Bianca Harkless
Editor-In-Chief
COVID-19 is scary for everyone and a lot of this fear has led to anti-Asian hate crimes, which are up 150%, according to a study done at California State University, due to the misconception that all Asian people are responsible for the virus.
Recent racially charged violence left eight people dead after a shooting spree in three Atlanta-area spas, reported CNN. In the spa, Young’s Asian Massage, four people were killed, two of them died after being transported to the hospital and the fifth victim was injured and also transported to a hospital. Later, three people were shot and killed at Gold Spa. While police were responding to the call, they received reports of another shooting across the street at Aromatherapy Spa where another person had been shot and killed.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken offered his condolences. Secretary Blinken said, “We are horrified by this violence… We will stand up for the rights of our fellow Americans, Korean Americans, to be safe, to be treated with dignity.”
After this violence, protests began protesting the violence against the Asian community. Many advocates have spoken out in support of this movement. Esther Kao, who was speaking on behalf of the Red Canary Song, a New York collect that advocated to get labor rights for mainly Asain massage parlors workers and sex workers said that there has been an increase in racism during a newsletter to CNN Politics. “Chinatown restaurants workers have gotten threats…” she said, talking about the conditions that the COVID-19 outbreak has spurred, “[they have] also likely close income during this time,”
Organizations like Red Canary Song are not the only people who are speaking out about this issue. Sandra Oh is an Asian-American Actress best known for her role as Cristina Yang on the hit show Grey’s Anatomy and Eve Polastri on Killing Eve. The actress showed her support for the movement at a Pittsburgh rally. Following the tragic deaths of the people murdered at the Georgia spas, she posted Instagram a picture saying, “I send loving kindness and support to the families of the eight souls murdered in Georgia on March 16th… I know many of you are scared, but let us not be afraid.” She took place at the protest leading the group in the chant of “I am proud to be Asian.”
If you would like more information about the rising rates of Anti-Asian hate crimes, on our website staff reporter Niccijade Reeves-Alhark, wrote a story about the increase. Everyone here at the Eagle’s Eye encourages you to look into the topics for yourself and form your own opinions.
Image Credit: Jason Leung
Comments