A year after Atlanta spa shootings, Americans rally against anti-Asian hate

Americans protesting anti-Asian violence gathered in Atlanta and other US cities on Wednesday to mark one year since a mass shooting of women of Asian heritage in Atlanta-area spas awoke the nation to the spike in hate incidents against the community.

According to Press TV, advocates organized events in a dozen cities including Houston, Detroit, and San Francisco, to raise awareness over the growing risk of violence, accentuated in recent days by the brutal beating of a woman of Asian heritage in New York.

About 200 people assembled inside a freight depot on a rainy afternoon in Atlanta, some holding signs with the slogans, “We will not be silent” and “Asians deserve justice”, to mark the anniversary of when Robert Aaron Long fatally shot eight people at three spas in and around the city, including six women of Asian descent.

“I want to know: is America paying attention? I don’t think they are,” said Amy Chomthakham, a 52-year-old healthcare worker in attendance at the Atlanta event, where Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, is among those scheduled to give remarks.

While police say that Long, a white man, was driven to violence by his sex addiction, many saw misogyny and racial bias as likely triggers behind the massacre, which came as anti-Asian hate crimes were rising across the United States.

Experts have said the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in China, was prompting some people to lash out against Asian-Americans.

President Joe Biden issued a statement on Wednesday saying the shooting had forced Americans to “reckon with our nation’s long legacy of anti-Asian sentiment and gender-based violence” while highlighting the COVID-⁠19 Hate Crimes Act he signed last year aimed at combating violence against Asians.

The “Break The Silence – Justice for Asian Women” rallies on Wednesday will commemorate the lives taken in the Long shootings: Paul Andre Michels, 54; Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Daoyou Feng, 44; Yong Ae Yue, 63; Xiaojie Tan, 49; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; and Soon Chung Park, 74.

A total of 10,905 hate incidents targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were reported between March 19, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2021, according to research released this month by the nonprofit group Stop AAPI Hate. The majority of incidents concerned women and 16% involved physical assault, the group found.

A separate report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, showed that hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders rose 164% in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020.