4/1/2023 0 Comments Gia camera guardShe took the subway to work she was not reckless about her surroundings. Michelle did not live with fear of being attacked. The millions of people in New York City may not agree on everything, but we can agree that New York City should be safe for those who call it home. That is not a fitting ending for a woman who shared the best of herself with others. But we could possibly come to terms with, somehow understand and perhaps eventually accept that kind of loss.īut knowing that Michelle was murdered by being shoved in front of an oncoming train is unacceptable. If Michelle had died of Covid or cancer, my family and I would have still been overcome with grief. I once thought that hatred and murder were maladies that affected only other people. Our family holiday photo is in newspapers and on the television newscasts. My Michelle was emblazoned on a Times Square electronic billboard for the world to see at a rally on Jan. Worse, I now have experienced seeing my daughter, my family and myself in the news. Like so many others, I am shocked that I, too, have become desensitized to endless pictures of violence and murder in the daily news. It has been sad and physically exhausting to constantly hear and see the never ending strident voices spewing hatred over social media. As her parents, we know that no family should ever lose a child in this way nor suffer the endless anger, grief, despair and now numbness that we have felt and continue to feel one year later. But the uncertainty over Martial Simon’s mental state and the necessary but prolonged legal process only heighten our pain. Legally, this may not matter, given that her attacker has been found mentally unfit to stand trial. We do not have all the answers, and we may never know whether her death was motivated by racial animus. The grief from our loss engulfs the indignities of past discrimination we have encountered. Michelle’s death was a call to action for many, including those who see the crime Martial Simon committed as an example of ongoing anti-Asian hate. The Michelle we knew was dedicated to service, a savior rather than someone who needed to be saved. As a senior manager at Deloitte and selfless volunteer with the New York Junior League, she worked with people from all walks of life, from company leaders to the homeless. Stern School of Business and then flourishing at Citibank, Barclays and Deloitte. Michelle spent a third of her life in New York City, studying at the N.Y.U. She was then, and remains now, a wondrous child to us. Above all, she held faith and hope in the goodness of others. She had a passion for life, respect for others, dignity and self-respect. Michelle was a precocious child, much loved by others and filled with love for all those around her. Michelle was born in 1981, the year that Ed Koch was re-elected mayor of New York after winning both the Republican and Democratic nominations. My wife, my son and I mourn their passing every day. Together they represent a hole in our lives that can never be filled. My wife and I lost our second daughter, when she was an infant, to crib death, her life cut short before we even knew her. Michelle is not the first daughter that I have lost. Only now, 365 days later, can I express what Michelle meant to us and how her death continues to affect us. We pray that one day we will again see the New York that nurtured the love that Michelle had for life. We hope that the city does not become a place we can only associate with her death. It is because of her that on a regular basis, we as a family travel from our home in California to the city she called home. New York is the place where Michelle built her professional life, made so many friends and, most of all, enjoyed her life. Our grief has been lessened by having met and become friends with the many New Yorkers who knew Michelle. My family and I must return to New York City to deal with legal, estate and criminal issues related to Michelle’s death, despite the sad memories that the city now evokes. Kathy Hochul announced plans to help homeless New Yorkers living in subways. A month after Michelle’s death, Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. We now return to Manhattan to pay our respects to our daughter in the city she came to love. 15, 2022, at around 9:30 a.m., Martial Simon viciously shoved Michelle in front of an oncoming subway train at the Times Square station. It has been exactly one year since the death of our daughter, Michelle Alyssa Go.
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