On the streets of New York, while shouting "We Chinese not to be bullied", he stepped forward to help his compatriots, and as a result, he was stabbed four times by gangsters and unfortunately died.
| Author: Ershui
| Editor: Ah Ye
| Editor: Laulinger
"It's an unacceptable tragedy that he tried to help others and was stabbed to death."
After the death of Zheng Yong, a 46-year-old Chinese man, on the streets of New York, many people lamented similarly.
According to a number of US media reports, on the day of the incident, Zheng Yongzheng, a Chinese from Fujian, celebrated the Lantern Festival with friends. After walking out of the restaurant, he witnessed three Chinese being robbed by gangsters, so he stepped forward and was stabbed four times in a row...
Blood stains remain at the scene of the crime
After the unfortunate death of Zheng Yong, who saw the righteous courage, his relatives and friends revealed that he had planned to return to his hometown last year to visit his mother, who had not been seen for 27 years, but postponed the trip due to the epidemic.
According to U.S. media, there is no evidence that Zheng Yong's case is related to the recent surge in attacks against Asian-American communities. But it cannot be denied that since January this year, the number of discriminatory acts and hate crimes against Asians in the United States has continued to rise.
"We can't be bullied Chinese"
Zheng Yong could have avoided the conflict that cost him his life.
On February 26, local time, near Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn's Sunset Park Area, three masked gangsters rushed into the basement of a Chinese restaurant, robbed the cash and mobile phones of those present and prepared to flee the scene, but were torn apart by the people who chased them, and the two sides fought.
Meanwhile, at another restaurant not far away, Zheng Yong and more than 20 friends had just finished dinner.
Zheng Yong at dinner
On the way home from eating, Zheng Yong happened to bump into a scene where his compatriots were besieged by African-American gangsters. He did not choose to turn a blind eye, but shouted "we Chinese can not be bullied" while standing up to help.
The gangsters, who were anxious to escape, became angry, drew their knives and stabbed Zheng Yong, stabbed several other men, and then quickly left the scene in a white Mercedes-Benz SUV driven by their accomplices.
Screenshot of the video of Zheng Yong's murder
According to surveillance video at the scene, Zheng Yong stumbled back to his friend after being stabbed, grabbed the other person's arm, and then fell to the ground.
Some witnesses described that when she arrived at the scene, she saw that Zheng Yong had collapsed in a pool of blood. At first, he was able to speak, but gradually lost his breath, and his eyes closed and he lost consciousness. Someone covered his wound and shouted for him to stay awake, but blood kept pouring out of him.
After the first responders arrived, Zheng Yong was rushed by ambulance to the Longinjny Hospital of New York University. However, due to his injuries and excessive blood loss, he died that night.
Subsequently, senior Justice Department officials said the Justice Department would open an investigation into The murder of Zheng Yong over hate crimes. Two days after the incident, William Smith, one of the gangsters who killed Zheng Yong, was arrested by the police.
According to U.S. police, Smith is a repeat offender, having been arrested 13 times before. In 1996, he was sentenced to 5 to 15 years' imprisonment for manslaughter and possession of weapons. In 2006, he was released on conditional parole. But the man was unrepentant, arrested in 2007 for drug sales and later drunk driving in 2010.
Smith has pleaded guilty and he faces three counts: murder, robbery and assault. Police said Smith and at least two accomplices attacked Zheng Yong that day, and police are still pursuing his accomplices.
I had planned to go home to visit my mother, whom I hadn't seen in years
After Zheng Yong's death, his life experience and family situation began to attract much attention.
Local Chinese media reported that Zheng Yong was a native of Changle, Fujian Province, a long-distance bus driver before his death, and later lost his job due to the epidemic. He came to the United States at the age of 19, and after years of hard work, he married and started a family in the United States, and had a pair of children with his wife, the daughter is 14 years old this year, and the youngest son is only 5 years old.
Zheng Yong's father died many years ago, and his mother in her 60s was dependent on her sister, who was suffering from high depression, in China. For so many years, the livelihood of the Zheng family has been borne by him alone.
A few years ago, Zheng Yong finally got a green card and planned to return to his hometown in 2020 to visit his elderly mother who had not been seen for many years, but he did not think that the new crown epidemic had come, and the plan had to be temporarily shelved. Today, Mother Zheng is still unaware of Zheng Yong's murder, and her family is worried that she is too sad to tell her this bad news.
On the day of the incident, Zheng Yong's wife rushed from Philadelphia to New York overnight. But because the body is still being investigated and identified, she has not seen her husband for the last time. She looked at the young child and said sadly, "You are still so young..."
It is reported that Zheng Yong and his 5-year-old son have the same birthday on the same day, and usually on April 5 every year, father and son will celebrate their birthday together. However, a sudden bloody case took the life of a family pillar.
Zheng Yong's wife and daughter are heartbroken.
The news of Zheng Yongfen's unfortunate death in spite of his life to rescue overseas Chinese and the brave gangsters quickly spread in the local Chinese community. At present, the Fujian Hometown Association and other overseas Chinese groups have launched a fundraising campaign for Zheng Yong's family, raising 17,600 US dollars (1 US dollar is about 6.5 yuan). When accepting the donation, Zheng Yong's wife bowed to the crowd at the scene, "He (Zheng Yong) is a very good person, you can see how many people come today." ”
The day after Mr. Zheng's murder, New Yorkers staged a demonstration against violence against Asians. Senate Majority Leader Schumer, New York Mayor Blasio Blasio, New York Attorney General Zhan Lexia, New York Mayor-general Yang Anze and many other political celebrities have stepped forward.
