Gatherings held across nation to mark 1-year anniversary of mass shooting at Atlanta spas
NEW YORK -- There were gatherings across the nation Wednesday to mark the one-year anniversary of a mass shooting in Atlanta.
All of the victims were of Asian descent. It compelled more people here in New York City to join the movement to fight back and end the violence and murder.
Desperate calls to stop Asian hate intensified after, on March 16, 2021, a gunman opened fire at three separate spas in Atlanta, killing eight people, including six Asian women.
"He was so deliberate in his desire to kill Asian women that he drove 27 miles between the spas to ensure he would hit his targets. Because of this, America was finally shocked awake to the reality of anti-Asian hate," California Rep. Judy Chu said.
Link: Stop AAPI Hate
The somber anniversary was marked in front of the nation's Capitol on Wednesday, led by members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
The shooter was sentenced to life in prison for four of the deaths.
Raging on is the movement to gain awareness and spark change. It calls attention to an alarming year-after-year rise in hate Incidents against Asian Americans with close to 11,000 reports since March 2020 and more than 60% of them reported by women.
"I've been called names and, you know, been spat at," said Mary Wang, with the group Concerned Citizens of East Broadway.
She's also an educator at Church of Grace to Fujianese. She says the Atlanta shootings made her more of an activist.
Since then, hate crimes have multiplied, with a recent case Friday in Yonkers, where police said a woman of Asian descent was punched more than 125 times by a man calling her an anti-Asian slur.
Wang is not surprised to see some of her neighbors lining up to get items for fighting back, including free pepper spray and key alarms from Yu and Me Books in Chinatown.
"Everybody's struggling, struggling with fear," she said. "Because of what's happening, I feel like I need to speak up."
Watch: President of Queens College Frank Wu on pandemic's role in growing number of anti-Asian attacks
Hundreds of AAPI women lined up outside the bookstore on Sunday for the protective items.
"Just having pepper spray in my pocket or something or alarm does make me feel a little safer," said Lucy Yu, owner of the bookstore.
Educating people, boosting law enforcement efforts and getting all hate crimes properly reported and handled are crucial next steps, activists say.
"We have to recognize that history, that it continues today and that's really the only way forward," said Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese of Affirmative Action.
There was a rally in Times Square on Wednesday night to mark the one-year anniversary of the shooting.
As CBS2's Ali Bauman reports, one after another, dozens of Asian-American women stood and spoke of their heartbreak for the victims in Atlanta and of their own experiences with racism in our city.
The NYPD says there have been 26 incidents so far this year. That's double the number in 2021, when there were 13 total.
They also spoke of their anger that a year after this mass shooting, little has improved for AAPI women both nationwide and in New York.
"I will never be ashamed of being hated for my race. This shame belongs to the racists. It is not my shame," novelist Min Jin Lee said.
"Tired and angry that even after a year after the shootings, women who look like me are still getting attacked and harassed in the city we love," hate crime victim Esther Lee said.
Standing shoulder to shoulder, hundreds gathered to make their voices heard.
"We're here. We're human. We want to be recognized as all the other people are," rally attendee Mami Cho said.
Dan Cho brought his son to the event.
"It's his first rally, and I think you can never be too young to get involved and raise your voice," he said.
Not two weeks after the shooting in Atlanta, here in New York, Liz Kari's mother was brutally beaten on the streets of Hell's Kitchen.
"Did we even have a chance to heal for a moment? Not a second for even recovery," Kari said.
"I feel I have a target painted on my back," said Jo-Ann Yoo, with the Asian American Federation.
"On behalf of 20 million New Yorkers, we stand together against Asian hate," Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
While solidarity is a first step, many demand real solutions from lawmakers and law enforcers to keep this community safe.
"We are in a moment of reckoning. We get to decide what kind of country we are, what kind of people we are," activist Amanda Nguyen said.
Many at the rally feel the true number of anti-Asian hate crimes is much higher than what's reported. They spoke of strengthening what legally constitutes a hate crime to reflect the nuances of racist attacks, as well as lowering the barriers for reporting these crimes to police.