By Eric Wu, bostonese.com
Boston, April 27, 2015, — Dozens of Chinese Americans rallied in front of MA State House Sunday afternoon to protest serious charges filed against NYPD Officer Peter Liang after he accidentally shot a Black man Akai Gurley dead in a NYC housing project. Rookie Officer Liang was indicted with second degree homocide along with other serious charges on Feb. 12, 2015.
Protesters on the stairs between Boston Common and Beacon Street(photo by Eric Wu).
Some protesters at the rally felt justice has always been absent when the victims are Chinese Americans. Those who hurt the victims were free from charge or only slightly punished. But when a Chinese American became the one who hurt another person, the judgement suddenly turned very harsh. Comparing to those police officers who caused death of the innocents by mistakes and were free from charge, Officer Liang’s misfire was more of an accident as he did not point his weapon to the victim but the bullet hit the wall and bounced towards the victim.
Mr. Li Yang gave a speech to clarify the unfair judgement upon Chinese Americans. Mr. Li also quoted Charles Kaufman’s statement as the paraphrase of Officer Liang’s trial: “You don’t make the punishment fit the crime; you make the punishment fit the criminal.” Ms Xie explained more about the details of the accident in her speech, and also condemned the unfairness and discrimination.
In the Common Law system, a precedent or authority established in a previous legal case can become a rule when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Most police officers whose mistakes caused innocent people’s death were not charged for such a serious crime.
According to Li Yang, The United States is attracting intelligent and diligent people from other countries, and one of most critical reasons should be that American society has been recognized as the most fair and impartial. To keep such a good image and impression in people’s mind, unfair judgement must be avoided, or the American Common Law will be recognized as a joke. Bringing justice to Officer Liang is not only an important step in settling racial discrimination, but also a necessary action to save the reputation of the United States.