New York City residents in the city held a vigil Wednesday in Queens to remember and mourn the victims who died at a mass shooting spree at massage parlors in Atlanta. Six out of eight victims were Asian women.
NBC New York’s Checkey Beckford reports.
What to Know
- The NYPD has deployed extra officers to Asian neighborhoods across New York City as precaution and a direct response to the tragic shooting spree in Atlanta, Georgia, in which a man shot and killed eight people, six of them women of Asian descent.
- Members of the NYPD Critical Response Command, which is a counter-terrorism unit, will be stationed in Chinatown (Manhattan), Flushing (Queens) and in Sunset Park (Brooklyn).
- Although the stepped up patrols are in response to Tuesday night's Atlanta shooting spree, there has been an uptick in anti-Asian crimes across the country, including in New York City. Advocates say the violence has been fueled by racism and ignorance about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NYPD has deployed extra officers to Asian neighborhoods across New York City as precaution and a direct response to the tragic shooting spree in Atlanta, Georgia, in which a man shot and killed eight people, six of them women of Asian descent.
Members of the NYPD Critical Response Command, which is a counter-terrorism unit, will be stationed in Chinatown (Manhattan), Flushing (Queens) and in Sunset Park (Brooklyn).
Although the stepped up patrols are in response to Tuesday night's Atlanta shooting spree, there has been an uptick in anti-Asian crimes across the country, including in New York City. Advocates say the violence has been fueled by racism and ignorance about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NYPD said it has investigated 14 anti-Asian hate crimes since Jan. 1 -- an astonishing jump from this time last year when no anti-Asian attacks were reported.
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the attacks against the Asian community at a press conference Wednesday.
"To see this hatred, to see it take such a violent form is extraordinarily distressing. Now, we all need to understand the pain that Asian Americans are going through right now in this city, and all over the country, and we need to be there for them," he said.
The NYPD has already established an Asian Hate Crimes Task Force, which is commanded by an Asian officer and with several officers in the unit speaking a combined nine different languages all in an effort to solve these crimes against individuals of Asian descent in New York City.
In wake of the deadly shootings, dozens gathered in Jackson Heights Wednesday night for a vigil for the victims. Some who attended said the rationale given by police (that the man has a sex addiction and wanted to remove temptation) for killing the eight people is in itself something that stems from racist stereotypes.
"I came in my 'I will not love you long time' T-shirt. Asian women have been stereotyped," said one woman who was at the vigil. "Really is rooted in ys being seen as disposable and not human."
News
Man in the Asian community said that their fear won't go away until the spotlight on ignorance grows.
