Reacting to the alarming rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans and last week's massacre at three Atlanta-area massage parlors, Mayor Justin Elicker of New Haven hosted a "Hate Has No Home in the Elm City" press conference.
"There were 3,800 cases (nationally) of hate incidents against Asian Americans in this past year," says Elicker, "and I'm grateful that so many people are standing up today to express the kind of city that we are."
A few dozen people attended the event on the sidewalk in front of Pho Ketkeo, a Laotian and Thai restaurant on Temple Street. Owner Ketkeo Rajachack, originally from Laos, says she was mugged last summer, and her employees' cars were vandalized.
Attorney General William Tong also spoke at the event. His parents are immigrants. He says it may have taken the murders of six women in the Atlanta shootings to bring the issue to the top of the news cycle, but there's a long history of hateful speech and acts against Asian Americans.
"As Asian Americans, we are largely invisible in the national conversation about race and racism and hate and discrimination," says Tong, "and it takes a 150% increase in hate crimes and bias-related incidents against Asian Americans to finally have this conversation."
Christine Kim, a longtime friend of Mayor Elicker, says she's never been politically active, but that's changing. She's making an effort to organize New Haven's diverse Asian community.
"There are many different groups," according to Kim. "There's a Chinese church, there's a Korean merchants association, but not a whole organization that represents or can speak for all Asians, even though we're being discriminated against indiscriminately."
Elicker says the issue of hate against Asian Americans is one of the topics that could come up on Friday, when Vice President Kamala Harris visits New Haven.