#StopAsianHate trends online as Asian-Americans grieve after Atlanta shooting
- Already worn by a year of pandemic-fuelled racist attacks, Asian-Americans have been left ‘feeling hopeless’ after the Atlanta attack
- Activists say law enforcement officials need ‘training understanding what a hate crime is’
Asian-Americans were already worn down by a year of pandemic-fuelled racist attacks when a white gunman was charged with killing eight people, most of them Asian women, at three Atlanta-area massage parlours.
Hundreds of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders turned to social media to air their anger, sadness, fear and hopelessness. The hashtag #StopAsianHate was a top trending topic on Twitter hours after the shootings that happened on Tuesday evening.
“I think the reason why people are feeling so hopeless is because Asian Americans have been ringing the bell on this issue for so long … We’ve been raising the red flag,” said Aisha Yaqoob Mahmood, executive director of the Atlanta-based Asian-American Advocacy Fund, which does political and advocacy work across Georgia.
Many were also outraged that the suspect, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, was not immediately charged with hate crimes.
Authorities said Long told police the attack was not racially motivated, and he claimed that he targeted the spas because of a “sex addiction”. Six of the seven slain women were identified as Asian.
Law enforcement needs “some training understanding what a hate crime is. This man identified targets owned by Asians”, said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. The gunman “was very clearly going after a targeted group of people”.