The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports that a Stop AAPI Hate mural, designed by cartoonist MariNaomi, was unveiled yesterday by the City of Rosemead and Los Angeles County Board. The mural, which is 10 feet high and 60 feet wide, was installed on the side of the Garvey Park Gym, and encourages readers to report, advocate, and intervene against hate crimes towards Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, which have increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The comic strip depicts a young Asian American reading a Stop AAPI Hate tweet about reported hate crimes, and realizing the number may be even higher as they haven’t reported an attack on them. Their cat points out America has scapegoated Asian citizens for centuries, but that it also has a proud history of Asian American activism, and now that they’ve been fully vaccinated, they can go out and help make a difference too.
Connie Chung Joe, the chief executive officer of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles, said the mural is “two things. For every Los Angeleno, it’s a wake-up call and it’s a call to action. It’s a wake-up call that Asian-Americans in this country have been scapegoated. Not just by this pandemic, but time and time again in American history.”
Hilda L. Solis, county Board of Supervisors chair, while greeting a group of local elementary school students who stopped by the event, stated the comic would encourage children to learn about the history of anti-Asian sentiment in America. “I want to encourage the young children that are here,” she said. “Thank you for coming. It’s really about them if you think about it. They’re going to be the ones who carry the message, and they’re going to be the ones to help set an example that we are all a family, that we are all together.”
MariNaomi is an Eisner Award-nominated Japanese American cartoonist, whose comics and paintings have been featured by institutions like the Smithsonian, the De Young Museum, the Cartoon Art Museum, the Asian Art Museum, and the Japanese American Museum. According to her Twitter account, the mural will remain “for a couple months” at Garvey Park Gym, 7954 Dorothy St, Rosemead, CA 91770. You can read the online version of the comic here.
