Asian Americans were already scared. The killing of an Atlanta area spa feels like a terrible upside for them

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Many Asian Americans across the United States have been verbally abused, mutilated and tortured for months in a “grain rabies pattern” that coincides with the Covid-19 pandemic. The killing of eight people, mostly Asians, at three spas in the Atlanta area on Tuesday wiped out an already marginalized community, even as law enforcement has not yet proven its cause.

“We don’t know if this event is racially motivated, but you have to understand the deep fear our community has,” said Cynthia Choi, one of the co-founders of Stop AAPI Hate, co-founder. a coalition that monitors violence and harassment against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

“At this point, unless there is proof, we cannot rule it out because Covid (19) was racist, since the majority of the victims were Asian women, “said Choi.

The shootings in the Atlanta region have left the Asian American Pacific and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community across the country mourning and feeling a horrific escalation to the escalating violence. more familiar to them.

“I feel like that’s just taken to the very other end,” said Hanna Kim, a teacher from Novi, Michigan.

Kim, a 24-year-old Korean American, said she often feels like she has a target on her back. Last year, a parent wanted to take one of her students out of her second grade class because Kim was Asian.

“Are people going to say things to me?” Kim said that she often asks herself. “Are people going to avoid me because they think it’s me spreading the virus for some reason?”

‘Palpable fear’ in Atlanta after shooting

Advocates and members of the AAPI community have said they have made changes to their daily routines without warning. In a study conducted by Florida State University last year, more than half of Asian American respondents said they chose to avoid certain places, keep an eye on their surroundings and were careful about the language and words used. they use.

Hours before the shootings, Stop AAPI Hate had published their latest data on the number of complaints they had received. The report was part of an effort to renew their call for concrete action against the chaos and targeted discrimination.

Asian Americans said they have been targeted at least 500 times in the past two months

Since March 19 last year, the agency has received 3,292 complaints from all 50 states and Washington, DC. In the past two months, at least 503 hate incidents have been reported against Asians, the group said.

The majority of incidents – approximately 68% – were cases of oral harassment, with movement or avoidance being approximately 20.5%. About 11% of the incidents involved physical assaults, according to Stop AAPI Hate.

On the streets of Atlanta and across the United States, many people shared with CNN this week how their anti-Asian sentiment affected their lives.

Some said they were blamed for the Covid-19 pandemic and called out slurs while waiting for a bus in Baltimore, caring for their San Francisco patients , walking at the park in Colorado, working at a Japanese food truck in Las Vegas, and buying groceries in Oregon. They are also known as Filipino, Chinese or Korean Americans.

State Representative. Sam Park, the first Asian American Democrat to be elected to Georgia’s state house in 2016, said there is “obvious fear and anxiety” in the Atlanta area after the shootings.

“Whether it was racially motivated, it was an attack on Asian American women, against members of our community, and of course we want to do everything we can to protect everyone, “Park told CNN.

A growing Asian community

Across the entire Atlanta metro area, the Asian population of America and the Pacific Islands has grown significantly in recent years – a reflection of the growing and proliferating population movement across the world. state.

Throughout the primary and Senate runoff elections, AAPIs were a key part of an enterprise strategy. While AAPIs are a small segment of the electorate in Georgia, the number of Asian American voters has grown seven times greater than other ethnic and ethnic groups in the state.

The Pacific Asian American Women’s Forum said some of its members in Atlanta were concerned about the safety of their families, including those working in salons.

“We are appalled and appalled by the violence in Georgia that has taken eight lives, six of them Asian American women. We mourn the families of those victims. We are appalled and remain concerned for safety. members of our community across the country as Asian American violence has escalated, “Sung Yeon Choimorrow, the group ‘s executive director, said in a statement.

For the first time, Esther Kim said she is scared to travel home to Georgia for Easter to visit her parents. The student at Wheaton College in Illinois said she has been plagued with feelings of fear combined with sadness and even anger for hours.

“The victims of the shootings are very close to the age of my mother and my mother is Korean, as were the victims. It just does so really,” Kim said.

Raymond Chang, a Korean American who is a campus minister at Wheaton College, said he broke down in tears during a prayer vigil he held Wednesday, wondering how some of his students might to be hurt as the victims.

“The fact that the women killed in Atlanta in Korean really broke my heart because I saw the connections. It could be if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. Chang.

In the past few months, prosecutors, actors and officials have come together to denounce violence following a series of attacks in California and New York that have left several people badly beaten. injured and some dead.

Vice-President Kamala Harris, who previously spoke about the racism she and her family have committed in this country, said the shootings had “frightened” her everyone.

“(K) now with an increasing number of hate crimes against our Asian American brothers and sisters, we also want to speak out in close relationship with them and acknowledge that it should not None of us will ever be silent against hatred of any kind, “Harris said at a bilateral meeting with Irish officials marking St. Patrick’s Day st.

Last week, President Joe Biden spoke to the country on the one-year anniversary of the Covid-19 closure. During his speech, he criticized the hatred and discrimination that has been inflicted on Asian Americans.

CNN’s Natasha Chen, Nicquel Terry Ellis, Madeline Holcombe and Priya Krishnakumar contributed to this report.

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