'People are more aware of these issues that impact our community, yet the rates of incidence are going up,' says Sung Yeon Choimorrow of the organization NAPAWF
One year ago, a gunman killed eight people at three Atlanta-area massage businesses, including six women of Asian descent: Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun and Paul Andre Michels. Prosecutors have argued the shooter targeted some of the victims based on racial and gender bias.
But while the heightened focus on issues impacting Asian American women is heartening, “just having more visibility and raising awareness is not enough to stop what’s happening,” says Sung Yeon Choimorrow, the executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum , a progressive advocacy and community-organizing group.
“There is some sadness and, frankly, anger, about the fact that a year after the Atlanta spa shooting, we haven’t even had a year’s distance from horrific murders,” Choimorrow said. It’s really the first time people are paying attention and asking thoughtful questions and engaging. And so there’s a sense of, maybe we’re making some movement in this country around really, truly trying to understand the state of what it means to be Asian American women these days, and really actually caring about the issues that impact us.
MarketWatch: That is very good advice for anybody doing this kind of work. So as you mentioned, it has been a year since the Atlanta spa shootings. Does it feel to you like anything has changed? “‘I think people have become much more courageous in stepping up and speaking out, and I hope that that sticks with us.’”
MarketWatch: It has been almost 40 years since Vincent Chin’s killing, which inspired a generation of Asian Americans to get involved in activism. Do you see a similar political awakening happening right now, with the increased attention to this kind of violence? MarketWatch: As I know you’re aware, last year President Biden signed into law this anti-hate crimes legislation around COVID; he also established the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
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