Gary Pan, Chief Davis, Captain Becker, Tian Olson. Photo contributed
While families across the county celebrated Father’s Day with hearty brunches and family get-togethers, 43 police officers from the Fairfax County Police Department McLean District Station were working on this special day to keep our community safe. To show the community’s appreciation and support, the Chinese American Parents Association of Northern Virginia (CAPA-NoVA) brought in delicious meals from a local Chinese restaurant to the 43 officers on duty this Father’s Day.
CAPA-NoVA is a non-profit, non-partisan organization founded in October 2020. The majority of CAPA-NoVA’s 700-plus members are residents of Fairfax County. The founders of CAPA-NoVA, Yuyan Zhou, Jun Wang and Jay Song, formed this organization in response to the recent rise in discrimination against Asian Americans. CAPA-NoVA’s mission is to address this issue at the root causes. Since inception, CAPA-NoVA has been actively promoting inclusion of Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) history in Virginia’s public school curriculum, advocating for advanced math curriculums to help all students achieve academic excellence, gathering and funneling the Chinese American community’s input on issues affecting the community to elected officials, providing cultural and language learning opportunities to the Chinese immigrant community to help them succeed, and hosting community building events such as spring cleaning of neighborhood public areas and Teacher Appreciation Week gift donations.
In March 2021, four teenagers harassed a CAPA-NoVA member’s son with racially charged verbal insults and spat at his direction on the campus of Longfellow Middle School. The police officers from the McLean Station quickly responded to the call from the boy’s father. The officer handled this incident with the utmost diligence and professionalism. The Chinese American community felt the support from the police officers amid the rise in hate crimes against the community. The CAPA-NoVA leadership team decided to do something to show support for our police officers who put their lives at risk every day to protect our community. This Father’s Day was the perfect day, and who does not like good Chinese food? CAPA-NoVA’s President, Yuyan Zhou, said at the event, “The members of CAPA-NoVA want to let our police officers know that our community appreciates all your hard work and supports the police department’s mission. We hope these meals will brighten your day. Thank you for keeping our community safe!”