A rally was held Tuesday in New York to honor the memory of Michelle Go, a woman killed after being pushed under a train. If the police have not yet confirmed the possibly racist nature of this attack, many associations denounce the increase in anti-Asian acts since the start of the pandemic.
They were hundreds Tuesday evening in Times Square, parading to honor the memory of Michelle Go and to denounce anti-Asian racism. This 40-year-old American woman was killed on Saturday. She was on the subway when she was pushed under a train by a homeless man. “She loved New York. We were talking about it during the pandemic, about the fact that we would not have liked to be anywhere else”, commented a friend and colleague, quoted by the “New York Post”. Michelle graduated with an MBA from the prestigious Stern School of Business at New York University and worked in strategy, operations, and mergers and acquisitions. “She was a glass ceiling breaker. No challenge was too big or daunting for her. She always wanted to work on the most important and difficult things,” added another friend. All, in shock, denounce the gratuitous crime of which Michelle Go was the victim. “She didn’t even see her assailant. She was up, waiting for the train, like everyone does every day. It could have happened to me or any of my friends”, commented a participant in the demonstration. If the police have not confirmed the racist nature of this crime, many associations denounce the increase in anti-Asian acts in the United States since the start of the pandemic.
Tuesday’s rally was organized by the group Asians Fighting Injustice, whose founder, Ben Wei, is demanding that city hall set up an Asian-American task force to address ongoing concerns about anti-Asian violence. . In early September, the FBI revealed new data showing that hate crimes against this community had jumped 70% in the country in 2020 compared to 2019. This increase coincides with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, which first exploded in China before affecting the whole world. At the time, Donald Trump had begun to call the disease a “Chinese virus”, blaming the Asian community and pushing this hatred on social networks in particular, according to a study by the University of California at San Francisco. .
In addition to the hate crime issue, Ben Wei also wants the city to address the mental health crisis. The suspect, Martial Simon, is indeed a 61-year-old sans-Avril suffering from schizophrenia and having made numerous stays in psychiatric hospitals. New York Mayor Eric Adams was present at the vigil in Times Square, despite the controversy sparked by his remarks after the tragedy. He explained that the subway was not a dangerous place and that it was just “the perception of fear”. Tuesday evening, this time he promised to ensure that it does not happen again in the city.
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