ATLANTA – Bouquets of harlequin flowers and handwritten signs covered the entrance to the Gold Spa, bright colors standing out in the dark interior of the room. “Hyun Jung Grant loved karaoke, she made the best kimchi stew in the world, 51 years old”, said one of the signs. “We are not scapegoats!” another said. In the parking lot in front of the hall, tree branches painted in pink were arranged to spell “Love”.
Several dozen men, women and children gathered on Sunday for a dark vigil and prayer in Korean to honor the victims of Tuesday’s shooting, in which a white man is accused of killing eight people in three spas in the Atlanta area. . Six of the victims were of Asian descent and four were of Korean origin.
The four women killed at two Atlanta spas were identified on Friday as Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; and Yong Yue, 63. The remaining victims, who were killed at a spa in Cherokee County, about 25 miles north of the city, were Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Tan, 49; and Daoyou Feng, 44.
Local Asian-American Christian leaders who organized the vigil said the goal was not only to provide a “healing” space for the community, but also to condemn the increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans and the Pacific Islands in the past year.
“I got calls from people saying that there are a number of complicated issues in the Atlanta spa shootings,” said Rev. Byeong Han in Korean during the vigil, referring to investigators’ statements that the suspect claimed to be motivated by a “sexual addiction.” ”, Not racism. “This incident is not a complicated one. It is clearly a hate crime committed by a white man who targets Asian women. ”
Han later said in an interview that the suspect’s claim that he “had a bad day” was a “lame excuse”, saying that Asian Americans are having “bad years”.
Some also called for greater solidarity with other communities of color.
“In addition to religious services, the church also plays a large role as a social center, so it must be our moral obligation and responsibility to support and honor the lost members of our community,” said Wonchul Shin, 36, professor of Christian ethics at Theological Seminary of Columbia near Atlanta, who led a prayer during the vigil.
Hyejin Kim, 31, a second-generation Korean American, lives in front of the Gold Spa. She remembered the spa staff singing “hi” (annyeong) or “you came again” (ddo wah ssuh) to her whenever she passed. “It’s kind of sick to think about it, because it’s so close,” she said.
Kim, whose brother knew the son of one of the victims, said he was also concerned for the safety of her and her family, saying, “I never felt so different until this happened.”
She said she also understands the burden that women face as immigrant parents, because her father worked at a grocery store 16 hours a day. “All of these parents sacrificed everything they could,” she said.
At #StopAsianHate rallies across the country on Saturday, lawmakers, celebrities and community leaders condemned anti-Asian violence and called for better tracking of hate crimes. Georgia did not have a hate crime law in the books until last year, when lawmakers passed legislation following the murder of Ahmaud Arbery that would allow additional penalties for certain crimes motivated by the victim’s race, sex, sexual orientation, religion or other factors .
In Atlanta, on Saturday, hundreds marched from Woodruff Park to the State Capitol, shouting “Stop hating Asians”. Signs that said “it’s not your fetish”, “we’re not a virus” and “f — your model minority myth” dot the crowd.
Representative Sam Park, Georgia’s only Korean-American lawmaker, said he was surprised by the size and diversity of participation on Saturday, which included Asians, Blacks and Latinos. He said he remains hopeful that the Asian community can bring about significant changes.
“We saw an unprecedented number of Asian Americans vote” in last year’s elections “, which helped to change the course of this country,” said Park. “This is the power that the Asian American community in Georgia has. They need to understand this and they need to use it again to ensure justice for our community in the future. ”
Other speakers included Sens. Rafael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., Rev. William Barber, co-president of the Poor People’s Campaign, and state deputy Bee Nguyen, the first American Vietnamese elected to the legislature.
Jung Wook Lee, 45, who has lived in Atlanta since 2006, was one of hundreds of protesters who marched on Saturday. “We are not going to be silent about this, and I think it is empowering for all of us,” said Lee.