On March 16, 2021, Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Tan, 49; Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Yong Ae Yue, 63; and three other Asian American women were shot and killed by a twenty-one-year-old white man, Robert Aaron Long, in the Atlanta metro area. Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, was also wounded.
Immediately following the event, and particularly in response to the Cherokee County police official’s explanation of the shooter’s motive as arising from sexual “temptation” and not race, numerous Asian Americans took to the visual, verbal, and virtual public sphere to refocus attention on the victims and contest the perpetrator’s (and law enforcement’s) interpretations of the tragic event.
As noted at the end of my accompanying blog post, the pages linked below document some of the public commentary as well as academic resources in Asian American studies that form the backdrop to that commentary.
Commentary in the public sphere
- These resources feature commentary by Asian American studies scholars, activists, and public intellectuals about the shootings, news coverage that highlights issues addressed in Asian American studies, and websites that gather other resources related to the tragedy.
- This page lists public statements put forth by various organizations and academic institutions.
Histories of anti-Asian violence
- These resources document and analyze key moments in the history of anti-Asian violence, with an emphasis on events and policies affecting Asians in the United States.