Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March (2022)

[bunniefuu]

[ Woman vocalizing ]

[ Siren wails ]

-This out of Cherokee County.

The sheriff's office says it's investigating a sh**ting

at a massage parlor on Highway .

-Breaking tonight -- people shot and k*lled.

-Violent evening across Atlanta Metro.

A total of people have been k*lled in separate shootings,

all at massage parlors.

[ Vocalizing continues ]

[ Siren wails ]

♪♪

-That night was just a typical night

for a night-side reporter, which is what I am.

And I remember getting a call from my executive producer,

who said, "Hey, there's something happening.

We don't know what it is yet.

It possibly involves Asian women."

[ Siren wails ]

Yeah, they are right -- like you said,

across the street from each other.

Take a look behind me.

It's still an active investigation out here,

hours after these shootings happened.

So, what we know at this point, as Atlanta police tell us,

they actually responded to one of these spas.

And while they were here, they got a call about

a sh**ting, just across the street, at another spa.

So, the two spas we're talking about here

are Aromatherapy Spa and the Gold Spa.

-My brother was the first to notify me

that something was amiss.

He had texted and said, "Hey,

I see some killings going on with Asian women.

I've been trying to reach Mom, but Mom hasn't texted me back.

Can you go check on her?"

And at that time, I just briefly saw it on the news that night.

I didn't think much of it at the time.

I also blew it off that my mother

was just sleeping or working,

and, "I'll check on her in the morning."

[ Siren wails ]

-You have a description at this point you want to put out?

-Right now, the investigators are still pulling,

looking at video and tape, so once they are able...

-Shortly after we got there, that's when they held,

like, an impromptu news conference.

It was the police chief who was talking.

And I asked the question...

And then the victims, are they all female?

Are they all a certain race?

-Right now, it appears that all the female --

it appears that all the victims are female.

-Okay, and race?

-It appears that they may be Asian.

-It really rocked the entire city.

Is this an Asian attack?"

-Cherokee County is super far away from the other spot,

and that intentionality that person had to have

to go from here to here, freaked people out.

-I was not sure what is this about,

because it's so foreign and this never happened.

I was very surprised and frightened

and then get anger at why, you know,

some Asian women were k*lled.

-While Robert was aware his mother was employed by a spa,

he also knew she often worked late.

Yet the following morning, he had still not heard from her.

-That was when I started to do my hunt,

in search for my mother.

I remember calling the sheriff's office,

trying to identify the women.

I don't think some of them believed

that it was my mother when I was calling.

They were like, "Yeah, these are Asian women."

And I'm like, "Yes, my mother's Asian."

My brother called me to get an update --

have I heard anything, what's going on?

At that moment, I had just gotten off the phone

with the medical examiner.

And she told me that, yes,

they did have a body downtown of a woman named Yong Yue.

That was my mother.

♪♪

I think I pulled over and just broke down in that moment.

To my knowledge,

the perpetrator, Mr. Long, went to Gold Spa

and ex*cuted three women there.

[ Siren wails ]

He got back in his car and did a U-turn,

crossed the street, sat in the parking lot,

and then entered Aromatherapy Spa...

[ g*nsh*t ]

...and shot my mother upon entrance.

My mother's job was to see who was entering the space,

and she was the person who opened the door.

One shot --

execution.

She could not have seen it coming.

She had no chance to run, hide.

She died at the front door.

♪♪

-You're in a state of shock, right?

And you're like, "This can't be, in Atlanta."

And I think it was just, like, in the middle of the night,

as I'm just laying there, when I just started crying,

'cause you see this happening in your own communities.

And it's shocking.

And I see my own mom, right?

'Cause she is also now in the nail business, right?

And the women that we know now, their ages and their stories,

they're people like my mom.

♪♪

-Daoyou Feng had only arrived from China five years earlier.

She had worked since her teens,

supporting an extended family of .

Xiaojie Tan, daughter of a bicycle repairman,

became an American citizen in .

She worked in salons for years

before finally opening her own spa.

Hyun Jung Grant had attended a prestigious university in Korea.

