Chen’s family does not accept the military’s initial explanation that Chen committed suicide. They claim that the Army told them Chen was “beaten” by his superior officers, and made the video above to publicize Chen’s case. His family and friends, supported by the local chapter of the Organization for Chinese Americans, held a candlelight vigil in lower Manhattan on December 15 demanding an official investigation. Local TV news reported that 400 people attended.

At the rally, speakers suggested Chen was hazed because of his race. One read from a February message they said Chen wrote: “They ask if I’m from China a few times a day… They also call out my name Chen in a goat-like voice sometimes for no reason. … People crack jokes about Chinese people all the time. I’m running out of jokes to come back at them.”