Aunt speaks out after niece attacked on SEPTA train: ‘She did the right thing’

https://6abc.com/septa-police-philly-train-assault-video-broad-street-line-race-relations/11253759/

High School student demonstrates courage — An Asian American Central High School student was brutally beaten while defending four young Asian American students during a recent attack on a Philadelphia subway train on November 17.

The victim’s aunt, Mei Lu, says her niece was defending four ninth-grade boys she didn’t even know.” Kicked multiple times, she suffered injuries around her eyes, her hand and other parts of her body. Lu said her niece “stood up to defend the students because they are younger than her.”

Lu reported asking her niece, ‘Because you think the boys are Asian you want to protect your own ethnicity?’ And she said, ‘No. No matter if they’re Asian, African American, Caucasian, I am doing the right thing.'”

Charges against the alleged attackers for charges related to ethnic intimidation, conspiracy, and assault have been approved by the District Attorney. Authorities say the suspects are juveniles ages 13-16. Three of the four suspects were in custody as of Friday evening.

While NSC had received an inspiring report of a recent hate crime in Koreatown being broken up by an African American, the media tends to over-promote Anti-Asian violence attacks from African Americans while rarely covering the majority of attacks, which have been launched by white supremacists, or sometimes “whitewashing” other acts of violence suffered by Asians across the U.S.

We wish quick healing for Mei Lu’s niece, and NSC will continue to build solidarity across communities. NSC will work to support all efforts to counter ignorance and economic injustice that exacerbates racist conflict.