Yang Anze wore a mask with the word "Yang" on it to participate in the demonstration.
Yao Jiuan, the administrative director of the Asian-American Union, said at the rally, "We were spat on, punched, kicked, shoved, slashed and stabbed. The racism that our community has encountered has become intolerable and really tough. ”
Cheng Shaoming, director of Tahota Washington Law Firm and a practicing lawyer in the United States, told the Global People reporter that the problem of racial discrimination has become one of the recognized persistent diseases in American society. After the outbreak of the epidemic, there has been a significant surge in crimes against Asians in the United States. According to statistics from relevant departments, there have been about 3,000 hate crimes against Asians in the United States in the past year.
Attacks against Asians are not uncommon even in public places: a young Chinese man was stabbed in the kidney and liver while walking on the road, dying, and the killer's reason was that "I just didn't like his appearance"; an Asian man was waiting for a car at a subway station and was scratched on the face by a stranger with a paper knife, leaving a long, obvious scar.
Chinese-American basketball star Jeremy Lin has not been able to get rid of discrimination. Recently, he said on social media platforms, "As a veteran who has played in the NBA for 9 years, I still can't avoid being called 'coronavirus' on the court." I feel sorry for those who hate others, who don't know each other ( the victims) and who are filled with hatred just because of the color of their skin. ”
Indignantly, many of the attacks targeted elderly people who were frail and unable to resist.
On January 28, an 84-year-old Asian-American man in San Francisco, California, was pushed to the ground and died. Police then arrested a 19-year-old suspect. The families of the victims believe that this was an attack stemming from racial discrimination.
Three days later, another 91-year-old Asian was injured by being pushed from behind in Oakland, California, Chinatown. According to the police investigation, the suspect also attacked two other Elderly Asians on the same day.
After a number of attacks on elderly Asians, Chinese actor Wu Yanzu and Korean actor Kim Dae-hyun issued a "reward order" on their social accounts, jointly offering a $25,000 reward to find the killer. Wu Yanzu and others said in an interview with foreign media that the crime of violent attacks against Asians has increased sharply in recent times, and the Asian community has been intolerable, and the reward pursuit is a counterattack to violence.
Some people buy guns, some people crowdfund to hire bodyguards
All sides are condemning the attacks on Chinese and Asians, and the U.S. government has taken some actions to try to solve the problem.
U.S. President Joe Biden signed a memorandum on his sixth day in office, asking all departments and agencies of the federal government to take appropriate measures to prevent officials' words and deeds and official documents from demonstrating or fueling racial discrimination and xenophobia, and asking the Department of Justice to assist in more accurately collecting data on incidents of hate against Asian Americans.
On February 17, New York City Mayor Speicher Blanchard spoke out, saying that New York City would not tolerate any discrimination and hatred against Asians. He stressed that asian-American communities face challenges and that communities need to come together to build a stronger and more compassionate city.
Late last year, New York City also formally formed an Asian Hate Crimes Task Force to crack down on the rising number of hate crimes against Asians since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic.
It is reported that the working group, with the Deputy Inspector of the New York City Police as the coordinating officer, gathered 25 police officers selected from various districts and sub-bureaus in the city, most of whom have multilingual skills and are proficient in Mandarin, Cantonese, Fuzhou, Korean, Japanese and other languages in order to provide assistance to Asians with language and cultural barriers. In the case of a hate crime investigation involving Asian victims, the panel will send a police officer who is similar to the ethnicity, language or even culture of the victim to seek to cooperate with the case investigation with a high degree of cooperation.
Member of the Asian-American Hate Crimes Working Group
However, in the view of lawyer Cheng Shaoming, although the US government has issued an executive order prohibiting racial discrimination, it takes a process to "correct" this behavior, and discrimination incidents will still occur during this period.
In this case, San Francisco Chinatown residents spontaneously formed volunteer teams. They patrolled with whistles and pamphlets, inspected ATMs and shops, handed out bilingual leaflets and taught Asian residents how to report to the police when they were in distress. In addition to San Francisco, similar patrols have occurred in Asian-American communities in Oakland, California, Los Angeles and New York.
In addition, some Asian shopkeepers have begun crowdfunding the purchase of personal bodyguard services in an effort to ensure their safety is not threatened. Other Asian shopkeepers have chosen to take up arms themselves and have prevented several violent attacks in quick succession. When queuing up to buy a gun, one Chinese-American noticed that most of the recent guns buyers were Asian.
For how to prevent hate crimes, lawyer Cheng told the "Global People" reporter that in a place where people are noisy, we must keep an eye on ourselves and pay more attention to our own safety. If you can travel in groups, travel in groups as much as possible and try to avoid going to some high-risk areas. If you encounter racial discrimination, be sure to call the police and get in touch with the offices of senators and representatives in your area. If you are worried about poor English and unfamiliar with the relevant laws, you can consult a local Chinese lawyer to ensure that your legitimate rights are not infringed.
Lawyer Cheng also said that Asians have made significant contributions to the construction and development of the United States, and everyone must resolutely resist the words and deeds of discrimination against Asians from any ethnic group. "The only way out for Asians is to unite and bravely say no to racism."