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Indian-American features in Time's 'Heroes of 2020' for giving shelter to 70 BLM protesters

WION Web Team
New York, New York, United States of AmericaUpdated: Dec 11, 2020, 04:21 PM IST
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Photograph:(Twitter)

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TIME described Rahul Dubey as "The Man Who Gave Shelter to Those in Need."

Indian-American Rahul Dubey, who had opened the doors of his Washington DC home to over 70 people demonstrating in the Black Lives Matter protests has featured in TIME magazine's 'Heroes of 2020' list. 

The Black Lives Matter protests were held against the killing of a Black man, George Floyd. Floyd, 46, died in Minneapolis on May 25 when a white police officer pinned him to the ground and knelt on his neck as he gasped for breath. His death triggered nationwide violent protests with a section of the protesters resorting to looting and rioting across the country, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

TIME described Dubey as "The Man Who Gave Shelter to Those in Need."

On June 1, as demonstrators filled the streets of Washington DC to protest the killing of African-American Floyd, Dubey was home, not far from the White House.

After a 7 pm curfew, he noticed crowds in the street outside as "police had set up barricades seemingly to trap protesters, and were pepper-spraying those who remained. Dubey decided to take action, TIME said.

"I open my door, and I start yelling, 'Get in!'" says Dubey, who works in the health care sector.

Dubey said he gave about 70 protesters refuge in his home, housing them overnight to avoid curfew breaches.

A report in TIME said Dubey claims police officers made several attempts to breach his sanctuary that evening: posing as protesters trying to get inside, and attempting to intercept the pizza delivery he had ordered for his houseguests.

The move to open his door was driven by instinct, Dubey says nearly six months later.

For his act, Dubey had been hailed as a hero and saviour as those who took shelter in his house started tweeting about it.

In the 'Heroes of 2020', the publication also named Australia's volunteer firefighters who risked everything to keep their country safe, food-stall owners Jason Chua and Hung Zhen Long in Singapore who wouldn't let anyone go hungry during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pastor Reshorna Fitzpatrick and her husband Bishop Derrick Fitzpatrick of Chicago, who transformed their church to support their community during the trying year.

A newspaper deliveryman Greg Dailey, who began a grocery drop-off service in mid-March to anyone in need along his paper route and has since supplied more than 140 homes and conducted over 1,000 grocery runs in New Jersey's Mercer county, was also named by the magazine.

"From citizens providing food and shelter to those in need to volunteers who protected their neighbours from natural disasters, these heroes went above and beyond the call of duty in 2020," TIME said.

(with inputs)