LGBTQ+, Asian-American Groups Oppose Andrew Yang for NYC Mayor
The former presidential aspirant delivered pandering remarks to the Stonewall Democratic Club, members say. April 23 2021 4:40 PM EDT
Andrew Yang, the former presidential aspirant now running for mayor of New York City, has failed to win the endorsement of an LGBTQ+ group and aroused the opposition of fellow Asian-Americans.
Yang met Wednesday night with the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City to be interviewed as the club considered who to endorse for mayor, but he delivered remarks that members viewed as “pandering and tone deaf,”
He mentioned having gay staff members, expressed a desire to visit the lesbian bar Cubbyhole, and talked about restarting the city’s Pride March, “but failed to pay sufficient heed to more substantive issues they were actually concerned about, including homelessness and affordable housing,” according to the
Pepper spray, a noisemaker, and a kubotan
Amy Choi was assaulted and mugged at knifepoint in Manhattan’s West Village one morning six years ago. “I couldn’t leave the house for a few days,” she recalled in an essay for Shondaland. “I couldn’t walk alone for weeks.”
But Choi, who is 41 and lives in Brooklyn, said that attack and the trauma that followed did not spur her to buy any self-defense items. Rather, it was the recent string of crimes against women of Asian descent that made her feel more unsafe than ever, convincing her she needed to take steps to protect herself. She now carries around a kubotan, a pointy self-defense tool about the size of a pen, and a loud alarm button recommended by a self-defense instructor she worked with last month.
arrow NYPD officers patrol Chinatown following the deadly spa killing of 8 people mostly of Asian descent in Atlanta, Georgia John Nacion/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
The NYPD struggles to accurately identify, track and communicate data about anti-Asian hate crimes sowing confusion among victims and potentially hindering the department s response to the crisis, a Gothamist/WNYC investigation has found.
As COVID-19 cases rose last year, so too did reports of attacks against Asian American New Yorkers. But police did not consistently tag them as racially motivated, and the NYPD to this day provides conflicting figures about the crisis.
“F–king Chinese coronavirus,” a teenager shouted at a 59-year-old man before allegedly kicking him in the back on Madison Avenue in March 2020.
Woman Accused of Using Racial Slurs, Blaming COVID on Chinatown Salon Workers in New York
On 4/7/21 at 2:12 PM EDT
A woman in New York City has been arrested after she was accused of using racial slurs and blaming the coronavirus on salon workers in Chinatown.
Sharon Williams, 50, was arrested at a nail salon on Madison Street on Tuesday afternoon. Police said she used slurs and threatened physical violence on the people inside. She reportedly told them, You brought the corona to this country.
Williams was allegedly harassing another Asian person outside the Manhattan salon when a plain-clothes officer, who is Asian, intervened and stopped the attack. Williams allegedly then began insulting the officer, as well, calling him a monkey and a Chinese motherf -, according to police officials.