Members of more than a dozen organizations and churches stood unified Friday in support of Asian Americans in Bartholomew County.
With many holding candles to honor those who have been victimized during the pandemic, about 230 people attended the rally in front of Columbus City Hall. Most came to assure those of Asian descent that they are seen, heard and supported in this community, Pastor Felipe Martinez of First Presbyterian Church said.
Asian Americans are among the fastest-growing demographic in the Columbus area, representing about 8.5 percent of the total population.
Similar events have or will be held across the country in the wake of the murder of six people with Asian ancestry in Atlanta last week. While investigators have not identified race as a motivating factor, the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Columbus, Nic Cable, told the crowd that the shootings show “we must target white supremacy culture and toxic masculinity within ourselves as white people, within our institutions, and with society as large.”
Columbus City Council president Elaine Hilber, who is of Chinese descent, said she cannot believe it has been a year of increased hate crimes and falsely blaming of Asian-Americans for COVID-19. She admits she fears for the safety of family members both in the U.S. and abroad.
Hilber says she advocates helping Asian-Americans set aside social media and make more allies through face-to-face conversations. The council president warned that calling out someone for racism may do nothing more than prompt them to shut down all communication.
“Biases are not always based on intent, and, in fact, most people who say or do racist things aren’t meaning to be racist,” Hilber said. “We need to build those relationships back up and support those who don’t feel heard, so we can all begin to understand each other again.”
A recent check with local law enforcement and human rights advocates have not turned up any known incidents of local Asian Americans dealing with threats or hate-oriented incidents in Columbus. But members of the Cummins East Asian Employee Resource Group say they have experienced an increase in derogatory comments, racial slurs and menacing looks.
One of the rally’s speakers, Cummins Inc. Executive Director of Human Resources Linda Shi, issued a joint statement to employees earlier this week with Cummins CEO and Chairman Tom Linebarger. Both expressed concern that if threats and intimidation continue, Asian Americans won’t want to come to Bartholomew County to live and work. That will cause harm to the community’s largest employer by undermining efforts to recruit the best talent, Linebarger said.
In his address, Columbus Police Chief Mike Richardson said the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to change the way we live our lives.
“But one thing that has not changed is the importance of kindness and respect for others,” Richardson said. “We must speak with one unified voice that evil and hate is not welcome in Columbus.”
The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that anti-Asian American hate crimes reported to police rose 149% between 2019 and 2020. But center director Brian Levin says the actual rise is likely larger because these types of crimes tend to be under-reported by Asian-Americans.
In their statement, Linebarger and Shi emphasized that Asians or Asian-Americans in our community had nothing to do with the global spread of the virus.
The final speaker at the rally, Fan Zhang of the Community Church of Columbus, turned to pop culture by using “Star Wars” to make his point. When his son asked him why Darth Vader turned to the Dark Side, Zhang replied it was fear and hate, he said. The Cummins employee then quoted Biblical scripture to explain how harmful those two negative qualities are to ourselves and our society.
