Members of San Diego’s Asian American and Pacific Islander community are responding to recent acts of hate, including Tuesday’s mass shooting in Atlanta. That attack left eight people dead, including six women of Asian descent.
On Friday, a multiracial coalition of groups took to Waterfront Park in downtown San Diego, to show solidarity in a time of anti-Asian vitriol and violence.
“As we are here grieving, and we are here mourning for the lives lost, and for those who have been harmed by this racist and gender violence, we send our love and condolences to the friends and families and community of Atlanta, Georgia,” said DJ Kuttin Kandi, a member of the Asian Solidarity Collective, which organized the event.
There have been 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents, mostly against women, in the past year, according to Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center.
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"These incidents arose as COVID-19 emerged, as the Trump administration actively worked to maintain its power, going into a heated election, by scapegoating immigrants and people of color, using dog-whistling racist terms," DJ Kuttin Kandi said, referencing the racist slurs for the disease. “They were, and are, fanning these flames, and increasing attacks against Asians in the US and globally.”
Thursday night, young members of the AAPI community came together in an emotional panel on combating hate and misconceptions in the community.
The panel, convened by RISE San Diego, was planned before Tuesday’s attacks and focused on how the hate behind these attacks is often already out in the open.
“If you see any of hatred or violence towards our brown and black communities, you have to say something, you have to do something," said Anjanette Maraya-Ramey, one of the panelists. "If you don’t, you’re complicit.”
Panelists reasoned that for anti-Asian attacks to finally stop, the country must root out white supremacy, the foundation on which these attacks are based.
