Inside Secretary Deb Haaland not too long ago launched a press release concerning the Georgia bloodbath that left eight individuals lifeless, 6 of whom had been Asian American ladies.
“My coronary heart goes out to the members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander group as they address unspeakable ache from ongoing acts of violence that focus on their group, together with this week’s tragic killings in Atlanta, Georgia,” Haaland acknowledged.
She continued, saying that, “Whereas anti-Asian hate is sadly not new, we should acknowledge how xenophobic rhetoric all through the pandemic has additional infected anti-Asian racism, misogyny, and violence. The size and frequency of focused violence towards communities of colour is unacceptable and serves as a grim reminder that our lengthy march towards peace and liberation persists. On behalf of all the Inside Division, I ship my deepest condolences to those that have misplaced family members in these tragic acts of mindless, hate-filled assaults.”
Haaland’s feedback got here only a day after a lethal assault in Atlanta that left eight individuals lifeless in three totally different therapeutic massage parlors.
The gunman, a white man named Robert Aaron Lengthy informed police that it his assault was not “racially motivated,” and claimed it was the results of a “intercourse dependancy.”
“He apparently has a problem, what he considers a intercourse dependancy, and sees these areas as a temptation for him that he needed to get rid of,” stated Captain Jay Baker, including that Lengthy was caught with a 9mm handgun and didn’t resist arrest.
Officers added that Lengthy informed them his assault was the results of “a extremely dangerous day,” by which he was “fed up.”
However the Related Press wrote that “These statements spurred outrage and widespread skepticism given the areas and that six of the eight victims had been ladies of Asian descent. The Asian American group noticed the shootings as an assault on them, given a latest wave of assaults that coincided with the unfold of the coronavirus throughout the USA.”
Authorities had been requested by the press if the therapeutic massage parlors had been providing unlawful providers, however Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms acknowledged that they had been “legally-operated companies that haven’t been on our radar,” and likewise added that the town wouldn’t have interaction in “sufferer shaming, sufferer blaming.”