In America, she became a spa worker

to raise teenage sons on her own.

Soon Chung Park was a widow.

Since immigrating from Korea in the s,

she worked many jobs -- at delis, a jewelry store,

restaurants, spas, and a farm --

to support her five children.

Suncha Kim had moved to the area for its large Korean community

and looked forward to retiring with her husband of years.

Yong Ae Yue had married an American G.I. in Korea

before moving to Atlanta.

After they divorced,

she helped support their sons, Elliott and Robert.

Paul Michels was an Army veteran

who worked as a handyman at one of the spas.

He and his wife had been married for over years.

Delaina Ashley Yaun, mother of two,

was getting a massage with her husband.

-The day after it happened, I bought some flowers.

And I just went to the scene.

I think that was a very important moment for me

to go and process that this had actually happened

and what this means

for the Asian-American community moving forward.

♪♪

--year-old Robert Aaron Long

of Woodstock, Georgia,

was arrested the night of the sh**ting.

He was charged with eight counts of m*rder -

four in Cherokee County and four in Fulton County.

-Everyone, straight off the bat, was, "This is a hate crime.

This is clearly a hate crime."

Six of the victims are Asian-Americans.

So how can we say

that this <span tts:fontStyle="italic">isn't</span>something that was racially motivated?

-We lost eight community members, right?

Six Asian-American community members

during a time where Asian-Americans

were being targeted.

That just really makes you think, right?

[ Police radio chatter ]

-The suspect did

take responsibility for the shootings.

He understood the gravity of it,

and he was pretty much fed up

and kind of at the end of his rope.

And yesterday was a really bad day for him,

and this is what he did. -Remorseful?

-It's very unusual for police officers --

law enforcement, in general --

to give a press conference

about statements made by a particular defendant.

I think what came out of it is that there's lack of awareness,

there's lack of cultural sensitivity

to certain types of crimes.

The characterization came off very offensive

to a lot of people who were hurting very badly.

And as a result, the Asian-American community

were very upset.

-We got to call it for what it is,

and what it is, is a hate crime.

-The sheriff department captain

was very inappropriate, insensitive.

We were very furious and angry.

He showed his racism in law enforcement,

not caring about the Asian hate.

-Many local and national news outlets

chose to focus on Long,

often painting a sympathetic portrait.

-Long had religious roots,

attending Crabapple First Baptist Church.

-A lot of people here in the community

where his parents live referred to him

as a good guy in this community.

-I think, immediately after this tragedy,

the media narrative, law-enforcement narrative

humanized the perpetrator.

It was difficult to talk to detectives

when they were just so matter-of-fact

that "This is what it is, no big deal,

just another unfortunate crime,"

where I felt it was an example, a symbol

of what the small microaggressions and racism

towards Asians could lead to,

and that's what happened.

-Most of Long's victims were Asian women.

Yet two days after the attack,

FBI Director Christopher Wray told NPR

that his agency did not consider the killings a hate crime.

Instead, they would rely

on the findings of local and state law enforcement.

-We're actively involved, but in a support role.

And while the motive remains still under investigation,

at the moment, it does not appear

that the motive was racially motivated.

-Meanwhile, the sheriff's office made a series of blunders.

They struggled to communicate with survivors and witnesses;

they fumbled the victims' names;

and delayed in identifying the final victim.

In addition, rumors spread about the spa workers.

Because Long claimed he had a sex addiction,

the women were presumed to be sex workers

or the victims of trafficking.

When social-media posts showed Captain Baker

promoting a T-shirt with an anti-Chinese message,

the community demanded his ouster.

-Cherokee County Sheriff's Office

had to do a lot of damage control.

And he stepped away from his media role

as a result of that.

-To many Asian-Americans, the insensitive response

from law enforcement and news media

was not surprising.

It followed a familiar pattern in which Asian-Americans

were dismissed and treated as invisible.

-We work through community channels.

A lot of the community organizers

knew some of the family members --

for example, Ms. Tan, who's one of the victims,

her daughter was one of the volunteers here.

So we knew about the family before it went public.

