Vera House Responds to the Atlanta Massacre

On December 6, 1989, a gunman walked into an engineering school classroom at École Polytechnique in Montreal and murdered 14 women. On March 16, 2021, a gunman walked into three Asian-owned spas and massage parlors in Atlanta and murdered eight victims: Hyun Jung Kim, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Soon Chung Park, Paul Andre Michels, and Delaina Ashley Yaun.

Since the pandemic began, Asian Americans have experienced a dramatic rise in hate crimes. According to Stop AAPI Hate, Asian women have reported the highest number of hate crimes.

In the École Polytechnique massacre, the perpetrator blamed feminists for his application to the school being rejected and "ruining his life." In the massacre on Tuesday, the perpetrator blamed the women who worked at the spas and massage parlors for being a "temptation" for his self-diagnosed sexual addiction—a form of fetishizing Asian women that's rooted in racism, misogyny, and often anti-immigrant sentiment and classism.

Following the Montreal attack, men founded the White Ribbon Campaign to encourage other men to work to end gender-based violence. Last week's attack targeting Asian women is another urgent call for us to deepen our work.

Hatred builds on hatred. Misogyny and racism overlap and fuel each other. To end domestic and sexual violence, we must also commit to ending racism and all forms of oppression.

Our hearts are with the Asian American community. We stand in solidarity with them and against anti-Asian hatred. To learn more and show your support, please visit NAPAWF, the Asian Mental Health Collective, and the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance.