Maya McFadden Photo
At Monday’s med school rally against anti-Asian hate.
Nearly 60 Yale School of Medicine (YSM) students and faculty gathered in the city’s medical district Monday to denounce local and national hate against the Asian community.
YSM members gathered in front of Sterling Hall of Medicine on Cedar Street to speak out about their first-hand experiences with racism, and to stand together against hate and xenophobia.
In response to this month’s murders of six Asian women in Atlanta, members of Yale’s Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA) and South Asian Medically-oriented Student Association (SAMoSA) partnered to host the solidarity gathering.
Attendees spoke out about dealing with patient hate and being exposed to anti-Asian slurs locally.
Darin Latimore
“The hate isn’t far away like so many people think. It’s here at home too,” said Deputy Dean for Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Darin Latimore.
The crowd held signs up reading “We Belong Here” and “Stop Asian Hate.”
Latimore said the Monday gathering was to organize the community against white supremacy. “America will never reach its full potential if the hate against any people of color continues,” he said.
Nichole Roxas.
Third year psychiatry student Nichole Roxas, 30, is the daughter of Filipino immigrants.
Roxas volunteered to speak at the event Monday. At the megaphone, she recalled being a freshman in high school and seeing a group of white students bullying an Asian student. Roxas supported the bullied student and realized the importance of solidarity and sisterhood, she said.
“Channel your rage into protecting each other,” Roxas said.
Roxas shared a Tagalog chant from the People Power Revolution to overthrow dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
“Tama na! Sobra na!” she said. “Stop it! It’s too much! Enough is enough!”
Roxas honored her and other minority ancestors who “sacrificed so much for me and gave me so much love that it is my duty to labor in love too,” she said.
She finished her thoughts at the megaphone with the Tagalog saying “Utang na loob,” meaning, “Debt of the heart.”
James Zhu
Third year YSM student James Zhu recently completed his clinical clerkship. Zhu recalled experiencing a lack of support from his colleagues at times that he had to deal with prejudice and hate.
“I know it’s our job to take care of our patients,” he said, “but it’s so important to take care of our own.”