[ Police radio chatter ]

-We had some calls from people

whose friends were some of the survivors

at the police station,

that were needing some translation help.

So, they didn't know what to do.

They didn't know what was happening.

They were also traumatized, exhausted, and really scared.

-Stephanie Cho, director

of Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Atlanta,

led a tireless mobilization effort.

-We had calls, I think, every day that week

just to update everybody about what was happening

and then also deciding

what the vigil was gonna be like,

who's gonna outreach to which person.

-I have experience dealing with the press

and also law enforcement.

I was tasked with funneling the information

and also interfacing with the media.

-I just start my car and went to these houses after houses

to knock on the door

and see if I can get in touch with any family members

or people who knew of the victims.

-I called many community members,

and asked, "We need to form and establish

the anti-Asian hate committee

among Korean Americans."

We want our voice heard because this is anti-Asian hate,

and we need protection.

[ Indistinct shouting ]

-The actions were both local and national.

Across the country, Asian-Americans

and their allies took to the streets,

united in their rage and sadness.

-Not yet.

And I don't think I will.

-Why is that?

-Mm.

I just want to focus on what needs to be done

and...

♪♪

...move away from feeling that...

[ Voice breaking ] ...we weren't able to protect them.

Mm-hmm.

Also, don't want to feel weak,

'cause we work so hard, collectively.

-In Atlanta, the victims' families

struggled with grief and shock.

-My mother, who was years old,

she was cooking and cleaning

and supporting the staff that were there.

At the Aromatherapy Spa,

the women would often spend a night at the place

because they did live so far, they worked -hour shifts.

And my mother, she, too, would come home every two days

to feed the dog and the cat.

-Robert and his brother

had mostly been raised by their father,

since their mother often moved, looking for employment.

Still, Robert knew how hard she had worked

to support her two sons.

-It's hard living in my mother's house,

sharing and seeing those memories,

knowing that she should have been home that day,

knowing that she expected to come home that day.

-[ Speaking indistinctly in video ]

♪♪

-My mom would just always cook for us.

I pretty much watched her and figured out

how to make banchans.

My favorite is the cucumber kimchi.

My mother's love language to me would be feeding me.

[ Pan sizzling ]

My mom would say she can't cook.

She would say, "Ajumma cooks better."

[ Laughs ]

This is my mother's best friend. It's almost like a sister.

They've known each other...

How long you know Ma?

- years. What are you looking for?

What do you need?

This is good, right here.

Ajumma -- I've known her almost as long as

I can remember knowing my mother.

She's always been around.

Even when I didn't see my mom sometimes, we'd see Ajumma.

She would take us school shopping.

And she took real good care of us always.

A plate?

And so, that day, Ajumma went to the house

and left a note on the door and said call her.

At that point, she didn't know for certain,

but people in the Korean community were talking.

You want a napkin? No napkin?

So, I take the lettuce,

and I put rice in the lettuce,

and I would eat it with the kalbi.

This is all my family.

We all live here in Atlanta, or in Georgia now.

But they come from all over.

They've been in Florida and stuff like that.

So it's good to have them here in support.

-It's hard, and he's struggling, as well.

We understand that.

-We're just letting him know that we're --

you know, that we all here.

-[ Sighs ]

My father was a U.S. Army soldier,

stationed in Korea.

My mother worked at a bus station,

passing out tickets.

That's how they said they met.

Growing up, I remember, people did not think

that I was Korean or accept me,

or they, too, had a perception of me as a black man,

which I know, in America, that's how I am forward-facing.

That's how I present myself.

My mother knew that I was marching in the streets

for Black Lives Matter and black men being shot and k*lled.

My mother -- she was aware

of the increase in Asian hate with the coronavirus

and the language that was being used.

She watched television as I did.

She read the Korean newspaper.

-[ Shouting indistinctly ]

-So she saw violent crimes being reported.

It shaped how she moved around the city.

-Robert and his mother were not alone.

Across the country, Asian-Americans were well aware

of the escalating reports of violence against them.

-I would like to start out by asking you to join me

in a brief moment of silence for the victims,

the survivors, and their families.

