In light of attacks against Asian American elderly that have been happening across the country, a group of students are taking matters into their own hands. The youth will be partnering with the Boston Police Department and three senior houses around Chinatown to distribute alarm devices to Asian American seniors. Cindy Ho, her sons Ryan and Kyle Ho, as well as friends Justin Mok, Alexander McKay, and Brendan Szeto held a fundraiser and ordered approximately 700 devices, which will be handed out at the Chinatown Gate.
“Seeing all the Asian hate crimes across America, and knowing that I have my own 88-year old grandmother, I wanted to find a way to help elderly in the Asian American community in Boston, so that none of these hate crimes could occur, to combat them,” said Ryan. “After brainstorming ideas, I saw that a family friend in New York actually had done this already. I gathered a few of my friends here, and we decided to make it and adapt it to Boston. We really wanted to find a way to provide a sense of safety and security for the elderly Asian American community.”
The team launched a GoFundMe page in April and were able to raise $4,000 in one weekend. They met mostly virtually to coordinate, communicating over Zoom and also texting about their ideas. According to Ryan, the alarm is a battery powered device, and when you hit a button on it, it sets off a loud sound that will startle an attacker and alert others around if the user is being harassed. The alarms will also be handed out at senior housing sites, Quincy Tower, and buildings on Stuart Street and Tremont Street. The friends said that they have encountered casual instances of racism before and do have some anxieties about the kinds of hate crimes that could happen in Boston.
“For me, I feel safe when I am around Chinatown. But my dad works around restaurants as a repairman. A lot of those restaurants have been getting threatened,” said Szeto. He added, “When my dad went to pick up dinner once, someone threatened him, while he was picking up the food. They said, ‘You caused this. You’re why we have to wear masks.’”
According to Stephen Moy, sergeant of Boston Police Department’s District One, which includes Chinatown, there is some crime in Chinatown, but the fear of crime is a more persistent and debilitating problem. He said that he hopes handing out the alarms will help reduce anxieties. Moy said that he has not seen a serious hate crime against Asians in Boston yet, but he has seen, “the other thing – people in a store might bump into each other by accident, and then someone throws a distasteful comment. I’ve seen a lot of that, but that doesn’t fall into hate crimes.” In the daytime, said Moy, things are “fairly fine,” with some people occasionally drinking in public. At nighttime, officer Steven Chen is positioned by the Chinatown Gate and Mary Soo Hoo Park, walking through Chinatown, beginning around Essex Street. Additionally, officer Zi Zou is stationed in a vehicle and takes many 911 calls. Moy said that he is hopeful about the distribution of the alarms.
“Anything positive wouldn’t hurt,” said Moy. “The extra layer of security wouldn’t hurt. What I don’t want happening is for elderly folks that have the alarm to have a false sense of security. That’s my fear. If you have any elderly Asian person who is walking, and they don’t have the capacity to yell or scream when they need help, and they have the alarm, it’s like a whistle. I think the extra layer is definitely a positive thing – anything extra we can do is great – but my biggest concern is that I don’t want folks to think that the moment they hit the button, they’re going to have a police officer right in front of them. That’s not the case. They have to do other things too, and that’s why we’re handing out cards to go with it. On the card, in Chinese and English, it will say, ‘make sure you know where you’re going at night. Make sure you’re aware of your surroundings. Make sure if you can travel in pairs, that you do that.”
Executive director of the Greater Boston Golden Age Center Ruth Moy said that for now, many seniors are choosing to stay at home. While they may have been doing this because of the pandemic anyway, they are tuned into what has been happening across the country and are being slightly more cautious.
“We have not had any reports of seniors being attacked in any way. Some seniors just don’t go out,” said Moy. “They stay home. But they are aware of what’s happening. […] Even going to the park, they’re very careful, because they’re afraid that something might happen. So they don’t stay out long.”
