Valley View News
- Apr 24, 2021
- 2 min read

Stand for Asians Rally

Updated: Apr 26, 2021

WALNUT, CA – People of all ages and cultures rallied in the Walnut City Hall parking lot to stand in solidarity with the Asian Community over violent, racist attacks.

Photo, Gina Wong

The gathering comes after the tragedy in Atlanta, where six Asian women were murdered. Emotions are still high and there remains a lot of fear within the Asian community.

A new motto and hashtag for that horrible day was created. Instead of shouting #StopAAPIHate, the shouts of #ShowAsiansLove garnered cheers from the crowd.

The organizers wanted to create a safe space where people could talk about their recent experiences. Speakers spoke about their fears of being attacked because of the way they look, such as what happened in recent attacks against elderly Asians.

Photo, Gina Wong

Protestor Dani Espinosa is conducting research for her thesis on the hyper-sexualization and fetishization of Asian-American female survivors of sexual assault. Espinosa said she came out to support the AAPI community after the Atlanta murders, which she said were fueled by the racist labeling of Asian women as submissive and passive to white men.

She said the many graphic attacks on Asians nationwide is terrifying.

“It could be my parents, my grandparents and it’s devastating to think that one of them or even myself could go outside and needlessly be attacked just because the color of our skin,” Espinosa said.

Rally speaker Ronda Hampton thinks people of other races are not speaking out enough in support of the Asian community.

“I think we were taught to be divisive; we were taught to be segregated, and we were taught not to stand up for one another,” Hampton said.

Rally organizer Naomi Hom-Worrel said she wanted to hold this event in order to bring people together and take action. She knows there is a need to provide mental health resources, and to talk about what to do if a person finds themself as a victim. She believes it is going to take a lot of love and understanding to fight hate.

“The louder we get, the stronger we are together,” Hom-Worrel said. “The louder we are the less empowered people feel to attack us verbally and physically.”

According to the website #StopAAPIHate, 76 percent of all Asian hate crimes have been verbal harassment.