By GREG KLEIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
The Agostino family displays its signs Sunday, May 2, at the Otsego Rally for Solidarity with Asian Americans at the Otsego County Courthouse in Cooperstown. (Greg Klein/AllOTSEGO.com)
About 250 people attended a rally Sunday, May 2, at the Otsego County Courthouse, to support the community’s Asian American and Pacific Island residents.
The “Otsego Rally for Solidarity with Asian Americans” was organized and run by a group of Cooperstown Central School freshmen, including 15-year-old Cate Bohler, who said she wanted to speak up to support her friends or anyone who is being harassed.
Cooperstown rallies in solidarity with Asian Americans
Cooperstown students and officials held a rally Sunday amidst a spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans.
Posted: May 2, 2021 6:04 PM
Updated: May 3, 2021 9:19 AM
Posted By: James Corrigan
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. Cooperstown residents and community leaders rallied in the rain on Sunday in support of Asian Americans, as the number of hate crimes against the group has spiked.
“COVID has started to get people riled up, said Cate Bohler, a 9th-grader from Cooperstown and the organizer of the rally. And it s making people lash out.”
Bohler was inspired to hold the event after the shooting in Atlanta in March which killed eight people, six of whom were Asian. Hate crimes against Asian Americans have increased by 169% from this time last year, as characterizations of COVID-19 as the Chinese virus and other insensitive terms have trickled down to the personal level.