After Georgia shootings, local residents speak out against Asian hate
March 27, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
They stood quietly, masked and holding signs waving to passersby on a sunny late Sunday afternoon. Standing at the Waterbury roundabout intersection last Sunday, a handful of local activists hold up signs to share their message denouncing racism directed against Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islanders in the wake of the shootings in and near Atlanta, Georgia, the previous week.
The violence by a single gunman on March 16 at three spas left eight people dead, six of whom were Asian women, one more individual was wounded.
In a statement inviting people to join the peaceful demonstration at the busy intersection, the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition said it condemned the recent increase in violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
“We strictly condemn the mass murders of the Asian American women in Georgia this past week and the spread of misinformation about these communities since the start of the pandemic,” the coalition declared referring to hate speech directed toward Asian individuals over animosity about the COVID-19 virus and its purported origin in Asia.
“We will stand up against hate, xenophobia, white supremacy, and the growing hate towards the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Now is a moment for People of the Global Majority and white people to come together and say ‘enough is enough’!”
The term People of the Global Majority is used interchangeably with Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), referring to how those populations represent a global majority of humanity. Coalition member Life LeGeros who joined the vigil with his family (above) said a group member who is of Chinese-American descent assembled a resource list for the community to use to learn more about Asian-American history and recent anti-Asian racism.
The attention to the aftermath of the Georgia shootings was soon eclipsed last week as headlines turned to focus on the mass-shooting on Monday, March 21, at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, where a single shooter killed 10 people.