West Lafayette rallies to "Stop Asian Hate"

On April 10, the Greater Lafayette community rallied to stop Asian hate outside of the West Lafayette City Hall

Violence towards asian americans.

News 18's peter hulett spoke with an organizer about why the rally needed to happen.

On saturday, dozens gathered outside the west lafayette city hall in a show of unity and strength.

"we're just here to support the asian and asian american community through this difficult time to show that we are here and we support our neighboors."

That's margaret hass, a member of greater lafayette international allies.

She, like all the others in attendance came to send a simple yet powerful message: stop asian hate.

"i've had students who have experienced harassment on campus of... just for appearing asian."

The rally started with a humble beginning.

Shen chan a co- organizer of the rally, wrote an email to mayor john dennis and city council asking for a statement against the violence and unity.

"the atlanta shooting was a trigger for me, and the whole situation in the whole country, the anti-asian crimes increasing rapidly, and i just thought we need to do something."

City councillor kathy parker replied to the email, and soon they planned the rally with speeches from chen, mayor dennis, parker and more.

"at first it was overwhelming for me, but then as i was planning in this process i realized it was important for us.

It is important for us to speak up" and while chen says she feels safe in west lafayette, she says it's still important to recognize and combat the problem across the country.

"even if west lafayette is a very safe little town, diverse college town, we feel safe here, but the situation is getting worse and worse nationwide."

In west lafayette, peter hulett, news 18.> the rally was at 12:30 pm saturday and ended around an hour later before rain began to fall.