International Mother Language Day, Feb 21 @ Ave C/McDonald Plaza

In celebration of the UNESCO-proclaimed "International Mother Language Day" on February 21, the Kensington Bangladeshi community will place flowers at a temporary “Shaheed Minar” (martyr's monument), at the island plaza on McDonald Avenue and Avenue C from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m, announced Abu Khaliquzzaman, the sole Bangla-speaking member of  Community Board 12, at its meeting  last Tuesday, January 25. He encouraged everyone to attend.  Yes, you read the time right:   11 p.m. until  2 a.m.

The February 21 event honors 4 students killed in Dhaka, the capital of Banglaldesh, in 1952 for speaking Bangali. Their deaths kicked off years of struggle, culminating in a war for independence from Pakistan that began March 25, 1971. Bangla did not become an officially recognized language until 1956.

"According to Bangladeshi sources, 200,000 women were raped and over 3 million people were killed during this conflict," the Wikipedia account reports.  In Bangladesh it was termed a genocide, but American consular personnel stationed in Bangladesh also used term, "selective genocide," in internal documents. See Wikipedia article cited above.