At Stop Asian Hate rally in Overland Park, nearly 150 people came and stood together
Kayla Reed cried when she drove up to West 119th Terrace and Grant Street in Overland Park on Saturday afternoon.
Reed, who is half Korean and half white, saw dozens gathered in the grass on Saturday afternoon for a Stop Asian Hate rally organized by Allies Against Asian Hate.
As she stood on the sidewalk holding her South Korea flag, a Black woman told her: “We got you.”
For much of her life, she said, Reed was afraid of her identity and heritage. But she’s not going to be silent anymore.
“I want to use my platform and use my voice,” said Reed, 23. “And just hope that I can help in contributing to society to spread love and kindness, being a good person.”
Nearly 150 people gathered Saturday in a stand against hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
In Atlanta earlier this month, eight people — six of them women of Asian descent — were gunned down in spas. Over the last year, racist anti-Asian rhetoric and attacks have escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saturday’s event, several attendees said, was about a change in the community. No more would they keep quiet.
A year ago, Reed wouldn’t have worn the “It’s an honor just to be Asian” shirt, a quote from actress Sandra Oh. A year ago, Reed wasn’t proud to be Asian American. Now, she wears it with pride.
Nikki Pauls, 39, said the event grew out of mothers chatting in group chat Monday morning. They were upset that again and again they had to tell their kids about attacks against Asian Americans.
They wanted to do something bigger.
Saturday’s turnout, she said, was “unbelievable.”
Pauls, whose now 17-year-old daughter Yiyi Pauls she adopted from China when Yiyi was 10, said they have been trying to equip her with knowledge on staying safe when Yiyi eventually goes off on her own and when her white parents aren’t with her.
For Yiyi Pauls, Saturday’s turnout “means everybody cares, they want to fight for it and it’s important to every one of us.”
The group lined the sidewalk along 119th and chanted: “Proud to be Asian,” “I am not a virus” and “respect Asians.”
People carried signs that said “Stand with us,” “Asians are not the virus, hate is the virus,” and “wash your hands of germs and xenophobia.”
Another speaker called on white people to examine their own white privilege and implicit bias and do the work to make change. And another criticized the sexualization of Asian women.
During the rally, one person driving by yelled “go home.”
Jessica Ma, 9, said she felt proud when she saw the crowd Saturday. She carried an orange sign with a white piece of paper that read: “Don’t hurt our grandparents.”
Her favorite thing about her grandparents is that they’re nice and “they make nice noodles,” she said.
But Jessica is afraid to invite her grandparents, who live in China, to visit her here.
“It would be a huge risk,” she said. “Because they could be those people in the news, pushed from the back or hit in the faces.”
Speaking to the group, she later said: “Those people could have been my family.”
She said she felt mad because she didn’t know why people would do that.
“You can’t just send us back somewhere else,” Jessica said, “because we were born here. We are as American as you guys.”
Daniel Xue, who also helped organize Saturday’s rally, called for people to stand together.
“Stand with your neighbors, stand with your friends,” he told the crowd. “We are not the virus ... we are the people here. We live here, we work here.”
Guangyu Lin, 49, said he has lived in Overland Park for the last 14 years. He said his friends, neighbors and coworkers have been a blessing.
Lin said he thinks the Asian community generally tries to keep things quiet. That needs to change, he said.
Saturday’s event, Lin said, was about raising awareness and to “support a national event in Asian communities on a national scale.”
Reed hopes this movement doesn’t stop here. She wants to see individuals take action. Hate, she said, is taught at an individual level and people need to change their perspectives at that same level.
“Just spread love and just be kind to one another and that would literally solve this problem,” Reed said.
This story was originally published March 27, 2021 at 8:21 PM.
