Dear Friend,
Last night, eight people -- six of them Asian American women -- in three
Atlanta spas were shot to death by a white man. [ [link removed] ] Our hearts are broken
for the victims’ families, for Atlanta, and for the Asian American Pacific
Islander (AAPI) community that has already been living in fear due to the
escalation of AAPI hate crimes. [ [link removed] ]
While we don’t yet know the full details of the Atlanta shooting, we do
know that the shooter used gun violence to kill innocent people. This
mindset of reaching for a gun is all too pervasive and terrifying.
[1]Our elected leaders must act now to stop gun violence, starting with
the small first step of passing universal background checks on gun sales.
Authorities have raised doubts that race was a factor in the Atlanta mass
shooting. [ [link removed] ] While the details are still emerging, we know that these
murders are not isolated incidents. Anti-Asian racism and violence has a
long history in America, from the Chinese Exclusion Act, to the internment
of Japanese Americans during World War II, to Trump’s race-baiting
references to COVID as the “China virus.” Over the last two years,
according to recent polling by NAPAWF, nearly half of Asian American and
Pacific Islander women have been affected by anti-Asian racism, and AAPI
women regularly experience racialized misogyny. [ [link removed] ]
Vilification of any group in a society, where there are more guns than
people, has inevitable violent consequences. This is what we are seeing
now.
[2]The U.S. House recently passed gun legislation to tighten up background
checks on gun sales, and now it’s up to the U.S. Senate to turn it into
law. Tell the U.S. Senate to act against gun violence now and pass
universal background checks.
In 2020, as though the pandemic weren't already too much to bear, gun
violence rose dramatically with over 19,000 people killed in shootings and
firearm-related incidents. [ [link removed] ] Tragically and all too often, who is harmed
by gun violence has been determined by race, ethnicity, or gender. [ [link removed] ]
Asian American women -- and everyone -- deserve to feel safe. While we
mourn the Atlanta shootings, we must also fight the explosive combination
of guns, racism, and misogyny to reduce the likelihood of such tragedies
ever happening again.
In love and solidarity,
Gloria and the MomsRising AAPI Affinity Group
References:
[1] “[3]8 dead in Atlanta-area spa shootings, suspect arrested,” NBCNews,
March 16, 2021.
[2] “[4]Anti-Asian Attacks Rise During Pandemic. Read NPR's Stories On The
Surge In Violence,” NPR, March 17, 2021.
[3] “[5]Atlanta spa shootings suspect charged with murder; too soon to
tell if killings were racially motivated, police say,” USAToday, March 21,
2021.
[4] “[6]NAPAWF comments on murder of Asian women in Georgia spa
shootings,” Asian American Press, March 17, 2021.
[5] “[ [link removed] ]2020 Will End as One of America's Most Violent Years in Decades,”
Time.com, December 30, 2020.
[6] “[ [link removed] ]Ignoring the Intersectionality of Gun Violence,” Harvard Civil
Rights – Civil Liberties Law Review, November 26, 2019.
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