♪♪

-[ Sobbing ]

-Ajumma is my connection to the larger Korean community.

In this moment of tragedy, has been the most embraced,

I would say, I have felt in the Asian community.

-Rough time. Yes.

-So, how have you been doing?

I mean, if you don't mind me checking in with you.

-Because you are Korean American, too,

we really want to have you there.

-Hey, how are you?

-I'm praying for you. -Aww.

-She wanted to give you a hug. Is that okay?

-Oh, <span tts:fontStyle="italic">kamsahamnida --</span>thank you. I appreciate it.

They now recognize that I am Korean --

unapologetically Korean.

-Within days, President Biden and Vice President Harris

visited members of the grieving community,

as well as their leaders.

-Whatever the k*ller's motive,

these facts are clear.

Six out of the eight people k*lled on Tuesday night

were of Asian descent,

Seven were women.

The shootings took place

in businesses owned by Asian-Americans.

[ Siren wails ]

-We had the president and the vice president

of the United States come to Georgia

and meet with leaders.

And as we were sitting at the table,

I wish we didn't have to have met in that moment.

But it was historical for Georgia

that nonprofit leaders like myself

was able to sit at a table like this

and look the president in his eye

and tell him, "We can't just talk about 'Stop AAPI hate.'

We have to talk about the resources

that are coming or not coming to the AAPI community,

to better do rapid response, when things like this happen.

Right?"

-When the country first began to grapple

with the frightening unknowns of the global pandemic,

Asian-Americans faced a unique challenge.

Violence sparked by a racialized response to COVID-.

Early on, President Trump

closed the U.S. border to arrivals from China.

Throughout, he repeatedly referred to COVID-

as "the Chinese virus."

-Why is this a global competition to you

if everyday Americans are still losing their lives

and we're still seeing more cases every day?

-Well, they're losing their lives

everywhere in the world.

And maybe that's a question you should ask China.

-What -- Sir, why are you saying that to me specifically?

-I'm telling you.

I'm not saying it specifically to anybody.

-A person at the White House used the term "Kung Flu."

My question is... -Kung Flu?

-...do you think that's wrong -- Kung Flu?

And do you think using the term "Chinese Virus"

that puts Asian-Americans at risk,

that people might target that? -No, not at all.

-Despite his denials, many saw Trump's rhetoric

as the latest example

of thinly veiled race-baiting targeting Asians.

Within a year,

anti-Asian hate crimes increased %,

and racialized accusations

were echoed in the halls of Congress.

-The culture where people eat bats and snakes

and dogs and things like that --

these viruses are transmitted from the animal to the people.

-Go back to whatever [bleep] Asian country you belong in!

-Take your [bleep] China flu and shove it up your a*s.

-Okay, well done, sir. -[Bleep] Taiwanese ch*nk

mother[bleep]. -Well done, sir.

-Violence and bias against our community is nothing new.

It becomes inflamed whenever there's something

that Americans don't like about Asia.

So, whether it's World w*r II and Pearl Harbor,

or whether it's increased competition from Japan

during the 's,

or whether it's /,

Americans are suffering, and they feel pain and fear.

And I think it's acutely manifesting

in the symptom of Asian hate.

-[ Shouting indistinctly ]

-The COVID- pandemic isn't the first time

that we've seen this narrative, in this country in specific,

around this sense of contagion and pestilence and disease

related to Asian communities.

This is the latest chapter in what is a very old story.

There have been disease outbreaks in the past,

like tuberculosis,

that Americans had been quick to blame on Asian immigrants.

-By that winter,

a series of violent attacks on Asian-Americans

had been captured on video.

♪♪

-In Asian America, these are videos

that popped up on our social-media feeds.

This is something that we became aware of

before the general public became aware of.

-One of the first videos widely disseminated

was of the as*ault on Vicha Ratanapakdee

in San Francisco.

On January , ,

-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee was taking his morning stroll,

when he was attacked without warning.

-San Francisco Police say the suspect, Antoine Watson,

attacked the senior along Anzavista

and Fortuna Avenues, Thursday morning.

