4 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 25, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Jackson Heights community mourns victims of anti-Asian attacks
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
More than 100 community members
gathered for a candlelight vigil in Diversity
Plaza in Jackson Heights on Wednesday,
March 17, to mourn the eight victims, six
of whom were Asian American women,
of the tragic mass shooting at several
Atlanta spas earlier this week.
At nightfall, people of diff erent ages
and backgrounds held candles and chanted
“stop hate crimes” as the 7 train roared
overhead.
Th e tragedy that took place at three
spas in Atlanta on Tuesday, March 16,
has sparked more fear and anger among
Asian American communities
in the U.S. as
reports of anti-Asian hate
and violence have surged
exponentially in the last
year. Nearly 3,800 racist
incidents against Asian
Americans and Pacific
Islanders (AAPI) in the
U.S. were reported over
the last year, according to
Stop AAPI Hate.
“We are beyond sad; we
are angry. We are frustrated
and we are heartbroken
at the senseless violence
that has deprived
families of their mothers
and sisters and daughters
that they so dearly loved,”
Ahyoung Kim, associate
director of small business programs at the
Asian American Federation, said through
tears.
Weilai, a Jackson Heights resident, said
she brought her 5-year-old daughter to
the vigil to make sure she knows “we cannot
be silent.”
“I don’t want her to grow up in this fear,”
Weilai said. “Not even just talking about
race, but just being a woman. We can’t be
the silent minority anymore.”
Atlanta authorities charged 21-year-old
Robert Aaron Long, a white man, for
the shootings on Wednesday. Authorities
said the suspect claimed he had a “sexual
addiction” and carried out the shootings
to eliminate the “temptation,” but haven’t
ruled out bias motives, according to Th e
New York Times.
Korean-language media have since
reported Long expressed anti-Asian
comments while carrying out the
attacks.
An Atlanta police offi cer
also said the suspect had
“a really bad day,” a comment
that’s outraged community
members. Th e offi -
cer was later found to have
posted racist T-shirts on
social media, according to
Buzzfeed News.
Queens Borough
President Donovan
Richards, referencing the
police offi cer’s comment, said,
“If you had a bad day, go get
some ice cream.”
“Th is what white supremacy at its
worst, let’s call it what it is,” Richards said.
“Don’t tell me about a bad day; tell me
about the domestic terrorism perpetrated
by this individual. Th is had nothing to
do about a bad day — this had to do with
hate. Hatred stoked by those who were
emboldened and who have been emboldened
from the actions of the last administration.”
Richards has vehemently condemned
the anti-Asian attacks that have recently
occurred in Queens.
In New York City, the number of hate
crimes reported to the NYPD by Asian
Americans last year grew nine times from
2019, according to a report by
THE CITY.
A vigil for the victims of the Atlanta shooting was held at Diversity Plaza
in Jackson Heights.
S h e k a r
Krishnan, a community
activist
and candidate for
Jackson Heights
City Council who
organized the
vigil, said anti-
Asian hate and
violence has existed
long before the
COVID-19 pandemic.
“But our AAPI communities have been
invisibilized for so long, stereotyped for
so long, and it is that bigotry, that prejudice
and xenophobia that results in the
violence aft er violence that we are seeing,”
he said. “Today, we are here to say that we
will not be silenced, that an attack on one
of us is an attack on all of us, and that we
as community, we as a city, keep ourselves
safe together.”
Krishnan added that it’s also a time to
“recommit to dismantling white supremacy
in all its forms.”
Carolyn Tran, a longtime community
leader and candidate for Jackson Heights
City Council, emphasized that 68 percent
of the 3,800 reported racist incidents
against AAPI community were toward
women.
Tran said the shooting in Atlanta is a
“continuation of the erasure, the dehumanization,
the hyper-sexualization of
Asian women” within the history of U.S.
colonialism, adding that AAPI women
must be centered to address the issues.
“East Asians, southeast Asians make up
a majority of the service industry — nail
salon workers, message parlors, hospitality
— and it is because of our over-representation
in this industries that we are
also seen as vulnerable and we are always
silenced,” Tran said. “Enough of that.”
Th e shooting also reignited calls for
sex workers to be treated with dignity
and respect. According to a USA Today
report, illicit reviews of the spas have
raised red fl ags that the shooter may have
targeted vulnerable workers.
Chuck Park, a Jackson Heights resident,
Photos by Dean Moses
spoke about his parents, who’ve owned a
store on 74th Street for 35 years, coming
home with stories of assault for years.
He said he’s scared for his son, his
wife “who gets heckled walking through
Diversity Plaza,” and for “every single sex
worker and street vendor” on Roosevelt
Avenue. He brought roses to show solidarity
with sex workers and other small
business owners on the busy business
corridor.
Jake Valencia, 22, and Shirley Wang, 22,
from nearby Elmhurst, said they wanted
to show solidarity, respect and commemorate
Asian people.
Valencia, who is of Filipino descent,
said it’s particularly important to recognize
Asian women and sex workers.
“We need to destigmatize sex work. We
need to honor these people and respect
them,” Valencia said. “Th ese are not people
below us, they can be anyone.”
Th ey also said they were there for their
grandparents and elders, who they worry
might experience hate, given the way
China has been blamed for the pandemic.
Wang, who is of Chinese descent, said
the virus being called the “China virus” —
a slur coined by former President Donald
Trump — is “unnecessary and starting
hate for no reason.”
“Every country in the world has gotten
this coronavirus, and it’s important to
fi ght it together than start hate and point
fi ngers and start blaming one race for
all of this. It could have happened anywhere,”
Wang said. “In the past there have
been various viruses, diseases that start in
other countries and we don’t blame them;
we start to fi x the problem. How are we
going to fi x a problem by creating another
problem?”
Arthur Ahn, who was born and raised
in central Queens, was moved to tears at
the vigil and said the gathering reminded
him “that our humanity is not lost.”
“It’s a tragedy in itself that we even
need to have a vigil like this, let alone the
incredible tragedy of what happened yesterday
in Atlanta,” Ahn said. “It’s uplift ing
to see all these people even in the face of
mourning.”
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