On Tuesday night, March 16, a shooter targeted three different salons and spas in the Atlanta-area. In the end, the massacre left eight people dead. Six of the victims were Asian American women.
VOLS mourns the loss of these 8 lives. Volunteers of Legal Service condemns these acts of violence, as well as the spate of attacks against Asian Americans particularly over the last year.
Following is a reflection piece and call to action by Kachun Leung, who serves at VOLS this year as an AmeriCorps VISTA Fellow, including contributions by Mai Toyohara, also a VISTA fellow at VOLS.*
I am tired.
I am tired because for far too long, members of the Asian American community have been taught and expected to remain silent.
When I read about Tuesday’s shooting in Atlanta, or the story of 84-year-old Vichar Ratanapakdee knocked senselessly to the ground in San Francisco, or the slashing of 64-year-old Noel Quintana on the New York City subway, or even the countless stories of harassment experienced by my peers, I immediately think about my own parents. My parents often brush aside their own struggles because they don’t want to worry me or my sister. It is a sentiment that is too far common in the community where elders will often minimize their own pain as to not burden others. It scares me that if anything ever happens to my parents, I may never know.
We can no longer afford to remain silent.
Make no mistake, violence against Asian Americans is not new — we have seen it through internment camps, exclusionary immigration policies, and the xenophobic targeting of religious communities. However, the hateful rhetoric that has spawned from the previous administration and the incessant misinformation campaigns have only fanned its flames. The Asian American Bar Association of New York estimates that there have been more than 2,500 instances of anti-Asian hate crimes between March and September of 2020. Even before New York’s COVID-19 lockdowns, Chinese and Asian-owned businesses have been hurt with more than three dozen small businesses shuttered in New York’s Chinatown since March of 2020.
Together with my colleagues at Volunteers of Legal Service, we mourn the loss of these 8 lives, and we condemn these acts of violence. As an organization, we have dedicated our work to ensuring an equitable and just recovery as our city emerges from the pandemic. We urge our City’s political leaders to swiftly pursue policies that can protect Asian American communities and ensure community healing. We also call on every New Yorker to speak up against xenophobia and act as an ally. We must all remain committed to #StopAsianHate.
Enough is enough.
* VOLS’ AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) Fellowship is made possible with the support of the Feerick Center for Social Justice at Fordham University School of Law.
Resources on Supporting the Asian American Community
Reporting Hate Crimes:
- Online Bystander Intervention Training from Asian Americans Advancing Justice (Chicago)
- Stop Asian Hate – A toolkit for Addressing Anti-Asian Bias, Discrimination, and Hate
- NYC Government: Stop Asian Hate Campaign – Another toolkit prepared by the New York City Government with additional information
Books and Literature:
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning. Cathy Park Hong. Published by One World, New York, New York. 2020.
The Making of Asian America: A History. Erica Lee. Published by Simon Schuster, New York, New York. 2015.
Not Quite White: Losing and Finding Race in America. Sharmila Sen. Published by Penguin Books, New York, New York. 2018.
Asian American Fiction Writers:
- Min Jin Lee: Pachinko, Free Food for Millionaires
- Ocean Vuong: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Night Sky with Exit Wounds
- Charles Yu: Interior Chinatown
- Viet Thanh Nguyen: The Sympathizers
- John Okada: No-No Boy
- Maxine Hong Kingston: The Woman Warrior
Other Media:
Asian Americans. WETA and Center for Asian American Media, PBS. 2020.
“Hate crimes. Harassment. Indignities. Being Asian in 2021.” Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC. 2021. Interview with Cathy Park Hong.
“An American Dream, Tarnished.” Julia Rothman and Shaina Feinberg, New York Times. 2021. Graphics based on story from Jason Wang of Xi’an Famous Foods.
News Articles and Essays:
“The long history of racism against Asian Americans in the U.S.” Adrian de Leon. PBS News Hour. April 2020.
“If We Called Ourselves Yellow.” Kat Chow. NPR, Code Switch. September 2018.
“My Menu For Lunar New Year: Guilt, Confusion, With A Side Of Angst.” Kat Chow. NPR, All Things Considered. January 2017.
“What It Means to Make Art as an Asian American in the Pandemic.” Eda Yu. KQED. 2020.
“The Muddled History of Anti-Asian American Violence.” Hua Hsu. New Yorker. February 2021.
“Crying in H Mart.” Michelle Zauner. New Yorker. August 2018.
“Attacks on Asian-Americans in New York Stoke Fear, Anxiety and Anger.” Alexandra Petri and Daniel Slotnik. New York Times. February 2021.
“String of attacks against older Asians leaves big city Chinatowns on edge.” Sakshi Venkatraman. NBC News. February 2021.
“America’s long history of scapegoating its Asian citizens.” Nina Strochlic. National Geographic. September 2020.
Groups Supporting Chinatown Businesses:
Welcome to Chinatown — https://www.welcometochinatown.com/our-mission
Send Chinatown Love — https://www.sendchinatownlove.com/