America’s diverse Asian communities unite against hate

It’s a “tipping point,” “an inflection,” a “crisis point.” That’s what Asian American leaders are calling this week in which eight people have been fatally shot at Asian spas in Atlanta. The mass shooting, they say, is a culmination of a yearlong surge in hate crimes and racist incidents against this highly diverse and sometimes split community, uniting them as never before.

From California to New York, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have put out statements and are organizing vigils to grieve for the victims in the Atlanta shooting, six of whom were women of Asian descent. On March 18, Congress held the first hearing on anti-Asian discrimination in more than 30 years. The day before in California, a diverse group of Asian American political leaders, plus Latino politicians, called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint as attorney general someone of Asian Pacific Islander (API) identity to restore “trust” with law enforcement. The Golden State has the largest population of Asian Americans in the country.

“There has been an unprecedented level of organizing in the API community since the beginning of this pandemic,” says California Assembly Member David Chiu of San Francisco, one of those

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