to worship who they wanna worship. The methods we continuously send to these perpetrators is that this county will always stand together in the face of hate,” said Richards.
Meng went on to share how she feels about racism and what people of color have been facing in the country.
“We’ve had to hear the racism and the bigotry hurled over and over again at our community. We have been held to different standards, we have been accused of not being American enough and always questioning where our loyalty lies,” said Meng. “We are here today in solidarity with Miss Lai and her family, with our AAPI community and with so many of our allies who have consistently come out and stood with us and side by side as we stand together in unison, to stand against any hate, against bigotry and violence. We will not tolerate that in this country.”
Lai, who arrived late to the rally due to an eye doctor appointment to address the injuries she sustained from the assault, went on to share her thoughts with the community.
“I’m just confused, I don’t understand why we have hate for each other. I tried to process it in my mind and my heart why this is happening. I want to put this out for our local government. I know they are probably doing enough to avoid this type of crime happening in New York City but I would say it’s probably not enough. We have to raise awareness,” said Lai.
Chung Yu, resident of Corona, Queens, went to the rally to support the cause, sharing how this incident hit home for him, too.
“This is my home. I live on Junction Boulevard where this all happened. I walk on that street all the time and my wife and my kid could have been them. You know it’s a melting pot. There are so many different people that live in this community and to see that kind of hate it’s too close to home,” Yu said.