FAIRFIELD, Conn. — More than 200 people gathered in Connecticut on Saturday to denounce increasing attacks on Asian Americans around the country.
A "Stop Asian Hate" rally was held outside Fairfield Town Hall and included speeches by state Attorney General William Tong, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and other officials and advocates.
Members of the crowd held signs saying "Stop the hate! Stop the violence!," "Where is the love?" and "Racism is the real pandemic."
One of the rally's organizers, Aimee Guerrero, condemned an attack on a Filipina American woman in New York City last week. Surveillance video showed the assailant kicking and stomping on the 65-year-old woman and bystanders not helping her. The suspect was charged with hate crimes.
"We cannot stand for that," Guerrero said. "We have to come together and pledge to each other that we will intervene, we will support, we will be there."
According to a report from Stop AAPI Hate, more than 3,800 anti-Asian incidents were reported to the organization between March 2020 through February. The group, which tracks incidents of discrimination, hate and xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., said that number is "only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur."