Asian Americans killed in hate crimes are remembered

Sandy Phorng. Jung Sook. Malkhiat Singh. Tzieh-Tsai Lou. All of these people have been killed as a result of racially motivated attacks against Asian Americans. Last night, the four were among those remembered in a candlelight vigil at Penn as part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Week. More than 80 students attended the event. Candles lined Locust Walk around the peace sign in remembrance of those who died. Each candle was held in a bag which bore the name of an Asian American and the way in which the person died. "The candles are here to stand as a testimony," said College junior Edward Han, who coordinated the vigil. "We are here to remind ourselves not to forget them." The event's purpose was more than just remembrance, though. It was to recognize the fact that something needs to be done about this situation, according to organizers. "We must acknowledge that it is here, and it is real," said College sophomore Hoa Duong, vice chairperson for community affairs of the Asian Pacific Student Coalition. "We need to educate our peers and to educate ourselves." As part of the vigil, Duong related an experience of how she had been verbally attacked as a child by others due to her Asian decent. Duong went on to say that taking action is not always easy, as she remembers from her childhood. "It's OK to be angry and to be frustrated, but not to let it paralyze you," she said. Debbie Wei, a curriculum specialist for Asian Pacific American Studies for the School District of Philadelphia, spoke next. She began by defining a hate crime as anything that was "psychological, emotional or physical, and usually painful." She then told stories of Asian Americans that had been mistreated, beaten and killed due to anti-Asian sentiment, even in Philadelphia, although she said that many might deny the fact that hate crimes occur in Philadelphia. "We hear a city telling us that there is no racism, in this, the city of brotherly love," she said. Wei's voice was filled with emotion as she read stories of Philadelphia public-school students and others who had experienced hate first-hand. "I'm getting tired these days? I am getting old," she said. "Sometimes it just gets too hard to speak through the pain." The event ended with Han reading the names of several Asian Americans who had been killed in hate crimes. Like Wei's stories, each of them was more painful to hear than the last. "You see the bags [around the candles], and you think that they're pretty, but they're more than that," he said. "Remember these people not for how they died but for who they were." The candles will be up for a few more nights, event coordinators said. They hope Penn students take a few minutes to read some of the bags as they walk by. The candlelight vigil is part of the ongoing, 6th Annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Week, which is sponsored by the Asian Pacific Student Coalition. Other events include a keynote address tonight at the Newman Center. The address will actually be a performance by the Los Angeles-based group Here and Now. Other highlights include the 1998 Minority Bone Marrow Drive today and tomorrow at The Veranda at 3615 Locust Walk, the former Phi Sigma Kappa house. Tomorrow's highlights also include an annual fashion show at the Christian Association building. Heritage Week will end on Saturday with a charity gala at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel.

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