One Year After The Atlanta AAPI Shooting, AAPI Women Are Being Hunted In The Streets

“A simple trip to the market, thought the streets were safe / Turned targets, I speak up for my people’s sake / From this pandemic, I’m hopeful that we’ll see escape / Until then, love’s the only vaccine for hate.” — MC Jin

Last March, Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; and Yong Ae Yue, 63, were gunned down in the “Atlanta spa shootings” — where six of the eight victims were Asian women.

The Atlanta Asian Justice Rally Coalition, which comprises several Asian American nonprofit organizations, grassroots community partners and allies, will host an Asian Justice Rally — Break the Silence on March 16 from noon to 2 p.m. at Liberty Plaza, in front of the Georgia Capitol.

The Atlanta Asian Justice Rally — Break the Silence is being coordinated nationally with organized AAPI events being held the same day in major cities, including New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Houston. The White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) has also requested to participate in the event.

Supporting and co-sponsoring organizations of the coalition include:

• The Center for Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS)
• The People’s Uprising
• Atlanta Korean American Committee Against Asian Hate
• Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association (GAPABA)
• National Association of Chinese Americans (NACA)
• National Association of Asian American Professionals – Atlanta (NAAAP-Atlanta)
• Korean American Coalition (KAC)
• APAs vs Hate
• Asian Pacific Institute on Gender Based Violence (API-GBV)
• Ramos & Law
• The Long Tran Radio Show

In the past year, Asian Americans have been targeted in almost 3,800 hate incidents, with over two-thirds aimed at women of Asian descent. In the past two years, there have been over 10,000 reported hate incidents against AAPI victims.

Inflammatory rhetoric and xenophobia have led to increased attacks and an uptick in hate crimes on the AAPI community across the United States.

The nightmare scenario is here. Another week in the pandemic, more series of vicious attacks on unsuspecting Asian American senior citizens. Another broken hip, a half-dozen more stitches, trolley assaults, and subway attacks. Asian Americans are more stressed by Anti-Asian hate than COVID-19.

As highlighted in the #stopasianhate social media campaign:

• Since COVID-19, anti-Asian hate crimes have increased by 1900% in the United States
• Nearly 3,000 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents were reported in over 47 states and the District of Columbia
• 7.3% of the reports counted the most vulnerable — elderly Asians — as the victims
• Many crimes go unreported or are not classified as hate crimes

As Gemma Chan wrote earlier this month: “Hate crimes against Asians and Asian Americans have skyrocketed. The community is in pain from these completely unprovoked attacks but the crimes are too often ignored and underreported. Imagine if this was your [mother or grandmother]?”

In the seminal Citizenship Clause case involving Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court stated: “We are entirely ready to accept the provision proposed in the constitutional amendment, that the children born here of Mongolian parents shall be declared by the Constitution of the United States to be entitled to civil rights and to equal protection before the law with others.”

Back then, some politicians argued that the Chinese were so different in so many ways that they could never assimilate into American culture, and they represented a threat to the country’s principles and institutions. Let the record reflect that we have assimilated into American culture, even at the expense of losing and letting go of some of our own culture.

And now our parents and grandparents are being dehumanized, left traumatized, and facing attacks on a daily basis.

In January, Yongia Lee, 65, was stabbed in the neck in her own store and is now paralyzed from the neck down and unable to speak. And Michelle Alyssa Go, 40, was shoved to her death at the Time Square subway station.

In February, Christina Yuna Lee, 35, was stabbed to death inside her lower Manhattan apartment by a man who tracked her from the street.

A week ago, a man punched, shoved, and elbowed seven Asian women, who ranged from 19 to 57, in the span of two hours across Manhattan.

On Friday, a 67-year-old Asian woman was nearly beaten to death outside of her home, barely surviving 125 punches and a foot-stomping. As NBC New York reported, the victim suffered facial bone fractures, brain bleeding, and multiple contusions and lacerations to her head.

Asian women could all use someone in their corner right now, especially those who can’t protect themselves from sucker punches, unprovoked attacks, and hate crimes.

We need to continue to voice our outrage. We need to step up to protect our most vulnerable.

This isn’t a political issue, it’s a humanitarian issue. If you witness someone being bullied or assaulted, please speak up and shield them.

For more information about the Atlanta Asian Justice Rally — Break the Silence on March 16, visit: www.breakthesilence.day, or on Facebook: @AsianJusticeRally.

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Renwei Chung is the Diversity Columnist at Above the Law. You can contact him by email at [email protected], follow him on Twitter (@fnfour), or connect with him on LinkedIn.