04/17/2021

Stop Anti-Asian Hate Rally

In the afternoon of April 17, 2021, the Austin chapter of Asian Pacific Is-lander Public Affairs and grassroots groups from Austin and San Antonio jointly held a Stop Asian Hate Rally and Vigil at Huston Tillotson Universi-ty in Austin, TX. Nearly 1000 participants came, including those from var-ious ethnic groups such as Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian and Americans.

The organizers specially arranged a vigil service, and invited Austin reli-gious group leaders to participate. Elaine Hsu, president of BLIA Austin, attended as a representative of Buddhist groups. The event’s special guests included Huston Tillotson University President, Austin Mayor Ste-ve Adler, Texas House of Representatives Vikki Goodwin, Austin City Council Member Gregorio Casar and representatives from other organi-zations. The speakers praised the contribution of Asian Americans to the United States, unanimously condemned the violent attacks, and ex-pressed concern about anti-Asian incidents. Mayor Adler encouraged Austinites to stand up and support the Austin Asian community against Anti-Asian violence. Then, representatives of ethnic groups made speeches to express their personal experiences of discrimination in school or work place, and called on everyone unite against hate of all forms. A vigil service led by leaders of Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam wrapped up the rally.