Asian Americans gathered in Times Square this week to mark the second anniversary of a shooting spree in Atlanta that claimed eight lives, including those of six Asian women, as well as losses closer to home.
Speaking at the Midtown rally during rush-hour traffic on Thursday, Rep. Grace Meng referred to the March 2021 shootings in Atlanta, and said it was important to ensure “their legacy remains in our hearts forever.”
But the gathering of some 60 people, “Always With Us: Asian Americans Rise Against Hate,” also reflected on local tragedies, including the death of Michelle Go, who was pushed from a subway platform in Times Square in January 2022, and Christina Yuna Lee, who was fatally stabbed in her Chinatown apartment in February 2022. Months earlier, there was Yao Pan Ma, a former dim sum pastry chef who died on New Year’s Eve 2021, months after being attacked in Harlem while collecting cans.
“The violence can seem like it is never-ending,” said Meng.
According to the NYPD, there were 134 confirmed anti-Asian incidents in the city in 2021. That figure dropped to 83 in 2022, with 67 arrests made. Nationwide figures were not available from Stop AAPI Hate, a group that has been tracking anti-Asian incidents since early in the pandemic but hasn’t released new data since last summer/fall.
Although there has been a drop-off in local incidents recorded by police, anti-Asian violence has persisted. Earlier this month in Queens, a mother and her son, both Asian Americans, were physically attacked after three people in a passing vehicle first hurled anti-Asian slurs, Spectrum News reported.
In January, a mass shooting at a dance hall frequented by Asians in Monterey Park, California, ended in the deaths of 11 people. The Times Square rally, which coincided with remembrances in Atlanta, Denver, San Francisco and Detroit, took note of those deaths as well.
In recent weeks, Asian American advocacy groups have also sounded alarms over attacks that fall short of…
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