Nearly 50 people attended the Atlanta Spa Shooting Commemoration hosted by APA Chaya on March 15 at Hing Hay Park. (Photo by Liu George)
A year after the deadly shooting at three massage parlors in Georgia, crowds across the country gathered last week at rallies to honor the victims and condemn the sharp rise in anti-Asian violence in recent years.
On March 16, 2021, six Asian women were among the eight killed in and around Atlanta. The killings have fueled fear and anger among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and prompted many to join the fight against growing hostility.
At the Asian Justice Rally in Atlanta, which drew about 100 people, speakers slammed stereotypes that viewed Asian women as docile or exotic, saying those harmful perceptions fueled violence.
Nearly 50 people attended the Atlanta Spa Shooting Commemoration hosted by APA Chaya on March 15 at Hing Hay Park. (Photo by Liu George)
Stop AAPI Hate has been tracking incidents across the country based on victims’ self-reports. From March 19, 2020, to the end of last year, 10,905 incidents were recorded, including 4,632 in 2020 and 6,273 in 2021. Women reported 61.8% of the incidents.
Earlier this month, a black man assaulted a 67-year-old Asian woman in the foyer of an apartment building in Yonkers, New York, before using anti-Asian slurs, police said. Also this month, a 28-year-old white man was charged with a hate crime after police said he randomly assaulted seven Asian women within two hours.
Prejudice and discrimination against AAPI is nothing new in the U.S., but racist verbal and physical attacks have risen sharply after the coronavirus first emerged in China more than two years ago, with former President Donald Trump using racial terms to talk about the virus fueling trend.
Asian women tend to be seen as submissive and easy targets, and less likely to fight back. This stereotype and reality about how gender bias and racism work has created an environment in which Asian American women are disproportionately targeted.
An NPR poll last October found that in the past few months, one in four Asian Americans feared that their family members would be attacked or threatened because of their race or ethnicity.
We need our safety back.
How long do we have to live without fear of being attacked because of our skin color and appearance? We are not foreigners. We are as American as any other American who lives and works in this country.
When will we be free to attain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
