A series of shootings in Atlanta earlier this month resulted in the tragic deaths of eight people: Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Yue, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, and Daoyou Feng. Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz was shot, and he has survived. This racially-motivated mass murder has sparked a movement of support for our Asian brothers and sisters.
A wave of protests and rallies have erupted across the nation, with Americans standing in solidarity with the Asian community as well as activists calling for change.
The Answer Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) called for Saturday, March 27th to be the national day of action against anti-asian violence and china bashing. The Answer Coalition organized 60 rallies in cities across the US; a complete list of rallies can be found here.
Of course just one day of Asian Empowerment is not enough; protests, and rallies are only the beginning of demonstrating that any hate is not something our society can tolerate.
There are currently two bills in congress addressing hate crimes. The No Hate Act, sponsored by Senator Blumenthal (D-CT), focuses on improving hate crime reporting at state and local government levels. The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, sponsored by Senator Hirono (D-HI), calls for an expedited review of COVID-19 related hate crimes, as well as addressing racially discriminatory language when addressing the pandemic.
An increased push for Asian American Support services and Asian representation in the Biden Administration is being pushed by activists and other organizations. Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta has called on state and local leaders to increase and develop crisis-intervention resources and multilingual resources especially for the Asian American community.
This is only the beginning. The outcry and support for our minority communities is moving. We must continue to band together, as through unity we can fight for justice.
1. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/19/atlanta-spa-shootings-vi…
2. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/26/stop-asian-hate-as…
Links for action & further reading