ATLANTA – As people nationwide rallied in support of the nation’s Asian American community following Tuesday’s killings in Georgia, hundreds gathered Saturday afternoon in downtown Atlanta for a rally and march to honor the victims and decry anti-Asian violence.
“We have been invisible and ignored in our country for over a century,” New York City-based actor Will Lex Ham told the crowd. “We are getting violently physically attacked. It took an elderly man in San Francisco to die to get attention. It took six Asian women to die in Atlanta to get people to care.”
Eight people were killed in Tuesday’s rampage, six of them Asian women. While police say the suspect said he did not target them because of their race, the crime touched a nerve in a community already reeling from a year-long rise in anti-Asian incidents that has spiked in recent months.
Saturday in Atlanta, the crowd gathered near the State Capitol, many holding signs reading “Stop Asian Hate” as Ham, among the event’s organizers, led them in a chant of “Stand Up, Fight Back!”
Gaby Lynch, 32, carried a piece of cardboard that read, “Does this sign make me look submissive?”
The daughter of a Filipino man and a Korean-Japanese-Irish mother, Lynch said the event was her first rally ever, and she was heartened to see the community support.
Photos: Powerful photos show communities gathering to unite against Asian hate, remember Atlanta shooting victims
“It feels like home — like we are surrounded by family members,” said Lynch, who works in wholesaling in Atlanta. “We need people to know that we are not just silent and quiet.”
Newly elected Democratic Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock of Georgia offered his support to the crowd and promised to use his position to fight discrimination, racism and gun violence.
The tragedy has prompted an outpouring of support, as communities nationwide, from Phoenix to Philadelphia, gathered this week to publicly mourn the victims. A coalition called the Asian American Leaders Table had compiled a list of such events around the country, some planned this weekend or later this month.
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