It’s been one year since a white Georgia man went on a shooting spree at several Atlanta-area massage parlors, killing eight people. Six of the victims were Asian women, representing a significant moment amid a still-ongoing escalation of anti-Asian hatred sweeping the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Demonstrations and shows of solidarity spread across the U.S. following the massacre that helped propel the Stop Asian Hate movement, which began in response to a rise in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from pandemic-related political rhetoric, into the national spotlight.
What’s changed in a year? In the aftermath of the shooting, President Joe Biden signed a federal hate-crimes bill into law designed to improve hate-crime reporting at all levels of government. Awareness about the racial trauma experienced by Asian Americans on a daily basis has increased, but instances of violence don’t appear to be decreasing, Northeastern experts say. In light of several recent attacks on Asian Americans that have garnered media attention, violence remains troublingly pervasive.
