![]() These incidents have called the attention of activists yet again as they strategize how to protect and inform their communities. In New York, progressive lawmakers and civil rights groups are pushing legislation to eliminate criminal penalties for unlicensed massage workers in order to prevent what advocates decry as racially biased, often abusive policing of Asian American women.īut New York has also seen more attacks against Asian American women including two recent murders and a spate of street assaults, and earlier this week, a woman allegedly beaten and called a racial slur in Yonkers, New York. Last year, California’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus sponsored the Asian and Pacific Islander Equity Budget, which invests in social programs in Asian American communities, such as grassroots organizations working on violence prevention and school-based “restorative justice programs to address hate and macroaggressions early”. In other parts of the country, state-level legislative initiatives have focused on strengthening social protections for Asian American communities instead of policing them. On this anniversary of the shooting, Atlanta-based civil rights groups have organized a Community Remembrance Day calling for “healing and solidarity” there are gatherings planned in several cities under the banner of “Break the Silence” and a “Justice for AAPI Women” rally at the Georgia state capitol. Members of the Bad Asian and Civic Walls groups paint a mural near Krog Street Tunnel in March last year in Atlanta. ![]() “So I always tell people, it’s not really about my mother, it is about what she represents and what these victims were.” Peterson, whose father is Black, recognizes that his mourning parallels a collective grief that weighs on Atlanta’s Asian American community. So, we both understood what it was like, but I guess we didn’t let fear constrain our movement.” ![]() “Similarly the way in which she talked about me, as a Black man, possibly being targeted if I engage with law enforcement. “We talked about her being targeted being Asian, with this influx of hatred,” he said. Peterson did not think his mother was unsafe at the spa, where she had recently gotten a job cooking meals for the staff and cleaning, but he recalls their conversations about violent attacks against Asian Americans during the pandemic. Right: Robert Peterson (center, in blue) and his brother, Elliott Peterson, surrounded by Elliott’s children outside the salon where Yong Ae Yue worked Photograph: Courtesy of Robert Peterson Left: Robert Peterson’s mother, Yong Ae Yue.
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