Last week, hundreds of Chinese from Chinatown gathered outside the Manhattan prosecutor's office to demonstrate justice for a pair of Chinese brothers.
The protest was sparked by a brawl a few years ago, in which the brothers were later charged and sentenced to two and a half years in prison and five years of probation, respectively.
Why did so many people get angry and willing to come out in solidarity with the two? It all started that night a few years ago.
Let's first explain the background of the incident, everything happened on October 10, 2020, and there were two main important points at that time. First of all, it was after the incident of the police kneeling and killing of a black man in Minnesota, the United States set off the "Black Lives Matter" movement, and various demonstrations continued, and many people committed crimes everywhere under the guise of protests, and major cities were in chaos, and public order was even worse.
In addition, it was still in the midst of the pandemic, and some people were hostile to Asians because of this, and the situation was quite tense.
In the early hours of that night, a group of young people, including 2 blacks and 3 whites, came to Elizabeth St in Manhattan's Chinatown, New York, and after drinking, they not only made a loud noise in front of the building, but also urinated on the door of a building.
And they are located near a martial arts gym where a pair of Chinese brothers live.
The elder brother Deng Dehong decided to go out to check the situation, and when he opened the door, he saw one of the black men urinating on the door.
What's even more ridiculous is that when he saw people, he not only did not restrain himself, but became more arrogant, while making verbal provocations, he approached Deng Dehong and tried to urinate on him.
Deng Dehong decided to call the police, but these people became more and more rampant, shouting and provoking around him, and even made all kinds of discriminatory remarks, and began to besiege him.
"They said to me, 'You filthy Asian,' and said they were going to fight, and I said, 'I'm going to call the police.'" ’”
At the same time, his younger brother Deng Degen also came out to check on the situation, and after he came out, he was directly attacked by one of the men, resulting in a rib injury. The five began to beat the two brothers, and because of the disparity in numbers, the brothers were beaten with blue noses and swollen faces, and after a while, the group may have been tired and left.
But what people didn't expect was that after a while, this group of people came back again, and in order to protect his younger brother, the elder brother went back to the house and took out a katana and slashed at one of them, and slashed him until he was seriously injured, and his left forearm was cut to the bone.
When the police arrived, they arrested the brothers and charged them with assault. For four years, the case has been inconclusive, and just recently, the two brothers pleaded guilty. According to a person familiar with the matter, although the two felt very wronged, after all, it was completely out of self-defense at the time, and they were beaten badly before, but in order to avoid losing the case, in order to take care of their mother, the two still decided to admit their guilt, if so, the two may be imprisoned for 2-3 years.
What makes people even more angry is that the two people who were beaten first were about to go to prison, but the group of provocative people were safe and sound and did not receive any sanctions. This result was obviously unacceptable to the local Chinese, so they decided to demonstrate and protest.
In the face of the controversy, prosecutors said that the trial was not groundless and was not directed against anyone, because the two brothers used lethal physical violence unnecessarily, and they were not in extreme danger when they swung their swords at others. And the victim was seriously injured after being attacked.
Don Lee, a Chinese, said he would represent the brothers and other Asian-Americans in a class-action lawsuit against New York City.
"They turn attackers into victims, and the criminal justice system has completely failed. At the height of anti-Asian hatred, that group of people went uncharged, which is intolerable to me. ”
For such a result, not only the Chinese do not accept it, but many foreign netizens also expressed their support for rights protection, which is really wrong.
(Those five should also be punished.) Why should someone be caught being bullied at their doorstep?)
(As a New Yorker, I sympathize with this pair of Chinese brothers, they are just protecting themselves, and the person who provoked this fight should be convicted of a felony)
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