February 2022 - Neighborhood View

Malden residents join protests against reported human rights atrocities in China

February 17, 2022 Nikita Sampath 0

By Nikita Sampath Two days after the Olympic Games began in Beijing, Chris Choi, a Malden nursing student originally from Hong Kong, was standing in the bitter cold in Copley Square with a group of protesters calling for a boycott of the games to draw attention to reports of human rights violations in China. “Any kind of participation in the games is equivalent to being complicit in the atrocities China is committing,” said Choi who has been organizing for No Beijing 2022 in the last few years. Choi’s family left Hong Kong following the Anti-Extradition Law protests in 2019-2020. A few miles away in Medford, a group of protesters, including some from Malden, have been gathering every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., in front of the Colonial Volkswagen dealership on Mystic Avenue. The protests started in reaction to the allegations that Volkswagen has been using forced laborers of Uyghur descent, an ethnic minority in China, in the company’s factory located in Urumqi, Xinjian, built in 2013. Organized by Maya Mitalipova, the president of the Boston Uyghur Association, the weekly demonstration […]

Incident sparks racial equity measures and further discourse in Malden

February 15, 2022 Saliha Bayrak 0

By Saliha Bayrak A series of recent events in Malden have deepened the city’s ongoing social discourse about racial equity, particularly as it relates to the Asian-American community, and have led to new initiatives by the City Council. On Dec. 11, 2021, roughly 100 Malden residents gathered outside the Malden City Hall Plaza, in a city home to over 13,000 Asian residents, for what they called a standout. The demonstrators held up signs reading “Stop Asian Hate,” led chants and created noise with drums and cymbals. The standout was part of an ongoing effort to address issues of race and representation in Malden, this time sparked by a social media post. In November 2021, images of City Councilor Jadeane Sica wearing a Halloween costume, which were deemed racist by organizations such as the Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition (GMAACC), were re-surfaced after being first posted on Facebook in 2019. Sica and her husband were portraying an Asian sex worker and Patriots owner Bob Kraft, a reference to Kraft’s arrest for soliciting prostitution at the […]

North Shore Black Women’s Association carries on the spirit of Dr. King

February 3, 2022 Martha Bezzat 2

By Martha Bezzat For several hundred members of the Greater Malden community, the Saturday before the Martin Luther King holiday was a time to gather at Anthony’s of Malden for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon. These past two years, the event has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and many deeply felt the loss of that tradition. “The North Shore Black Women’s Association’s MLK Jr. Luncheon is all about rejoicing and rededication,” said Adam Weldai, Ward 5 School Committee member. “It has been sorely missed these past two years, especially as the challenges of structural racism and inequality that so many have known and lived for so long have been brought to the forefront for those who it was less familiar to.” He added, “The luncheons, through speakers, song, and moments of reflection give us a chance to be among a caring community, remind us how connected we truly are, and give us the joy and strength to move forward with the work that needs to be done.” For 27 years, […]