Candlelight vigil for 13-year-old Nyah Mway

The warmth of a hundred candles was carried on the wind through the crowd three times as large that attended the candlelight vigil in memory of 13-year-old Nyah Mway on Saturday evening.

About 24 hours after Nyah was shot by police, community members gathered on Shaw Street to mourn.

“We are gathered here to honor and support our little brother Nyah Mway,” said spokeswoman Kay Klo, director of the Midtown Utica Community Center. “He was tragically murdered by police officers.”

While authorities say an investigation is underway, members of the Karen community feel betrayed. Klo said the Mway family came to America nine years ago seeking safety from “…military, wars and police violence.”

Nyah Mway's mother kneels and prays among the candles lit for his vigil on Saturday.

Who are the Karen?

The Karen, also known as Kayin, Kariang or Kawthoolese, are a large and widely scattered ethnic group in Southeast Asia whose origins can be traced back to the Gobi Desert, Mongolia or Tibet, according to the Karen Women’s Organization. The Karen settled in Burma/Myanmar.

According to the website, during British colonial rule in the mid- and late 19th century, authorities recruited numerous Karen for their police and armed forces.

During World War II and the Burma campaign, these Karen became loyal Allied guerrilla fighters in the fight against the Japanese occupiers.

When Britain granted Burma independence after the war, the Karen had hoped to establish their own state. Instead, they were absorbed into the new Union of Burma, which was renamed the Union of Myanmar in 1989.

Forces of the predominantly Burmese government killed Karen villagers and a Karen uprising broke out, leading to a conflict that lasted until 1962, when the government promised to crush and unify the country. The so-called “Four Cuts Offensive” aimed to deprive the rebels of their food sources, funds, intelligence and recruits and lasted until 1990.

A ceasefire was agreed in 2012. But long before that, refugees were resettled in refugee camps, many across the border in Thailand, according to the Karen Organization of Minnesota. Refugees in Thailand were not allowed to leave the overcrowded camps they occupied and were arrested by Thai police if caught.

And some refugees could settle in numerous countries, including the United States.

“The stories don’t make sense”

The injuries caused by military and police persecution in their homeland are still fresh in the minds of many members of the Karen community in Utica, and they are demanding justice.

“The stories don’t add up,” Klo said. “The story they told at the press conference, what the witnesses said, and what’s on the video. None of it adds up. The police officers need to be investigated and held accountable for their actions.”

Klo’s words echoed through the streets before the same message was repeated in the Karen language, blending into a single cry for justice.

Buddhist monks from the community, many of whom had settled in Utica as refugees from Cambodia, spoke to the crowd in their native language and led them in a Buddhist prayer for Nyah.

At the end of the prayer, the monk spoke in English and asked the crowd: “What do we need?”

They quickly replied with the word “justice,” and were asked again, and again they said “justice.”

Pastor Debbie Kelsey of Tabernacle Baptist Church spoke to those in attendance.

“Some of us come as (Nyah Mway’s) family. Some come as friends. Some are classmates and some are neighbors,” she said. “We are all part of this community and we are all here to say that Nyah Mway lived. And he was loved. And he will never be forgotten.”

Who are the Karen?

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