The Chinese language media has been vocal in its support for Peter Liang in the death of Akai Gurley.
When the Sing Tao Daily declined to publish a letter from #Asian4BlackLives criticizing that support for Liang, protestors had had enough.
Colorlines reports about 20 marched to the offices of Sing Tao staging a demonstration outside the Chinese language paper’s office.
Their unpublished letter read in part:
“Hundreds of Asian Americans across the country have mobilized in support of justice for Akai Gurley and his family in light of the alarming number of unarmed Black men, boys, girls, and women being killed by police. That Peter Liang felt the need to pull his trigger in response to a noise in an apartment building where families live reflects how police are trained to be part of the violent system. How can the police bring us safety if they are patrolling our homes with guns out ready to shoot? Can you imagine what it would be like if a police officer patrolled Confucius Plaza Apartments like this? It is wrong for any police officer to take innocent lives without a consequence. The police are part of a system that treats entire low-income communities of color and immigrant communities as violent threats. Black communities in particular have been disproportionately targeted by police patrolling, arrests, and criminal charges. What happened to Akai was not an accident.
“Since newspapers shape the way our communities understand the world around us, we need our newspapers to cover events in a way that brings truth to our communities. Carried away by a false sense of solidarity among Chinese Americans, the Chinese ethnic media is responsible in preventing us from seeing Akai Gurley and the suffering of the Gurley family. The biased news coverage also prevents us from understanding each other in the community, something that we desperately need right now.”
Liang received no jail time for the death of Gurley. Instead he will serve 5 years probation and 800 hours of community service. A jury convicted him of second degree manslaughter, but judge Danny Chun reduced that conviction to criminal negligent homicide.
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RE: Justice for Akai Gurley protestors demonstrate outside Chinese language paper: Well this should start some healthy dialogue in both communities if the privilege don’t try to under mind it. Freedom of opinion and freedom to think about the real world we live in outside our communities and how people of color are treated the same. Two families learned a lot, sad part one family always lives with the fact that due to color of their skin they were always targets. The other family never thought they would be a pawn in the privilege’s game of racism, and might never understand that. We need to read true American History.
RE: Justice for Akai Gurley Protestors demonstrate outside Chinese Language paper: Serious question, can someone please tell me when the last time the black community stood with the Chinese community was?
RE: Justice for Akai Gurley protestors Demonstrate Outside Chinese Language Paper: Just this week, African American Representatives Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Charles Rangel (D-NY) joined the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus in urging President Obama to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Young Oak Kim, a World War II Korean American war hero. http://capac-chu.house.gov/press-release/capac-members-call-white-house-nominate-young-oak-kim-presidential-medal-freedom