On February 13, Rev. Franklin Richardson, chair of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, an African-American civil rights organization, met with City Councilman John Liu (D-Queens) to discuss what Richardson termed “a miscommunication” regarding his speech at the funeral of Christopher Ridely, an African-American officer killed by police fire.
The 23-year-old African-American officer, who was off-duty, tried to prevent a homeless person from attacking a Bronx man in an incident in White Plains. In the middle of the conflict, Ridely’s gun fell to the ground and attracted four police officers. In the midst of the chaos, Ridley was killed by a gun shot from a police officer.
At the funeral, Rev. Richardson said, “We cannot pretend that this would happen to anybody. This would not have happened to an Asian.” His speech prompted protest from City Councilman John Liu.
Richardson said that he did not intent to create any conflict between Asian Americans and African Americans. He only wanted to highlight the tragedy of an African-American man being shot by the police. According to him, although it was possible that police officers could inadvertently kill suspects and innocent bystanders, the reality showed that this usually happened to African-American men. Interpretation of his comment about Asian Americans was exaggerated; however, Liu had reason to question what was said and resolve immediately any possible racial conflicts between the two groups.
Liu said that many minority groups were sympathetic to the African-American community’s anger at the deaths caused by police officers. Asian Americans, because of the language barrier and racial discrimination, are sometimes also mistreated by police officers. In 1991, a Chinese-American student from Stuyvesant High School was killed by a police officer who thought that the student was a gang member. The Asian community believed that this would not have happened if the student was white. What happened to the African-American officer deserved attention.
Liu also commented on a CNN report that implied that Asian voters supported Hilary Clinton in her bid for president because she was white, calling it ludicrous. According to him, many Asian voters support Hilary because she has an established 10-year-old relationship with the Asian community, with her popularity even surpassing that of her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Liu considered irresponsible CNN’s use of one Asian voter’s opinion that implied Asian voters voted along racial lines. Currently, he is working with 80-20, a civil rights organization for Asian-American voters, to protest against CNN.
