On Oct. 3, 2011, Su Zhen and Yan Tao Chen's lives changed dramatically. The couple's 19-year-old son, Private Danny Chen, was found dead in a guard tower in Afghanistan while he was serving in the army.
Chen shot himself in the head because he was facing racial military hazing by fellow soldiers, according to The New York Times.
UB's Asian American Student Union (AASU) held a candlelight vigil last Wednesday, on the eve of the second anniversary of his death, to memorialize Chen. Members of AASU hope to spread an anti-hazing message.
Students began to arrive at the Student Union Theatre at 7 p.m. The mood was somber as the audience listened to AASU's presentation and watched excerpts of a documentary titled, "What Happened to Danny Chen?"
What made this year's memorial especially emotional was that Su Zhen and Yan Tao were in attendance, according to Banny Chen, a junior visual study major and cousin of Chen.
"[One] reason they're here is to visit me and the other is for this event," Banny said. "Back in the city, they would show up to any and every event that's in honor of Danny ... with the connection of me here, they [had] the opportunity to come up."
Banny told Fiona Wong, a senior business administration major and the president of AASU, one of the things Chen missed most when he was in the military was homemade food. This year's event featured a buffet spread to honor Chen's love for certain foods.
Wong wants to host the event annually, but hopes to change up details of the event each year so that people won't forget Chen. This year's difference was the buffet.
AASU wants its members to know what happened to Chen and to keep paying respects as a reminder that issues such as hazing, bullying and suicide still exist, according to Wong.
Shawn Uy, a junior exercise science major and an AASU member, attended both this year's and last year's memorial events. He said Chen's death has changed him as a person.
"There [were] always rumors about hazing among the fraternities and sororities and I thought, 'You know, it can't be that bad' ... because you think we're in the 21stcentury and everything's a lot different," Uy said. "He was gone in Afghanistan for only two months and he committed suicide ... for me, it's more like carpe diem now."
Shao Bo Fang, a junior economics major, also attended AASU's remembrance event for Chen last year and didn't expect the club to do it again this year.
"It's amazing how people still remember what happened to him," Fang said. "He was the same age as us and he was Chinese-American."
Chen was accepted to UB but never attended.
"And that could have been any of us," Fang said. "We're no different from Danny Chen."
Banny said the club's goal was to make the night's event one that was "more educational." Chen's plight - being beaten and harassed by fellow soldiers - has been national news in the past year. The club's presentation included details of every event that had transpired since last year's memorial and relevant newspaper articles, too.
Eight soldiers were implicated in Chen's suicide. Last year, hundreds of petitions from UB alone were sent to the New York Chapter of the Organization of Chinese-Americans (OCA-NY) to attempt to move the trials from Afghanistan to the United States, according to Wong.
The trials were originally scheduled to be in Afghanistan, where Chen's parents would not be able to travel; the Army had advised the family not to go to Afghanistan for safety reasons, according to theNew York Daily News.
Wong believes these petitions signed by UB students largely contributed to the outcome - the trials were moved to North Carolina, and the Chens attended them.
Fang said the efforts made by Chen's family over the past year have created a "huge and positive" impact on the Asian American community.
"His death pretty much ignited a movement amongst Asian Americans especially," Fang said. "I feel like if this continues, more people will continue to remember his cause. There's even a street in Manhattan named after him."
Manhattan's Elizabeth Street on the Lower East Side will soon be renamed 'Danny Chen Way.' In addition, Banny believes his cousin's death played a pivotal role in the anti-hazing bill passed by President Barack Obama this year.
"In the news, it was pointed out that [the bill] was passed due to the suicide of a Manhattan soldier," Banny said. "I'm pretty sure that was pointing to my cousin."
Today, Chen's parents spend most of their time with family members and are no longer working, according to Banny. He said they used to work to provide for Chen but have since lost all motivation. As one of the event's organizers, Banny didn't want to "apply pressure" on his aunt and did not ask her to speak.
Banny hopes his cousin's incident eventually becomes general knowledge - and AASU continues fighting to do the same.
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