Young Demonstrators Lead Chants At Rising Sun Protest

Young Demonstrators Lead Chants At Rising Sun Protest

In photos 071 and 072, three young protestors stand in front of a microphone. One, identified as Ava Chin, has a sign around her neck with the only visible word being “Stop” while another is turned to the side looking out potentially speaking into the microphone and the third is looking straight ahead wearing a resist t-shirt (identified as Sonya Zabala). There are other protestors pictured in the background and there is a partial shot of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund banner in the background.

In photo 074, (from left to right) Bert Wang, Ava Chin, Tamaraw, and Sonya Zabala lead over one hundred demonstrators in chants at the opening of the film Rising Sun [1].

These photos take place in Times Square on July 30, 1993 during the protest of Rising Sun, a film widely criticized for its racist and xenophobic depictions of Asians. In particular, Japanese men are vilified in the film, portrayed as “deviant foreigners bent on taking over American institutions” [2].

1. “Rising Sun! Raising Hate!” CAAAV Voice vol 5, no. 2 (Fall 1993): Newsletter of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, page 3.
2. "Rising Sun! Raising Hate!"

July 30, 1993

Digitized by: Frank Chiang and Van Anh Tran
Catalogued by: Sam Marsh

Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities.

Photograph

Photo071
Photo072
Photo074