The latest string of hate in America has been towards Anti Asians making this a crisis today. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been almost 4,000 crimes against Anti Asians. Violence with these racist attacks have spiked across the US. Compared to the previous year before the pandemic, Anti Asian hate crime has increased to nearly 150%. According to NYPD hate crimes, motivated Anti Asian sentiment jumped by 1,900 percent in New York City alone.  This rise of violence in the US has increased a lot of fear within the Anti Asian community. 

Coronavirus

The first case of Coronavirus was discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Since then a major outbreak of cases increased all over the world. It has been slightly over a year since the state was ordered to be in lockdown due to the Coronavirus. As the virus was spreading across the globe in 2020, many have been urging people to not use terms as the “Wuhan virus” or “Chinese virus”. Using these terms feared a major backlash toward Asians. Former President Donald J. Trump didn’t care and tweeted on March 16, 2020 using the term “Chinese virus”. 

Since then, former President Trump has used the term in multiple interviews on live television. With that term being used by the former US president, researchers later found out that it would lead to a huge backlash as they predicted. Many have used the term “Chinese virus” as a hashtag on social media. Using it as a hateful message towards Anti Asians, blaming them for the pandemic. This had led to the harmful violence targeting Anti Asians across the country.

Asian Attack in Atlanta 

On March 16, 2021, a mass series of shootings had occurred in Atlanta. This wave of attack happened at 3 massage parlors, eight people were killed. Six of the victims were of Asian descent. The first shooting took place around 4:50pm at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County. The victims were Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaoji Tan, and Daoyou Feng. One hour later since the first attack, the shooter’s next location would be at Gold Massage Spa. Only 30 miles from the first shooting location, police later received reports of another shooting. The location of the last shooting was at Aromatherapy Spa, which was only across the street from the previous shooting. The victims between the two locations were Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue.

The Suspect

The suspect was later identified as Robert Aaron Long, a 21 year old from Woodstock, Georgia. A Gold Spa employee who had escaped during the shooting stated that Long said “I’m going to kill all Asians”. Around 8:30pm Long was spotted by police 3.5 hours after the shootings. 150 miles south of Atlanta, police stopped his vehicle and had taken Long into custody. Robert Long was headed toward Florida. 

Protest held across the US against Anti Asian Hate

Days after the Atlantic shootings, protests were held across the US with thousands encouraging to stop Anti Asian hate. In a week where not only shootings have happened, but Asians being assaulted. A 83 year old Asian man who was assaulted has parts of his neck fractured. A 50 year old Asian nearly blinded in one eye after being beaten. A 76 year old Asian punched in the eye left bleeding. The protests were held on Saturday from Georgia to Pennsylvania to New York along with other numerous states. Bee Nguyen, a Georgia State Representative stated, “In the wake of a violent and brutal shooting, white America is still trying to deny all Humanity and existence.”