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Around 300 people gathered Saturday afternoon at the corner of Forbes and Oakland avenues for a “Stop Asian Hate” rally. The crowd chanted “No hate! No fear! Asian people are welcome here!” as a sign of solidarity to Pittsburgh’s Asian community.
[PHOTOS: ‘Stop Asian Hate’ rally]
Sandra Oh — an actress best known for her roles on “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Killing Eve” — made a surprise guest appearance at the rally. Oh is currently in Pittsburgh filming her new Netflix show, “The Chair,” and said she is “happy” and “proud” to be in the City.
“For many of us in the community this is the first time we are even able to voice our fear and our anger, and I’m really so grateful for everyone willing to listen,” Oh said. “I know many of us in our community are very scared, and I understand that. One way to get through our fear is to reach out to our community.”
Oh led the crowd, which included many college students, in a chant, saying “I am proud to be Asian” and “I belong here.”
Video by staff videographer Jaime Ely.
The rally — organized by Thrash the State, a Pittsburgh advocacy group — comes in the wake of a Tuesday mass shooting that left eight people dead in Atlanta. Six of the eight people killed in the shootings were women of Asian descent. Crowds gathered across the country on Saturday to protest anti-Asian violence and remember the lives lost in Atlanta.
This shooting is the latest anti-Asian attack in recent months, which have increased dramatically over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stop AAPI Hate, an organization which records incidents of violence and harassment that target Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, reported nearly 3,800 incidents from last March to this past February.
Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said in a Saturday morning tweet that the Pitt community denounces anti-Asian discrimination “of any kind.”
“Our University stands in steadfast solidarity with our Asian students, faculty, staff, alumni, partners and friends,” Gallagher said. “As a society, we can and must do better.”
Forbes Avenue was blocked off by police for about two hours as Oh and a number of other people shared their stories with the crowd. About 150 people then marched down Forbes Avenue to Carnegie Mellon University. The crowd then went to nearby Flagstaff Hill, and back to the corner of Forbes and Oakland avenues before dispersing.
Jake B., an organizer with Thrash the State, said they chose the corner of Forbes and Oakland avenues for the rally because it contains many of the Asian-owned restaurants in Oakland, such as Oishii Bento and Szechuan Express.
Jake also paid homage to Black Pittsburgh activists and organizations, such as Black, Young & Educated, TransYOUniting and Stop the Station, which promoted and supported the event.
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