Union Square: Just A Personal Story

This “Rest in Power” sign, demonstrated at a Union Square(NYC) vigil on Friday, March 19, 2021, brought my mind to the scene thousands miles away physically, to make me feel mindfully together with the gathering, to feel empowered.

Source: this tweet by @AndrewYang

Although I am not a New Yorker, I happened to got familiar with this area: I visited NYC multiple times in the past few years(before pandemic) and I mostly stayed near Union Square. Union Square is full of history, and keeps making history(as a convenient place for gathering). This vigil about Atlanta Shooting will be part of the history.

Not far from Union Square(just one local subway station away), two and half years before, I was thrown slur nearby at Astor Place. That incident shocked me, confused me, made me sad and emotional, as a result I wrote something right after. When I published that, I received support and love, all those support and love helped me a lot. Time passed, I decided to take down what I wrote, partly because I don’t think it was well-written, partly because yeah I was taught to keep things within myself. Now I realize by taking that down voluntarily, it was also self-suppression. Thus I re-publish it now, without any modification: it was something happened, it was something I wrote. By republishing it, I hope this can help a little bit to the bigger picture: we are not virus, hate is virus. #StopAsianHate.