Roosevelt Island Stands Tall with AAPI Stop the Hate Rally

As New York City absorbed more sobering news about racism, Roosevelt Islanders responded with an AAPI Stop the Hate Rally. It was organized in just a couple days, but brought dozens out on Saturday.

Roosevelt Island Daily News

Photos courtesy of rally organizer Rachel Dowling

Inspired by a mass killing in Atlanta, Roosevelt Islanders quickly spread the word about a rally on Facebook, and it was a typical local event. That is, not like anywhere else. Organizers drew residents as much in support of their AAPI neighbors as in protest.

Six of those killed in Atlanta were identified as Asian.

In the meantime, the struggle in New York brought media coverage with five new hate crimes against Asians.

And Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told PIX11 that NYPD investigated ten anti-Asian hate crimes so far in 2021. For the same period, last year, there were none.

Not without some bumps along the way, the Roosevelt Island community welcomes shifting demographics with culture-rich dynamics.

Saturday’s rally echoed a Black Lives Matter rally held in the same spot during the national George Floyd protests, last June.

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