Annandale vigil honors victims of Atlanta shootings
More than 200 people gathered in Annandale March 22 for a candlelight vigil to mourn the Asian American victims of a mass shooting in Atlanta last week and to speak out against racist and misogynistic violence.
The event, at the Peace Statue on Little River Turnpike, drew people from a diverse mix of backgrounds.
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| The Peace Statue |
The Peace Statue was installed in 2019 to commemorate the Korean comfort women who were abducted by the Japanese military during World War II and forced to serve as sex slaves.
“As we gather around the Peace Statue, “we recognize racial and sexual violence is nothing new,” said Yasmin Yoon of NAKASEC (the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium). “The Atlanta murders are the direct consequence of the United States’ historic desire to violate and dominate women of color.”
e’re not here to be your fetishes, we’re not here to be your comfort women, and we’re definitely not here to be your model minority,” Yoon told the crowd.
Seven of the eight people killed by a white man at three health spas in the Atlanta area March 16 were women. Six were of Asian descent, and two were white.
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| Yasmin Yoon speaks at the vigil. |
The victims are Xiaojie Tan, 49; Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Daoyou Feng, 44; Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; and Yong Ae Yue, 63. Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, was critically wounded.
NAKASEC was a main organizer of the Annandale vigil. Other participating organizations included Asian American LEAD (Leadership, Empowerment and Development), the National Association of Korean Americans, Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Research Project, Thomas Jefferson Alumni Action Group, Fairfax County Democratic Committee, Fairfax County NAACP, Latina Institute Virginia, CASA, and the Centreville Immigration Forum.
Related story: Annandale Statue of Peace honors ‘comfort women’
Several politicians appeared at the vigil but did not speak. They include state Sen. Chap Peterson; Del. Dan Helmer, Del. Mark Keam, Del. Danica Roem, Del. Ibraheem Samirah, Fairfax County supervisors James Walkinshaw (Braddock) and Dalia Palchik (Providence), Fairfax County School Board Chair Ricardy Anderson (Mason), House of Delegates Democratic primary candidate Holly Hazard, and Sean Perryman, who’s running in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.
Here is the problem. We blame our police when they defend us and we blanket blame them for some unfortunate rogue events by police that need help. Allowing guns to be purchased or obtained by all the nuts in the country, for there are many, we have made us all sitting ducks. Take the guns away, train and support the police and get rid of the crap that is living here, and stop letting them in. We have plenty in Mason. And for those who belong here get them into institutions that will keep them from the rest of us r get the mental help they need. Government needs to do its number one job and that is to protect us. And in that category both political parties have failed miserably, local and federal. I hope they start listening for they have all been complicit in this trend of violence.
Isn't the new admission policy at TJ a result of anti-asian bias?