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Washington, D.C. — OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates released the following statement in light of this week’s shootings in Colorado Springs, CO and Chesapeake, VA:
“OCA sends the victims and their families our deepest condolences, ” said OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates National President Linda Ng. “Once again, we must mourn due to a heinous act of hate. Misinformation and dehumanizing rhetoric about the LGBTQ+ community, as well as communities of color, cause harmful discriminatory incidents and physical attacks on our community members. Beyond verbal rhetoric, anti-LGBTQ+ laws and discriminatory practices against transgender and gender nonconforming people also fuel open hatred and violence.”
“With over 600 mass shootings this year alone, the gun violence problem in this country cannot be ignored any longer,” said OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates National Executive Director Thu Nguyen. “Black and brown, AAPI, LGBTQ+, and other communities continue to suffer a much higher incidence of gun violence, especially as hate continues to be fueled by nonsensical fear-mongering, scapegoating, misinformation and stereotyping. Many acts of gun violence and other physical attacks as a result of hate also happen in businesses, where frontline store workers who are bystanders also become victims. While we call on leaders to be responsible in their rhetoric about marginalized communities, we also demand that common sense safeguards are enacted to put an end to the continuous mass shootings in our country.”
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