Sandy Benavides felt as if she understood what the Asian community was going through after eight people, six of them Asian women, were killed this week in Georgia. Benavides, national chief executive officer of the League of United Latin American Citizens, had felt the same trauma, and then rush of solidarity, after a gunman killed 23 people in El Paso in a mass shooting seen as an attack on the Latino community.
The manner in which so many have rallied around the Asian American community in the wake of the Atlanta shootings, she said, “reminded me of how our community allies were calling and texting us, asking how they could support us.
In the wake of this week’s killings, many have rallied in support of the Asian American community, producing a palpable sense of unity in the fight against anti-Asian violence. And some say the heightened solidarity also presents a chance for communities of color to effectively address the common enemy of white supremacy.
“We’re thinking about how we can work together on the issue of hate crimes and make sure our communities stop being targets,” she said. “This issue is not going to disappear overnight, and it’s going to take collaboration.”
Killed in Atlanta Tuesday were Soon C. Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; and Yong A. Yue, 63, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office, while 30 miles north in Georgia’s Cherokee County, Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Tan, 49; and…
