CLEVELAND — Since the beginning of the pandemic, crimes targeting Asian Americans have seen a significant rise.  

On Sunday, nearly 1,000 people came together in Cleveland's Asiatown for the #StopAsianHate March.

People of all ages, races and backgrounds came together in solidarity. 

Demet Peralta was at the march with his daughter. 

“We are not going to stay silent about this anymore," said Peralta “We have to stand up, for our rights and our culture.” 

Peralta said he experienced racism his entire life. 

"I've always had the underlying problem of racism," Peralta said. "You’ll hear the backhanded comments that are meant to be funny, but they are really not funny at all.”

Peralta said over the past year, racism towards the Asian-American community has increased due to misinformation and derogatory terms surrounding the coronavirus. 

“We have to stop it," Peralta explained. "We have to make people aware of what’s going on and stop the racism.” 

The march made it clear that the discrimination has no age limit. Erica Liu, 14, said she has experienced it firsthand.

“When I was a kid in elementary school, I did experience some discriminatory things in my school." Liu said. “I want them to know that we are not pushovers, and we will speak out to end the violence against us."

Regardless of age, the Cleveland community came together to share one message. 

“We are all Americans No. 1," said Peralta. "We are all people, and we should all be together as one unified people, and I don’t think anyone should be better than anyone else.”