Remembering The Victims Of The Atlanta Spa Attack: My Illustration Campaign
Today (3/31/21), a 65-year-old Asian American woman was attacked in my city. Again this happened. This time, at 11:40 AM, in front of a luxury condo building in NYC, in full view of an on-duty security guard (and other bystanders). “Building staff members who witnessed the attack did not intervene.“
I feel rage. And fear. And helplessness. And then anger again. I was drawing the final panels of this tribute to the March 16th Atlanta spa shooting victims when I read about this most recent attack. And in the midst of my rage, I also feel deep sadness.
The (yet) unnamed woman who was attacked today. The nine victims whose stories I’d begun to learn while preparing for today’s post. I cannot stop thinking about these women as if they were my own family—my neighbors—my friends.
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They were providers to their children and mothers, sisters, wives, husbands—they were human beings with joy, accomplishments, and dreams.
And for the six Asian women who remind me of my own mother—I cannot stop thinking about strength and vulnerability: the strength of these women’s work and how vulnerable they were to structural racism and sexism.
Along with friend and fellow Chinese-American writer Chen Gu (who helped me write this caption), I wanted to honor their stories. Their murderer may not have seen their humanity. But we do.
I’ve been thinking about how I can contribute to fixing this goddamn world that feels so, so broken. For the time being, I can learn more about anti-Asian hate. This Try Guys video was really eye-opening.
I can use my platform (a modest-sized webcomic on IG) to advocate for change. And I can donate what I can afford (for me, one month of Patreon earnings) to “Stop AAPI Hate” (or similar organizations).
I don’t think I’m alone in feeling heartbroken by every new violence report against our community. We are not alone. We can do this together, step by step and action by action. I hope that the resources I shared here are of some help.
With love from New York, Linda. #StopAsianHate
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Thank you for focusing on the true human tragedy in this story. thank you for telling their story and saying their names, those are the names that matter, those of the victims! Not the names of the murderers, their names should be forgotten together with their existence. Guns should not be available to everyone, the sooner stricter gun laws are created the better.
living in atlanta, i can say this is not the first nor last time this will happen. Yet, we must remember and not disrespect so that ourselves won't do this
By God this is such a tragedy that has become so commonplace in the US. We were only 6 blocks from the grocery store shooting in Boulder CO last Monday. But, I do have to say that before we start talking about racial killings, make sure they ARE racial. I was under the impression he hated "sex workers" and figured those businesses reflected that. Regardless of the motive, it is still an absolute travesty. I also think more people would be willing to listen if we call it GUN SAFETY instead of GUN CONTROL. No one wants to be controlled, but we all want to be safe.
The fact that he would "figure" those businesses were related to sex workers it's pretty telling. We usually don't notice we do have racial bias and prejudices, we just think certain traits are a given.
Load More Replies... sad story indeed.. Some incel lunatic killer with too much hormones in his empty dark head... but why bring woke nonsense to this story though with "...vulnerable they were to structural racism and sexism."?
Exoticizing and fetishizing asian women is nothing new - and it permeates our culture. It isn’t woke nonsense. Rather I’d like for us to question why this killer decided that these women were sources of “temptation”. He may not admit (or even consider) that he was being sexist or racist, but that’s the point of structural/ingrained bias. He didn’t see his victims as people. He saw them as a sinful source if temptation. He made assumptions based on their gender, and yes, based in their race (that as asian women and workers in asian spas, that they were seductresses/guilty of being a temptation and must therefore be eradicated). If we can’t take a hard look at the context that surrounds his actions, it’s hard to make change going forward.
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Seeing these illustrations, USA educational system should include multiculture lessons.
This is an interesting observation, actually. One would think a country as diverse as the USA would have it for granted that humans come in all shapes and colours, and yet... I mean, if biology classes don't teach you that....
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I love the one with the cat where tis eyes are stars kinda reminds me of NANI
You are saying “these white people just can’t stop being racist, but kudos to those who aren’t”? That is so presumptuous of you. You make it sound like most of us white people are racist (which isn’t true at all) but good for you, for the small amount that aren’t? I will let you know that most of us “white people” are not racist. The ones who are, are not the majority. This is just my opinion from my own life experience. However, I am from Canada, so I don’t believe we experience the level of prejudice that the U.S. does, but since I don’t live there I don’t really know. All I can say is that I don’t think that the majority of us “white people” are racist.
Load More Replies...
Thank you for focusing on the true human tragedy in this story. thank you for telling their story and saying their names, those are the names that matter, those of the victims! Not the names of the murderers, their names should be forgotten together with their existence. Guns should not be available to everyone, the sooner stricter gun laws are created the better.
living in atlanta, i can say this is not the first nor last time this will happen. Yet, we must remember and not disrespect so that ourselves won't do this
By God this is such a tragedy that has become so commonplace in the US. We were only 6 blocks from the grocery store shooting in Boulder CO last Monday. But, I do have to say that before we start talking about racial killings, make sure they ARE racial. I was under the impression he hated "sex workers" and figured those businesses reflected that. Regardless of the motive, it is still an absolute travesty. I also think more people would be willing to listen if we call it GUN SAFETY instead of GUN CONTROL. No one wants to be controlled, but we all want to be safe.
The fact that he would "figure" those businesses were related to sex workers it's pretty telling. We usually don't notice we do have racial bias and prejudices, we just think certain traits are a given.
Load More Replies... sad story indeed.. Some incel lunatic killer with too much hormones in his empty dark head... but why bring woke nonsense to this story though with "...vulnerable they were to structural racism and sexism."?
Exoticizing and fetishizing asian women is nothing new - and it permeates our culture. It isn’t woke nonsense. Rather I’d like for us to question why this killer decided that these women were sources of “temptation”. He may not admit (or even consider) that he was being sexist or racist, but that’s the point of structural/ingrained bias. He didn’t see his victims as people. He saw them as a sinful source if temptation. He made assumptions based on their gender, and yes, based in their race (that as asian women and workers in asian spas, that they were seductresses/guilty of being a temptation and must therefore be eradicated). If we can’t take a hard look at the context that surrounds his actions, it’s hard to make change going forward.
Load More Replies... Seeing these illustrations, USA educational system should include multiculture lessons.
This is an interesting observation, actually. One would think a country as diverse as the USA would have it for granted that humans come in all shapes and colours, and yet... I mean, if biology classes don't teach you that....
Load More Replies... I love the one with the cat where tis eyes are stars kinda reminds me of NANI
You are saying “these white people just can’t stop being racist, but kudos to those who aren’t”? That is so presumptuous of you. You make it sound like most of us white people are racist (which isn’t true at all) but good for you, for the small amount that aren’t? I will let you know that most of us “white people” are not racist. The ones who are, are not the majority. This is just my opinion from my own life experience. However, I am from Canada, so I don’t believe we experience the level of prejudice that the U.S. does, but since I don’t live there I don’t really know. All I can say is that I don’t think that the majority of us “white people” are racist.
Load More Replies... 
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