Gwinnett County legislators, District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson and U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath participated in a remembrance marking the two-year anniversary of two shootings that shook the local Asian-American community.
The shootings happened on March 16, 2021 at two Asian-owned spas in metro Atlanta, one in Atlanta and another in Cherokee County, and resulted in the deaths of eight people. Many people have labeled the shootings as racially-motivated hate crimes because most of the victims were Asian-Americans.
“We stand with, we mourn for and we pray for the survivors and the families of the victims of that terrible, terrible shooting,” state Rep. Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville, said. “Much remains to be done to ensure justice is delivered for our community and for the victims (and) these families.
“A lot of work sill has to be done to ensure we are fighting discrimination of any kind, whether it’s against the Asian-American, the Muslim community or the LGBTQ community.”
The anniversary brought pledges from elected officials to tackle hate crimes and gun violence.
As officials were speaking at a press conference at the State Capitol to mark he anniversary of the shootings on Thursday morning, state Rep. Michelle Au, D-Johns Creek, was presenting a bill addressing pediatric safe storage of guns in a legislative subcommittee. Au was previously a member of the Gwinnett legislative delegation when she served in the Georgia Senate, but her move to the Georgia House took her out of the delegation.
“The AAPI community insists on being seen, we insist on being heard and we know that in order to do that, we must raise our voices and demand it,” Au said. “So, today we honor and remember those that we have lost and we continue to work on their behalf and in their honor.”
The need to address hate crimes and gun violence was a recurring theme among…
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