Mike Wolanin | The Republic United Way representative Joy King puts a call out for volunteers during the annual MLK Day Breakfast at The Commons in Columbus, Ind., Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022.
The event is in response to the stabbing of an 18-year-old Asian woman on a bus in Bloomington Jan. 11 because of her race, according to police and news reports.
The gathering has been organized by leaders of the Asian Pacific Islander Public Affairs of Indiana group. Both the president, Linda Shi, and Joy King, the vice president, are Columbus residents.
King said that the rally is “to bring allies of the AAPI community together as a show of support in light of the recent brutal attack” in which the Asian woman was repeatedly stabbed in the head.
Expected speakers at the event include Shi and King; Mayor Jim Lienhoop; city council member Elaine Hilber; Bishop Johnnie Edwards, president of the Columbus/Bartholomew County Area Branch of the NAACP; Lt. Matt Harris of the Columbus Police Department; and Pastor Felipe Martinez of the Not In Columbus group that fights any and all forms of bigotry and hate.
Organizers say the assembly will last about one hour. This marks the second rally on behalf of Asian Americans in recent years. The last one was held March 26, 2021, also at Columbus City Hall.
“We need to speak up and we need to speak out,” said King, who also spoke at that last meeting. “This act is certainly something we should not ignore.”
For more on this story, see Sunday’s Republic.
