Folks,

Our state is still reeling at the horrific news of three mass shootings in the Atlanta and Acworth area.

Six of the eight victims were Asian American women.

These shootings appear to be yet another incident of anti-Asian American hate. We’ve seen a rise in the numbers of such crimes during the coronavirus pandemic, and the shootings were a foreseeable escalation of those crimes.

The perpetrator of these attacks was able to buy a gun immediately before he set out to commit violence -- no waiting period necessary. He was able to murder eight people because our state’s regulations around gun ownership are so lax.

Gun violence is a national crisis, one our Republican elected officials have no intention of solving.

Nor do they speak out forcefully and frequently enough against the white supremacist hate that fueled this attack and others like it.

Georgia state Senator Dr. Michelle Au, an OAD-endorsee and the first East Asian state senator in Georgia, warned on Monday -- the day before the shootings -- against the surge in hate crimes. She asked the legislature to “recognize that we need help, we need protection, and we need people in power to stand up for us against hate.”

Her words couldn’t have been more prescient.

I stand with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities here in Georgia and beyond.

Racially motivated hate is unacceptable, and as Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said, “a crime against any community is a crime against us all.”

We must reckon with our country’s history of racist violence. We must do everything we can support and protect our AAPI neighbors against further attacks. We must finally pass laws to prevent gun violence. And we must decide to be a country where racism is neither tolerated nor brushed aside.

We can do better than this.

Thank you,

Sarah

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