Currents News Staff
All eyes are on Georgia after three deadly shootings at three spas in the Atlanta metro area. Eight people are dead — six were Asian women.
This tragedy is only adding to the fear Asian Americans around the country are already facing.
People around the world are talking about the shootings.
Police say suspect Robert Aaron long told them the shootings weren’t about race, they were about eliminating sexual temptation.
But, Georgia officials are investigating whether the shootings can be prosecuted as hate crimes.
Either way it’s adding to outrage and anxiety over rising violence against Asian Americans.
The advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate reports receiving almost 3,800 complaints from mid-March 2020 through February 2021.
“Many of my family members are living in fear,” one local told Currents News. “I think the rhetoric from our previous administration was definitely the catalyst for all this.”
Here’s what the current administration has to say.
“We stand with you, and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged,” said Vice President Kamala Harris.
President Joe Biden is instructing officials to conduct listening sessions in Atlanta, and on this issue, people have a lot to say.
“I think this country has a reluctance to admit that there is very real and deep rooted systemic racism that does result in violence,” said Georgia politician Nee Nguyen.
Governors of other states, former president Barack Obama, advocates and foreign leaders are also speaking out.
There are “a lot of Asian Americans who are looking over their shoulders when they go outside, when they go to the grocery store,” explained Santa Cruz Warrior NBA veteran Jeremy Lin.
They’re all pleading for change as the discussion continues on Capitol Hill and the House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on “Discrimination and Violence Against Asian Americans.”
President Biden and Vice President Harris will be in Atlanta March 19.