NYC announces first-ever parade celebrating Asian American heritage
Image courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr
The city’s first-ever parade celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander New Yorkers will take place this weekend, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday. On Sunday, May 15, the AAPI Cultural and Heritage Parade will start in Midtown at 6th Avenue and West 44th Street and head north to West 55th Street. New York City’s newest parade comes during AAPI Heritage Month and as the city continues to experience a spike in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
“Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebrates New Yorkers who contribute to the rich culture that makes New York the greatest city in the world,” Adams said in a statement. “As we work to combat a spike in hate crimes, it is important to support and uplift our AAPI brothers and sisters. We are proud to announce the New York City’s first annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Cultural and Heritage Parade and pay tribute to the generations of New Yorkers from the Asian and Pacific diaspora.”
New York City is the home of the second-largest Asian American and Pacific Islander population in the United States. Since the start of the pandemic, the city has seen an uptick in race-based crimes against Asian New Yorkers. Beginning in February 2020, the city said it received a sevenfold increase in reports of anti-Asian harassment, discrimination, and violence, which are believed to be underreported.
In 2021, there were 131 separate incidents over the course of the year, as Gothamist reported. According to NYPD data, hate crimes against the Asian community have dipped during the first quarter of 2022.
“In these pandemic times and with Anti-Asian intolerance, division, and hatred on the rise, it is so important for all of us to come together to celebrate our collective humanity — in a rare historic parade — as it is about time that we march together with each other to show our solidarity,” Wellington Z. Chen, executive director of the Chinatown BID/Partnership, said.
The AAPI Cultural and Heritage Parade parade kicks off Sunday at 10:45 a.m. on Sixth Avenue and West 44th Street and moves north 10 blocks.
As 6sqft reported this week, the city’s first-ever parade celebrating Japanese culture takes place the day before. The Japan Parade will be held on May 14, starting at Central Park West and West 81st Street to 68th Street. Following the parade, there will be a street fair at 69th Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
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