Graduation 2021 Edition

The Blue and Gold
June 2021
Local News
maldenblueandgold.com
19
Members of the community each lit a candle at the event in honor of the victims.
Photo submitted by Keren He.
the event. He was afraid that there
would be another anti-Asian attack.
Zeng wanted to make a difference
and share his voice which is why he
decided to do the speech.
To Zeng, it was really inspiring
to see the community get together
for the event and he thought that the
“collectiveness has a lot of power to
it.” Zeng has been trying to stay off
of social media because all the posts
and the infographics have been very
bad for his mental health. He tends
to look on the positive side and
he is “super appreciative of [his]
GMAACC community and family.”
He said “organizing with them has
been really great because it really
gave [him] the space to celebrate
[his] Asian American identity” and
going forward he wants to use his
identity to influence community
perspectives and do work in Malden.
Sammi Nie, a Junior at Malden
High and also a member of Malden
High for Racial Equity, gave a
speech at the vigil about her experience
as an Asian American. In her
speech, she said “[they] are fighting
against the force of hate with
the power of love.” She also urged
people to “continue to disrupt the
practices that divide and villainize
[them]” she also wants to remind
everyone to “keep moving forward,
acknowledge that the evils [they]
are experiencing are just a small retaliation
against just the beginning
of a vigorous movement.”
At first, Nie was very nervous
about the event. She did not know
what to write for her speech because
she did not know how to put “[her]
feelings and [her] experience and
[her] history into this little speech.”
With the help of a friend, she was
able to piece everything together.
Nie believes that “justice is on the
precipice.”
Jenny Hsi, a staff member of
GMAACC, thought that the event
went really well. Hsi is actually not
from Malden and this is the first time
she got to see the community members
show up to support this event.
There were people of all ages and
of all racial and ethnic backgrounds
coming together. She thinks that the
two main purposes for the event
were to have an event where people
can come together and be able to
grieve collectively and honor the
victims but also to have the opportunity
to call community members
to action. Hsi said she felt “very
encouraged to see so many people
show up and show their dedication”
and she appreciates all the support
from the Malden community and
them showing up to recognize the
seriousness and severity of this issue.
As a closing address at the vigil,
the GMAACC encouraged people to
keep being aware and to keep committing
to taking action to address
racism in the community. Hsi said
“even as individuals, [people] can
do a lot just by joining forces with
local community groups for example
both GMAACC and Malden
CORE.” The GMAACC continues
to host programs of various kinds
that try to address anti racist issues
including providing support to education
reform efforts. The GMAACC
and Malden CORE are connected
with a group called Malden High
Students for Racial Equity and they
want to provide community based
support for everything they are
doing in the school because they
understand how hard it could be to
push for reform when the system is
not necessarily the most responsive.
The event was co-sponsored
by Asian American Resource
Workshop (AARW), Asian Community
Development Corporation
(ACDC), Asian Task Force Against
Domestic Violence (ATASK), Boston
Chinatown Neighborhood Center
(BCNC), Chinese
Culture Connection
(CCC), Chinese Progressive
Association
(CPA), Greater Boston
Legal Services Asian
Outreach Unit (GBLS),
First Lutheran Church
Malden, First Parish
UUA Church Malden,
Just Us Somerville,
Malden Neighbors
Helping Neighbors
(MNHN), Malden
Police Alternatives
and Accountability
(MPAA), Mass
Senior Action Council
(MASC), Mystic Valley
Progressives, NAACP,
Mystic Valley Branch
and National Asian Pacific
Women’s Forum
- Boston (NAPAWF
Boston).
The event was ended with a drumming piece by Wah Lum. Photo submitted by
Keren He.
Maddie Lam is one of the lead organizers for the event. Photo submitted by
Keren He.
The community watches the drumming by Wah Lum. Photo submitted by Keren
He.
Billy Zeng (left), Enzo Nie (middle), and Mandy Sun (right) were three of the youth speakers at
the vigil. Photo submitted by Keren He.