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Salutatorian condemns anti-Asian racism. Gets some boos

An Asian American high school graduate who used her Salutatorian speech to condemn anti-Asian hate and oppression of all people of color is being subjected to racist cyber-bullying by those who accused her of being anti-Semitic.

Al Dia News reports Rachel Cheng has been harassed on both Facebook and Instagram and has been called out for not condemning the Chinese government for its treatment of Muslims in Uyghur. 

The crowd at the graduation at Western High School in Broward County, Florida sat mostly silent during the four minute speech.

“Yeah, ’21 is our graduation year. But 21 is the number of times I was called ch*nk in a one year time frame our school went online from COVID-19. That kind of ugliness was coming from everywhere and everyone,” said Cheng.

“I was chased out of the store because they didn’t want “China virus people in the store…coming to fear not for not only my life, but the lives of my parents and peers just on a single trip to the grocery store became our reality.”

She says her sentiments are shared by all those who have faced racism-African Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islander, Hispanic and Latinos.

That’s where some in the audience began to turn on her.

“To my Middle Eastern peers, who have been facing struggle after struggle and have been in constant fear of their families and friends being struck down by a militant government who have had their land stolen and abused, I applaud you.”

A smattering of boos broke out. Yet she continued to wrap up her speech, not missing a beat. She went on to condemn anti-Semitism. Who walked away from the podium after wrapping up her speech to a round of applause.

You can watch her brief speech below.

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