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2 — Wednesday, March 31, 2021
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UAAO hosts vigil mourning lives lost
in Atlanta, rise of anti-Asian hate
To crowd of more than 200, speakers talk ending historical context, solidarity
Beneath a cloudy sky at dusk,
more than 200 people gathered
in front of the steps of Angell
Hall Friday to grieve the victims
of anti-Asian violence in the
Atlanta area earlier this month
and reflect on the implications of
the attack for the Asian American
community.
Just over a week after a 21-year-
old white man killed eight people
in Asian-owned massage parlors
in Atlanta, the vigil aimed to
create a space for healing for those
in the University of Michigan
community. The vigil, organized
by the United Asian American
Organizations,
an
umbrella
organization for campus Asian
American groups, was also live-
streamed on UAAO’s Facebook.
Six of the eight victims on
March 16 were women of Asian
descent,
sparking
discussion
over
the
historical
violence
against and fetishization of Asian
women in Western imperialist
culture. Since the beginning of
the COVID-19 pandemic, hate
crimes against Asian Americans
have also skyrocketed and anti-
China sentiment has increased.
According to the Stop AAPI Hate
Coalition, nearly 3,800 incidents
of anti-Asian hate have occurred
since March 2020, 68% of them
against Asian women.
During the vigil, LSA senior
and UAAO President Anna Dang
said it is necessary to consider the
political climate which enabled
shooting to happen. From the
beginning of the pandemic in
spring 2020, former President
Donald
Trump
frequently
used anti-Asian rhetoric when
referring
to
the
coronavirus,
leading to an increase of online
hate speech targeted against
Asian-Americans.
“And so today, at this vigil, I
not only grieve, but I am in the
politics that come with my Asian-
American identity,” Dang said.
In her speech, Dang also
highlighted the irony of the vigil’s
location.
Former
University
President James B. Angell, who
Angell Hall is named after, helped
negotiate a treaty that curtailed
Chinese immigration in the U.S.
and acted as the precursor to the
Chinese Exclusion Act.
“We
are
standing
on
a
concrete structure, on stolen
lands,
that
represents
anti-
Asian violence,” Dang said. “I
see many parallels between the
toxicity of (this) historically white
supremacist institution and the
white supremacist violence that
occurred in Atlanta.”
Dang said the question that is
on her mind — and should be on
everyone’s minds — is: “How do
we stop this violence?”
Dang
said
she
supports
abolishing
institutions
and
practices that perpetuate violence,
like the prison-industrial complex
and waging war against countries
deemed “third world.”
She also again noted the
political
rhetoric
around
the
pandemic.
“Racializing a pandemic is
violence,” Dang said.
Dang
cited
the
historical
exclusion and scapegoating of
Asian Americans as the beginning
of
the
country’s
tumultuous
relationship
with
people
of
Asian descent. The daughter of
Vietnamese refugees, Dang said
that her presence at the vigil was
the result of violent American
colonialism and imperialism.
“We
cannot
separate
last
Tuesday’s loss of life from this
political call to action,” Dang said.
“On this campus and at large,
we need to take our position
as a responsibility to form an
abolitionist agenda.”
Frances
Kai-Hwa
Wang,
lecturer in the Department of
American Culture’s program in
Asian/Pacific Islander American
Studies, emphasized this violent
history by retelling the killing of
Vincent Chin in Detroit. In 1982,
Chin, a Chinese American, was
killed by two white men during
a night out after they suspected
him of being Japanese — one of
the men had recently lost their
job in auto manufacturing and
blamed his unemployment on the
rapid growth of the Japanese car
industry in the 1970s and 1980s.
Wang
said
the
lack
of
punishment Chin’s killers received
shows the criminal justice system
has a history of not recognizing
violence against Asian Americans.
“And in the end, (the killers)
were sentenced to $3,000 fine,
and three years of probation,”
Wang said. “To this day, they have
not not spent a single day in jail.”
A
multi-racial
movement
formed in response to Chin’s
death, which expressed outrage
over the justice system’s handling
of the case. In Detroit, Chinese
American journalist Helen Zia
and others formed the pan-Asian
American
civil
rights
group
American Citizens for Justice
in 1983, shortly after the light
sentencing of the two men who
killed Chin.
Wang
said
this
ethnically
diverse coalition shows the hope
that sprung from the tragedy,
noting
that
multiracial
and
multiethnic coalitions are still
very present today to combat
crisis and violence.
“There’s this amazing project
called Letters for Black Lives
where young Asian Americans
explained Black Lives Matter to
their elders, and translated it in all
the different languages so that we
literally have the words to talk to
our elders and explain it to them,”
Wang said.
Wang emphasized that this
was not just about “one angry,
young man” who caused the
deaths in Atlanta. Rather, she said,
this violence is systemic. Wang
noted that unemployment, poor
quality education, lack of access
to health care and gentrification
are just some of the many issues
impacting the most vulnerable
Asian Americans as well as other
marginalized groups across the
country.
