Rally at Leisure World in Seal Beach shows support for Asians Americans - OCRegister

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The signs were different sizes and colors, held by the old and the young, all expressing the same sentiment: Stop Asian hate.

More than 100 people showed up in front of the Seal Beach Leisure World entrance Wednesday afternoon, March 24, for a rally in response to recent violence against Asian Americans and to a letter sent to a widow whose Korean American husband had recently died that said there was “one less Asian to put up with in Leisure World.”

• Leisure World resident Helen Lee, 80, holds a sign as she stands with more than 100 other people in front of the Globe at Leisure World Wednesday afternoon. In response to the recent anti-Asian hate speech targeting a local resident at Leisure World, members of the Seal Beach community organized a peaceful display of support to show solidarity to the family affected and all AAPI community members. Seal Beach on Wednesday, March 24, 2021. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

• Al Shipley was one of more than 100 people holding signs and chanting in front of the Globe at Leisure World Wednesday in response to the recent anti-Asian hate speech targeting a local resident. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

• A passenger in a car waves and smiles at community members holding a rally in front of Leisure World Wednesday afternoon. In response to the recent anti-Asian hate speech targeting a local resident at Leisure World, members of the Seal Beach community organized a peaceful display of support to show solidarity to the family affected and all AAPI community members. Seal Beach on Wednesday, March 24, 2021. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

• Hannah Bensie, right, stands in front of the Leisure World Globe with Cameron Hellems, 5, sitting, and Leah Hellems, 7, center, as they rally in response to the recent anti-Asian hate speech targeting a local resident at Leisure World. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

• Patty Littrell holds a colorful sign in a group of nearly 100 people who gathered in response to the recent anti-Asian hate speech targeting a local resident at Leisure World Wednesday. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

• Addison Chae, 7, holds up a sign in front of Leisure World in Seal Beach Wednesday afternoon. In response to the recent anti-Asian hate speech targeting a resident at Leisure World, members of the Seal Beach community organized a peaceful display of support to show solidarity to the family affected and others. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

• A passenger in the back of a motorcycle gives the thumbs up as they drive by Leisure World Wednesday afternoon. In response to the recent anti-Asian hate speech targeting a local resident at Leisure World, members of the Seal Beach community organized a peaceful display of support to show solidarity to the family affected and all AAPI community members. Seal Beach on Wednesday, March 24, 2021. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

Jinwook Lee, 22, and Enwook Lee 21, brothers who are Korean American college students, came because their grandparents live here at Leisure World.

“It’s important for a community to get together and give a public message that this kind of behavior is not OK – we don’t tolerate that,” Enwook Lee said. “Especially in a small town like Seal Beach, where you don’t see people protesting things, it really reinforces that this is a community where that kind of thing is not tolerated.

“It’s important that people get together and say that’s not OK and, after reading about the incident that sparked the whole thing and the whole wave of anti-Asian violence that’s been going on since March, I need to be here to demonstrate that this is not OK, that it’s not acceptable in any form,” Enwook Lee said.

Yevette Louie, a resident of Leisure World, was clear on why she attended.

“Bigotry is ugly and I won’t stand for it,” she said. “It brought something back from my childhood: I grew up in New York and adults would throw water at me and yell, ‘Get out of here, you dirty little (epithet) go back to where you came from.’

“And when I saw that letter, it just brought that home again,” Louie said. “It’s so ugly and so mean-spirited and hateful, and we can’t let it stand in our community.”

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Rally at Leisure World in Seal Beach shows support for Asians Americans - OCRegister
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