“If they are being harassed use it,” said Chong. “If they are being attacked, use it.”
Quincy Asian Resources organized the effort to help stop hate crimes. Whistles are being handed out in several cities from Quincy to New York and Los Angeles.
State Rep. Tackey Chan says this could be a life-saving tool.
“The whistle is jarring so you can hear it easy. It’s louder than screaming the word help,” he said. Whistles will be handed out in Quincy in an effort to stop anti-Asian attacks.
The rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans prompted two Wellesley College graduates to come up with this idea.
With hate crimes targeting Asian Americans on the rise across the country, whistles will be handed out in Quincy, Massachusetts, and other cities to help.
Now a simple walk in her Long Island City neighborhood isn t taken for granted. Whenever she is going out, she has to put herself together, there is a chance she might be attacked, the translator said. The reason she took the whistle is she finds this is something that will be useful.
Oanh Nguyen, a program volunteer with Quincy Asian resources, said the AAPI Whistle Against hate program is based on one that equi[s first-year students at her alma mater of Wellesley College with a self-defense whistle. A woman bashed on the head with a hammer in New York City describes the terrifying encounter. NBC New York s Gus Rosendale reports.
Project Community: Asian Americans say COVID-19, political rhetoric added fuel to racist fire Share Updated: 7:55 PM EDT Apr 27, 2021 Share Updated: 7:55 PM EDT Apr 27, 2021
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Show Transcript MORE THAN A YEAR AGO, ON MARCH 12, 2020, ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERS STOOD ON THE STEPS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE TO SOUND AN ALARM. WE DON’T TOLERATE ANY KIND OF BIGOTRY, TARGETED AT ANYONE BECAUSE OF THIS INFECTION. ANTOINETTE: THEY WARNED OF WHAT COULD COME, OF THE USE OF RACIALLY CHARGED TERMS FOR COVID-19. BUT NO ONE KNEW HOW BAD IT WOULD GET. ASIAN AMERICANS ARE UNDER ATTACK ACROSS THE COUNTRY RIGHT NOW. BUT MANY WILL TELL YOU THIS RACISM IS NOTHING NEW. I THINK IT IS JUST THE REST OF AMERICA WAKING UP TO THE REALITY OF IT AND HEARING OUR CRIES. ANTOINETTE: SAM HUMAN IS THE CHAIRPERSON OF MASSACHUSETTS ASIAN AMERICAN COMMISSION. WE TOLD EVERYBODY WHO WOULD LISTEN THAT THIS WAS GOING TO LEAD TO A DISASTER AND IT DID. ANTOINETTE: FR