NEW YORK—Jenny Wang knew time was tight. She rushed from work, driving an hour to get to her older sister’s apartment in Jersey City. Then, without missing a beat, Wang took the light rail to Manhattan, just in time for a Times Square mass protest on a Thursday at 8 p.m.
So far, Wang, a 23-year-old Taiwanese-American who lives and works in New Jersey, has attended four such rallies and protests for New Yorkers in support of the Hong Kong protests, despite the incredible commute.
The grassroots organizers don’t make it easy on her either. The flash of a text or a Facebook message is all the notice Wang receives just days or even hours before a protest happens.
But Wang has been making the trip more often in recent weeks. On weekends she lugs her suitcase to her older sister’s apartment, and practically moves in, on stand by for a sudden notification of a protest.
Wang and other Taiwanese in the United States, both foreign born and second generation, watch the ongoing Hong Kong protests closely, taking them to be a personal concern.
History Lesson
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests erupted on Sept. 28.
Hongkongers got fired up after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released a White Paper on June 10 that implied full authority over all of Hong Kong, ignoring its former promises of autonomy to the special administrative region that was once a British colony.
Plans to occupy the streets became serious after Aug. 31, when the (CCP) declared that in the 2017 elections for the region’s chief executive, Hong Kongers would vote on nominees chosen by a pro-Beijing committee. Protesters call this “fake democracy.”
Students and older generations of Hongkongers are calling for universal suffrage and the removal of the current chief executive Leung Chun-ying who was involved in a corruption scandal and has heavy ties to Beijing.
The protests have been dubbed “the Umbrella Movement” for the umbrellas people brought out when facing drenching downpours and then kept out to ward off tear gas, pepper spray, and police batons.
The sight of Hong Kongers fighting for democracy has inspired people in New York, Vancouver, Tokyo, London, and other cities to hold their own protests in solidarity.
