ATLANTA (AP) – A year after the fatal shootings at three Georgia massage businesses, crowds gathered at rallies across the country Wednesday to remember the victims and denounce anti-Asian violence that has risen sharply in recent years.
Six women of Asian descent were among the eight people killed in and near Atlanta on March 16, 2021. The slayings contributed to fear and anger among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and motivated many to join the fight against the rising hostility.
At the Atlanta Asian Justice rally, which drew some 100 people, speakers railed against the stereotypes of Asian women as either docile or exotic and said those harmful perceptions contribute to the violence.
“Being an Asian woman, you are hypersensitive to the fetishization that occurs. It just reminds me that there’s so much work to be done,” said Jennifer Fero, a school administrator of Korean descent who attended the rally.
Fero lamented that “it is up to us to educate the general public on the AAPI experience and what microaggressions and hate crimes look like.”