Asian-Americans join in support of protests after George Floyd’s death
- “It’s very important that when we say ‘we keep us safe’, the ‘we’ that we’re talking about are other people of colour,” says a protester in New York
- Several Asian-American organisations call for unity and solidarity in the face of violence
Asian-American communities in the United States have joined in support of the widespread protests after a black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota died in police custody last week.
George Floyd, 46, died on May 25 after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. The officer was fired and later arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
“I’m here today because we keep us safe, and as an Asian-American woman I feel like it’s very important that when we say ‘we keep us safe’, the ‘we’ that we’re talking about are other people of colour,” said Sabrina Wang, an Asian-American protesting in New York’s Times Square on Monday.
A fellow protester, Ana, an overseas Chinese who only gave her first name, said: “It’s extremely crucial [to stand with the black community]. If you educate yourself and study history, you can see how white people have tried to align Asian-Americans with whiteness in ways to divide people of colour and put Asians against blacks, which is obviously incorrect.”
Several Asian-American organisations have issued supportive statements in recent days.