Student Protests Against AAPI Hate

On Sunday, March 28, in Berkeley’s beautiful Aquatic Park, hundreds of people gathered to protest against Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate and violence. From 2pm to 4pm, speakers like Councilmember Kesarwani and Councilmember Robinson, as well several youth speakers, inspired young activists to speak out against injustice. Among the protestors was a group of students from the School.

Sophomore Dylan Chan, who attended the march with a group of friends, went “to feel engaged and involved…with the AAPI community, and feel like I was at least doing something about the injustices going on.” 

Chan spoke about the protest as a whole and what it achieved. “I think the most significant thing the protest did was create a sense of genuine belonging and community for me,” he says. “It was really amazing and super touching to be a part of that massive crowd with shared experiences and a desire to be heard.” When asked about his opinions on the speakers, he noted that he greatly appreciated the youth panel, saying, “Seeing all the student speakers my age and even younger take to the stage and put themselves out there was really inspiring to watch.” 

Another sophomore who attended the march was Charis Woo, who went to the protest because she thinks it’s “important to speak out against the hate that has been going on towards Asian Americans…to make people realize that we will fight back.” 

When asked if she felt that the protest accomplished something, Woo answered yes definitively, and noted that “ there were over a thousand people there, and it was organized by middle school students, so during a time where a lot of people were having a hard time, it [brought] hope for the future.” 

Wu advises students from the School to join future protests, saying,“It’s really easy to be jaded by the news. I think it’s important to recognize the impact that unity can have.”

However, high schoolers were not the only ones to attend these protests. Fourth grade students Lucy Bouvet and Gabriel Jiang heard about the protest from their teacher, Mr. Barry Turner, and went to Aquatic park with their families in order to protest against racial discrimination. Bouvet says she wanted to attend the protest because, “it’s for the right reasons, [and] because anti-Asian hate is a big thing.” She went on to say that she hopes she’s “making a dent [in Asian racism], even if it’s not a big one.” Her classmate Jiang echoes her sentiment, and wants his fellow Asian-Americans to know that “we are not the model minority, we have our own culture.”