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On Tuesday, a gunman killed eight people at three different spas in Atlanta—Young’s Asian Massage, Gold Spa, and Aromatherapy Spa. Six of the eight victims were Asian women, making it difficult not to connect the killings to the anti-Asian attacks that have consumed the country over the past year due in part to racist rhetoric around the coronavirus pandemic. Asian women and elders have suffered the brunt of the violence. Local officials charged Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, with four counts of murder and one count of assault on Wednesday, and he is the main suspect.
To get a sense for how the Asian American community in Atlanta has been responding to the shootings, I spoke with Bianca Jyotishi, Georgia organizing manager for the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.