A video has surfaced online that shows a man hurling racial slurs at a Stop Asian Hate rally in Richmond on Sunday.
Richmond RCMP confirmed that the incident was reported to the police and the investigation is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, earlier footage and reports shows that the man involved in Sunday's incident appeared to vent to another group of Asian individuals in Downtown Vancouver last year.
The man later wrote an apology letter to the Richmond News saying he was sorry for what he did.
On Sunday, members from the local Chinese-speaking community showed up at Richmond-Brighouse Station to hold a rally to raise awareness of the rise of anti-Asian hate and promote cross-cultural dialogues to combat racism.
However, near the end of the event, a few attendees were approached by the man who started hurling racial slurs at them.
As the confrontation went on, Patrick Lui, one of the volunteers at the rally, started recording the interaction via his phone. In the video, the man could be heard saying “If you want to still live like you are in China, stay in China. Eat your Chinese food...I am angry at the Chinese culture” and “you’re no different than any other culture, you’re not special and you give that impression.”
Lui later posted this video via his personal Facebook account.
Another attendee, Ally Wang, said she was shocked at the time.
“It’s more painful to actually experience racism on your own than reading news about people being attacked by racist rants or incidents,” said Wang, adding that this was her first time facing racism after immigrating to Canada more than 10 years ago.
“The only passport I hold is the Canadian passport. We are all Canadians and nobody should have the right to tell me where I should go. As a multicultural society, accepting differences and embracing diversity is what makes us unique. The incident also means we need to do more to address racism.”
After seeing the man showing no signs of stopping, Lui began asking for help from passersby. A young man and his friend stepped in and tried to help group members out, according to Wang.
Richmond City Councillor Chak Au said it was “absurd” to see a racist incident taking place at a Stop Asian Hate rally, but he also saw the bright side of it.
“It’s so beautiful to see the young man stepping in to help and his behaviour gives us hope and encourages us all to work together to make this place much better,” said Au.
