[ad_1]
Cynthia Choi and Manjusha P. Kulkarni
Amid the horror of the mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, was an astounding act of courage. Brandon Tsay, who was working at a nearby dance studio in Alhambra, disarmed the man who had just taken the lives of 11 Asian Americans.
It was a selfless act that saved many lives the night of Jan. 21. But when told he had been called a hero, Tsay said, “A lot of people have been telling me how much courage I had. … But you know what courage is? Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the ability to have adversity to fear when fearful events happen.”
This idea, that courage isn’t a lack of fear but the ability to act in spite of it, is representative of our larger Asian American and Pacific Islander community. It is indicative of the experience of so many who have shown bravery in the face of violence, injustice and hatred, from early AAPI civil rights pioneers to those fighting the latest wave of anti-Asian hate.
This moment calls for all of us – our community, our leaders and our elected officials – to bring that courage to conversations about ending gun violence in order to protect the AAPI community.
Today, we’re facing the aftermath of not one but two major mass shootings in which Asian Americans were murdered. While we may not know the motives of the perpetrators in Monterey Park or Half Moon Bay, we know the outcomes: tragic deaths, grieving families and two communities’ sense of safety stripped away.
These shootings come at a time when the AAPI community feels targeted, physically and emotionally, from rising anti-Asian hatred. But just because the shooters in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay were Asian doesn’t make the incidents any less harmful than those driven by racism. Violence in any form against our community causes trauma.
‘But the shooter was Asian!’:That doesn’t negate the reality of anti-Asian violence.
Rep. Judy Chu:How we move forward after Lunar New Year massacre in my hometown
Stop AAPI Hate was formed in 2020 to track and respond to hate against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. By March 2022, nearly 11,500 hate incidents had been reported through our system, and a nationwide survey suggests that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Many of us fighting on behalf of our community have demanded civil rights protections, education and community investments. Now, we must also come together to demand the prevention of gun violence.
Asian Americans belong at the table on gun policies
Gun violence is an Asian American issue. It has devastated the AAPI community since before the current rise in anti-Asian attacks. From 2015 through 2019, more than 3,000 Asian Americans died from gun suicides, homicides and accidental shootings.
The recent killings are part of a long history of mass shootings in which AAPI people have been slain – from the 1989 elementary school shooting in Stockton, California, where a gunman killed five Asian American students, to the 2021 murder of eight in the Atlanta spa shootings, most of whom were of Asian descent.
As a whole, Asian Americans strongly support taking action to end gun violence, but we are not usually part of these policy conversations. We belong at the table.
Gun violence is a pandemic:We need to treat it like one
Newport News school shooting:The adults in charge failed, and a teacher was shot. By a 6-year-old.
AAPI organizations are coming together to advocate for action. The first national gathering of AAPI and gun violence prevention advocates took place last year. Last week, the AAPI Against Gun Violence steering committee – including representatives from AAPI Victory Alliance, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Moms Rising, the Newtown Action Alliance, and the Hope and Heal Fund – held a news conference to urge action and education on how gun violence impacts Asian Americans.
This is a start, but there is so much more to be done.
Tackling gun violence in the United States is certainly fraught with adversity. For AAPI communities and leaders, whose voices and needs have been ignored for so long, rallying around this issue might seem difficult. We would also have to address how fear of racism led to a rise in gun ownership in our own community, even though access to guns makes hate-motivated violence even deadlier.
Gabby Giffords:Why I’m optimistic about reducing gun violence in America
Want fewer shootings?:Pass tougher gun laws. Our research shows lax laws fuel violence.
Brandon Tsay said he decided to act when he realized that if he didn’t take the gun away from the shooter, everyone else at his dance studio might be killed. In that moment, he realized the gravity of the situation, but also that he had the power to do something about it.
Like him, we must acknowledge the danger gun violence poses to the entire AAPI community, realize we have the power to address it – and find the courage to act.
All of us, from leaders and policymakers to community members, have a role to play in creating sane gun policies. In the same way that we’ve powerfully mobilized against anti-AAPI hate over the past three years, against enormous odds, we can mobilize around gun violence prevention.
We deserve to be protected. We deserve to feel safe. And we will not back down in the face of adversity.
Cynthia Choi is a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. Manjusha P. Kulkarni is a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance.
[ad_2]
Source link
