Marking the 2nd anniversary of the Atlanta shootings by prayers, flowers, candles and speaking out

Remember their names.

OPINION

Yesterday, March 16, was a somber day of reflection as the two-year anniversary of the Atlanta spa shootings that took the lives of eight individuals, six of whom were Asian American women.

The mass shootings began on the afternoon of March 16, 2021, in Cherokee County, Georgia, near Atlanta.

Deputies were called out to Young's Asian Massage parlor located along Georgia Highway 92 near Bells Ferry Road, about a mile west of Woodstock. It was there that 22-year-old Robert Aaron Long shot and killed four people: Xiaojie "Emily" Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; Delaina Yaun, 33; and Paul Michels, 54 — and seriously injured Elcias Hernandez Ortiz.

Less than an hour later, Long drove about 30 miles south to Atlanta, where he killed three women — Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; and Hyun Jung Grant, 51 — at Gold Spa, crossed the street and killed 63-year-old Yong Ae Yue at Aromatherapy Spa.

Spurred by the racist rhetoric from the Donald Trump administration, latent bigotry in many individuals was unleashed that resulted in attacks against people of Asian decent, In the year following the attack in Atlanta, Stop AAPI Hate documented nearly 5,000 hate incidents targeting the AANHPI community.

The attacks against AANHPI continue to this day. Recently released FBI hate crime statistics show that there were 789 attacks against AANHPI in 2021, the same year the Atlanta shootings took place. That number was almost 500 more hate crimes – a 168% increase – over the 2020 figures and, by far, the highest number of reported hate crimes against AANHPI community members and institutions since the FBI data collection program began in 1991.

Two years after Atlanta, we in the AANHPI community mourn the loss of lives and the thousands of individuals who have been scarred, not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally, by the continuing attacks.

After the expressions of sadness and sympathy, the attacks have spurred an activism within the AANHPI communities smashing the stereotype of a reticent, acquiescent community. That new energy of standing up and speaking and joining together has sparked a new era for the AANHPI community resulting in unprecedented activism in the arts, education and politics that cannot be deterred and cannot be ignored.

No matter what your immigration status is, if you are a citizen or not, if you live, study or work in this country; no matter if you have an accent or speak another language; no matter if you are half, a quarter, one-eighth, one-sixteenth of Asian descent, or you have only an drop of Asian blood in you; you are all part of Asian America.

As a community we remember Atlanta with observances throughout the nation - saying prayers, laying flowers and lighting candles - from the coastal metro hubs to the enclaves of AANHPI in the Midwest and the South, we join with you all in crying out with righteous indignation: No more to the silence, no more to isolating ourselves, no more to the hate.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.