“We need to come together and
work with social and economic
justice for all of us,” Wang said.
LSA senior Anju Jindal-Talib
spoke at the vigil on how the
stigmatization of sex work by
the media and broader culture
perpetuates
violence
against
marginalized groups, particularly
Asian women. Certain media
outlets have equated the massage
workers to sex work, though
authorities have not found any
evidence of sex work in the
massage
parlors
where
the
shootings took place.
However, given the shooter’s
perceptions of the women as
sex workers, Jindal-Talib said
centering the protection of sex
workers is crucial to ongoing
conversation.
“The
assailant
described
the attack as eliminating his
temptations,”
Jindal-Talib
said. “Rather than seeking help
or evaluating his own toxic
masculinity, the assailant felt
not only motivated but rightfully
justified to exercise brutal violence
against these individuals.”
Jindal-Talib
also
urged
participants to notice how the
media
portrayed
the
crime,
particularly the media’s hesitancy
to label the killings as a hate crime.
“There’s been a hyper focus
on the assailant’s sex addiction
instead of the interplay of stigma
around sex work and a racialized
fetishization of women of color, in
particular Asian women,” Jindal-
Talib said.
The fetishization of the victims
was not limited to the attacker,
Jindal-Talib
argued.
Both
Aromatherapy Spa and Young’s
Asian Massage, two spas where
the shootings took place, have
more than 200 Google reviews
including racial slurs and lewd
comments about the employee’s
bodies.
“These comments highlight not
only white male entitlement but
how Asian women are eroticized
and made a vulnerable target for
violence, especially when they are
viewed as sex workers,” Jindal-
Talib said.
Music,
Theater
&
Dance
freshman Owen Scales attended
the vigil and said the frequency of
these hate crimes disturbs him.
“I think it’s disgusting that its
not treated as something that is
terrorism or a hate crime,” Scales
said. “(It’s) kind of terrifying how
numb we kind of grow to it.”
Music,
Theater
&
Dance
freshman Kate Cummings said
she attended the vigil in-person
to offer support to the Asian
American community.
“I’m here tonight to support
the AAPI community, not only
here in Ann Arbor, but nationwide
and worldwide,” Cummings said.
“I think that this is a beautiful
opportunity for us to all come
together and mourn the loss that
the families have gone through …
I think it’s really important that
we stand beside our AAPI peers
and band together as a community
right now more than ever.”
In a Facebook post, State Sen.
Stephanie Chang, the first Asian
American woman to be elected
to the Michigan state legislature,
wrote that as a University alum
herself,
she
was
thoroughly
impressed
by
the
University
students who organized the vigil.
“Out of the Stop AAPI Hate
events in Michigan I’ve been to
so far, their vigil was by far the
most incredible,” Chang wrote.
“They covered everything from
fetishization of AAPI women,
Vincent Chin, sex worker issues,
economic inequality, to police
issues and solidarity with other
BIPOC communities, had a great
call and response affirmation, and
even had a talented vocalist!! All
within about an hour.”
Artistic
expressions
of
mourning
and
hope
were
provided
by
performers
like
Music, Theater & Dance junior
Helen Shen who sang “Someday”
from “The Hunchback of Notre
Dame.” Later in the evening,
Music, Theater & Dance senior
Levana Wang read poetry from
University alum Carlina Duan’s “I
Wore My Blackest Hair.” Ending
the vigil were Music, Theater &
Dance seniors Erica Ito and Thani
Brant, who performed Bob Dylan’s
“Blowing in the Wind.”
LSA junior Natalie Suh spoke
at the vigil about how the violence
in Atlanta flooded her with a lot of
different emotions.
“This violence brought up my
own experiences with racism,
sexism and fetishization of Asian
American
women,”
Suh
said.
“So if you’re feeling emotionally
or
physically
tired,
or
too
overwhelmed to even think about
yourself this week, we see you.”
Suh
also
stressed
the
importance of learning about the
lives of the victims.
“They
were
mothers,
grandmothers, daughters, friends,
wives,
co-workers,
neighbors,
maybe
even
regulars
at
a
restaurant or a market,” Suh said.
UAAO
is
still
collecting
donations
to
distribute
to
community
organizations
and
the victims’ families through @
uaao_2021 on Venmo. According
to Dang, they hope to keep
coalition-building and “existing
through resistance” with these
donations.
To conclude her speech, Wang
said to the audience that those who
identify as Asian American should
embrace their identity and push
back against Anti-Asian rhetoric
amidst the Atlanta tragedy.
“There is power in calling
ourselves
Asian
Americans,”
Wang said. “We are Americans.
We belong here.”
Daily Staff Reporter Nina Molina
and Daily Contributor Maanasa
Bommineni
can
be
reached
at
nimolina@umich.edu
and
maanasab@umich.edu.
CAMPUS LIFE
NINA MOLINA &
MAANASA BOMMINENI
Daily Staff Reporter
and Daily Contributor
PHOTO