Members of the Filipino community who participated Thursday in a rally against Asian hate usually aren’t outspoken.
But a recent attack on an elderly man brought more than 200 people to the steps of the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas to demand justice for hate crimes against their community.
“Speaking up is not an Asian thing,” Henry Quindara, the victim’s son said to the crowd. “But if we want safety, we have to speak up.”
Amadeo Quindara, 75, was sitting in his garage last month in southwest Las Vegas when a neighbor attacked him, while saying racial slurs, his family says. A video of the attack, where Quindara can be heard yelling in pain, went viral.
“No son or daughter should hear their father scream the way he did,” said Henry Quindara, a U.S. Army veteran, who along with his brother Ray, a New York City police officer, stood by their father during the rally.
“This man took my dad’s dignity away. He took away his right to be an American.”
As the community watched the video, each Asian American immediately thought about their own fathers, said Jacque De Joya, president of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations Nevada.
“We respect our elders,” De Joya said. “Everybody deserves respect and to feel safe in their own home.”
De Joya shouted to the crowd Thursday, “An injury for one.”
Crowd members, most holding signs, responded, “An injury for all.”
Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones, who participated in the rally, said he was disgusted when he heard about the attack.
“This is not the first time we’ve had these incidents,” Jones said. “We cannot have this happen again.”
The crowd shouted, “No to hate,” back to Jones.
Data released by the FBI and reviewed by The Marshall Project shows there were about 2,600 more hate crimes reported nationally in 2021 than in 2020, with crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders increasing by 167% from 279 in 2020 to 746 in 2021.
The FBI’s data shows hate crimes also increased significantly for Metro Police, with 23 reported in 2019, 38 reported in 2020 and 155 reported in 2021.
Metro reported four anti-Asian hate crimes in 2021 and no such categorized crimes the previous two years.
Henry Quindara said it has been 31 days since his father’s attack and he hasn’t slept. He said police didn’t immediately arrest the suspect. When Christian Lentz later was arrested, it was on a count of battery.
“When I first heard about this our family was dealing with this alone,” Henry Quindara said.
And then the community started outpouring support, which he says “is absolutely astonishing and wonderful.”
The Clark County district attorney’s office has since upgraded the charges against Lentz to residential burglary and elder abuse perpetrated as hate crimes. Henry Quindara says those charges are a product of the community response.
“This is a defining moment for us,” said Gloria Caoile, co-founder of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations. “This is not about demanding this. It is about asking for respect for all of us. We are asking because we deserve it.”
More than 20 people spoke at the event, including leaders of the Black and Latino organizations.
“We stand as part of a national front that says Blacks, Asians, Jews, Hispanics have been targeted for far too long,” said the Rev. Robert Bush, president of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network Nevada. “We should shout it from the mountain tops. We lift our voices to say, ‘No more racism. No more hate.’ ”