Hundreds of people gathered on 10th and Vine Street on March 25 to stand and march in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. 

The march was a grassroots event organized by nine “community advocates and activists” who agreed they had to come together to support the AAPI community in Philadelphia, according to Sharlene Cubelo, founder and president of Movements for Violence Prevention (MVP), a nonprofit that addresses gender-based violence through education and awareness.

“This is dedicated to the rise in anti-Asian racism, but marginalized communities are all being oppressed,” Cubelo said in an interview with The Hawk. “This is a united front against that, and we really want people to recognize that their voices really do matter.”

On March 16, a white gunman killed eight people across three spas in Atlanta, Georgia, six of whom were women of Asian descent. A week later on March 24, Danielle Outlaw, Philadelphia Police Department (PDD) commissioner, tweeted that the PDD is “actively investigating several incidents of hateful and racist vandalism in Chinatown and South Phila.”

Before marchers set off through the city on March 25, Chinese lion dancers and 11 speakers performed and spoke to the crowd to express solidarity with the AAPI community and encourage those in attendance to go forward and stand together against violence and hate. 

“Today is the first time in history Philadelphia has held a rally against anti-Asian racism,” Cubelo said in a speech to the marchers. “Philadelphia is the birthplace of America. We have the power to rewrite the narrative for the rest of our nation. This is where America started. We will be the change.” 

Citing the Atlanta Police Department’s decision not to deem the shooting in Atlanta a hate crime, Cubelo said it is crucial to stand together against all forms of oppression and hate.

“As an Asian American woman, I can speak to my identity in the fact that this hatred with misogyny, the ingrained prejudice against women, and racism in the experiences that we as Asian American women experience is not something new,” Cubelo said.

Dr. Lan Chi (Krysti) Vo, board-certified psychiatrist and digital health consultant, said she has been presenting to the American Psychiatric Association about the increase in anti-Asian hate crimes since the pandemic started. Vo said in an interview with The Hawk that she came to support the march because she wants to encourage people to take substantive action to stop these acts of violence and hate.

“I appreciate the rally and solidarity but change only happens if you pressure policymakers. That’s the key,” Vo said. “We need to use our words to write to them, or talk to them or call them.”

Helen Gym, councilmember at-large for the Philadelphia City Council and the first Asian American woman to serve on the council, said the AAPI community in Philadelphia has fought to make the city a sanctuary city for all, and the community will do it again.

“I want us to remember that we have been here,” Gym said in her speech. “ We have withstood patriarchy. We have withstood violence and white supremacy. And we are here and we will rise. We will rise together.” 

As the speeches continued, organizers moved the crowd closer to the pergola where the speakers were located as more people continued to arrive in support of the event. 

Once the other speakers concluded, William Lex Ham, executive director of Asians in America—a “grassroots organization dedicated to empowering Asian & AAPI voices” according to the organization’s Instagram page—began to lead the crowd in chants as everyone prepared to march. 

“Get it right the first time,” Ham yelled into the crowd. “That was a hate crime,” the crowd yelled back. 

Along with teaching the marchers other chants like “silence is violence, we are not a virus,” Ham encouraged the crowd to use their voices as they took to the streets. 

“We have to take power back for our people, for our community, for our neighbors, for our family and our friends,” Ham said. “As we go out and we march through the streets, when you chant these chants, let it come from the depths of your being, the depths of your soul.”

The crowd then made its way through Chinatown holding their signs denouncing anti-Asian hate and chanting together as store owners and passerbys came out on the street to watch or join in solidarity. 

The march ended in Dilworth Park at City Hall. Marchers sat and reflected as Cubelo read the names of the victims killed in the Atlanta shooting. 

Following the event, Raquel Villanueva Dang, another event organizer, said in an interview with The Hawk that she hopes those who participated in the march “continue the conversation to commit to change within themselves, and hopefully further into their community.” 

Cubelo said she also hopes people who came to march in solidarity move forward from the event feeling empowered to stand up against violence and hate. 

“I hope they take away healing and strength in knowing that they are not alone and that their fears and traumas are valid against this rise in violence,” Cubelo said. “We, as a community, are standing in solidarity against this, and we shouldn’t have to conform to the victimization of others who are trying to be oppressive because we have the right to live free from that.”