On Mar. 21, I attended the Stop Asian Hate rally at McPherson Square in downtown Washington, D.C. The rally was part of the nationwide Stop AAPI Hate movement to address the surge in anti-Asian racism in the U.S. I have been following this movement since the start of the pandemic but it is only after the Atlanta, Georgia, spa shootings (in which six of the eight victims were Asian women) that I’ve seen this campaign begin to receive mainstream attention. The rally in D.C. was held on the same weekend as gatherings in Atlanta, New York, Boston and Los Angeles, to name a few.
I was surprised to witness the large and diverse turnout. To ensure COVID safety, I kept my distance from the crowds and focused my camera lens mostly on the signs held by demonstrators. The atmosphere was lively and positive, the rally populated by people of all races and age groups. The messages pictured in the altered photos below capture the growing sentiment of solidarity with Asian Americans.
