Camden Hunt poses for an image at a rally on Saturday, March 20, 2021, throughout from the Georgia state Capitol in Atlanta to demand justice for the victims of shootings at therapeutic massage companies days earlier. A 21-year-old white man is accused of killing eight folks, six of them girls of Asian descent, at three Atlanta-area therapeutic massage companies Tuesday. Hunt stated she got here out to the rally Saturday to “present Black and Asian solidarity.” (AP Photograph/Kate Brumback)
ATLANTA (AP) — A various crowd gathered Saturday in a park throughout from the Georgia state Capitol to demand justice for the victims of shootings at therapeutic massage companies days earlier and to denounce racism, xenophobia and misogyny.
The a whole bunch of individuals of all ages and various racial and ethnic backgrounds who gathered in Liberty Plaza in Atlanta waved indicators and cheered for audio system, together with U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff and Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen, the primary Vietnamese American to serve within the Georgia Home.
“I simply wished to drop by to say to my Asian sisters and brothers, we see you, and, extra importantly, we’re going to stand with you,” Warnock stated to loud cheers and towards the backdrop of drivers in passing vehicles honking their horns in assist. “We’re all on this factor collectively.”
Robert Aaron Lengthy, a 21-year-old white man, is accused of killing 4 folks inside two Atlanta spas and 4 others at a therapeutic massage enterprise about 30 miles (50 kilometers) away in suburban Cherokee County. Six of the eight folks killed on Tuesday have been girls of Asian descent. One other particular person additionally was shot however survived.
Investigators have stated Lengthy confessed to the slayings however stated they weren’t racially motivated. He claimed to have a intercourse habit, which induced him to lash out at what he noticed as sources of temptation, in line with authorities. Police have stated they’re nonetheless working to ascertain a motive, together with wanting into whether or not the assaults will be categorized as hate crimes.
Georgia lawmakers final yr handed a hate crimes regulation that enables extra penalties to be imposed for sure offenses when motivated by a sufferer’s race, coloration, faith, nationwide origin, intercourse, sexual orientation, gender or incapacity. A hate crime isn’t a standalone crime underneath the regulation, however it may be used so as to add time to a sentence as soon as somebody is convicted of one other crime.
“Irrespective of the way you need to spin it, the info stay the identical. This was an assault on the Asian neighborhood,” stated Nguyen, who has been a frequent advocate for girls and communities of coloration. She famous that the shooter focused companies operated by girls of Asian descent.
“Let’s be a part of arms with our ally neighborhood and demand justice for not solely these victims however for all victims of white supremacy,” she stated.
A pair hundred folks gathered in a separate park within the coronary heart of downtown Atlanta and marched collectively by means of the streets to affix the bigger rally, yelling slogans like “Cease Asian hate” and “We’re what America appears to be like like.”
Frankie Laguna, 23, who grew up in Atlanta however now lives in Tennessee, was an organizer of that group and advised the gang she was the primary particular person in her household born within the U.S. after her mom got here right here from Taiwan.
“I’m sick of being belittled and hypersexualized and hated for who I’m, for one thing I can’t change,” she stated because the group started marching towards the Capitol.
She additionally participated in protests final summer season towards racial injustice and police brutality. “I’m bored with having to be out right here yearly to struggle the identical struggle,” she stated.
Bernard Dong, a 24-year-old scholar from China at Georgia Tech, stated he got here out to the protest throughout from the Capitol to demand rights not only for Asians however for all minorities. “Many occasions Asian persons are too silent, however occasions change,” he stated.
Dong stated he was “indignant and disgusted” concerning the shootings, and the violence that persists in 2021 towards Asians, minorities and ladies.
Otis Wilson, a 38-year-old photographer who’s Black, stated folks want to concentrate to the discrimination these of Asian descent face. “We went by means of this final yr with the Black neighborhood, and we’re not the one ones who undergo this,” he stated.
Camden Hunt, a 28-year-old Black lady, stated she first obtained concerned in activism in her native Baltimore. She beforehand attended protests over the dying of Freddie Grey, a Black man who suffered a damaged neck in police custody in Baltimore in 2015, triggering riots and protests that yr. She moved to Atlanta 4 years in the past and obtained concerned in neighborhood organizing, final summer season pulling collectively an occasion to assist Black girls victimized by police violence.
Hunt got here out to the rally Saturday to “present Black and Asian solidarity.” She stated she was heartened by the varied crowd: “I believe it’s superb. I look out and I see folks of all shades and ages and backgrounds.” In San Francisco, a whole bunch gathered in Portsmouth Sq., the park in the midst of Chinatown, to grieve the victims and to name for an finish to racist and sexist violence towards Asian People.
The members waved indicators studying “cease Asian hate.”
One particular person wrote “We pray for peace, justice & security for the AAPI neighborhood,” whereas one other said, “We’re ALL People.”
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Related Press writers Candice Choi in Atlanta and Daisy Nguyen in San Francisco contributed reporting.
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