It is unclear what may have motivated that attack.

The victim was taken to the hospital

for life-threatening injuries and died on Saturday.

♪♪

-The night after, Monthanus and her mother

went to the scene of the attack, a few blocks from their home.

There, they washed their father's blood off the pavement.

[ Sobs, sighs ]

[ Sniffles ]

-Vicha's m*rder went viral

and became the first of many brutal attacks

to reverberate beyond the Asian-American community.

-Our community is being attacked.

We are dying to be heard.

-Yet, as in Atlanta,

the initial response from officials was jarring.

-The pain Eric and his wife, Monthanus Ratanapakdee,

are feeling is magnified once again

after District Attorney Chesa Boudin

was quoted in <span tts:fontStyle="italic">The New York Times</span> as saying

Watson was having "some sort of temper tantrum."

-District Attorney Chesa Boudin's characterization

of the k*ller angered both the victim's family

and the wider Asian American community.

-Justice for Vicha! Justice for Vicha!

Justice for Vicha! [ Applause ]

Justice for Vicha!

-The Center for Pan Asian Community Services,

or CPACS,

assists the AAPI population in the Atlanta area.

"AAPI " stands for Asian American, Pacific Islander,

and encompasses ethnic groups

with roots from different countries.

During the pandemic, the center stepped up

with free COVID testing, food delivery,

and other essential services

for vulnerable families and individuals.

-I am so blessed to be a child

of refugee parents that came from Vietnam.

-Victoria Huynh, the senior vice president of CPACS,

grew up in Atlanta

and knows its immigrant community well.

-I was having trouble in school just connecting.

My parents connected me with CPACS.

They put me in a program called Community Action For Teens,

and it was like a high school program,

which is a program that we still operate today.

-something years later, here I am,

staff here at CPACS.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

Hi, everyone.

Thank you so much for coming out.

So, this morning, we have a little bit of an icebreaker.

So, if it applies to you, then you stand up.

"My family or I have had to use an interpreter to communicate,

at some point in our lives."

And that counts to child interpreters, too.

I'm gonna stand up.

If you were the child interpreter!

[ Laughter ]

Starting with the pandemic, it was a lot like, you know,

after -- post-/ -- right? --

where communities were being targeted at random.

And there's just, like, that fear,

"Are they being targeted because they're Asian-American

or they look a certain way?"

"I've had to talk to my family member about safety this year,

due to the rise of violence against the AAPI --

Asian American Pacific Islander community."

[ Indistinct conversations ]

"I feel safe going shopping alone, anytime I want,

without fear of being harassed or followed."

[ Indistinct conversations ]

I'm hearing a lot from my peers

about things like "Kung Flu" -- right? --

and having political figures

kind of mark this global pandemic

as something that came out from Asians.

And then we started seeing this rise in stories of violence

against Asian-American communities from the coast.

And I think there was just a lot of fear and questions.

[ Applause ]

-When Victoria and her family

first moved to Atlanta, in the s,

there were few Asians in the area.

Today, Asian-Americans are the fastest-growing racial minority

in the country

and account for % of Atlantans.

We've seen this huge uptick of communities

registering to vote, going out to vote,

seeing more news and conversations

about people in political spaces.

Seeing more AAPIs step up to run for office

has just been really amazing to see here in Georgia.

-In November , Asian-Americans in Georgia

turned out to vote in record numbers.

According to exit polls,

the newly invigorated voting bloc

helped defeat President Trump

and elect Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff,

effectively tipping the balance of power in Washington.

Georgia also elected its first Asian-American woman

to the state senate -- Dr. Michelle Au.

-In , the Asian-American voter turnout in Georgia

was record-breaking.

Many voters I spoke to who are first-generation,

naturalized citizens explicitly said,

"You remind me of my daughter.

And this is why we came to this country.

We came to this country so that our kids could go to school.

Also, now we can imagine that maybe our kids

can also run for office,"

which is something that they had not conceived of before.

-Dr. Michelle Au is the only physician

among the Democrats in the General Assembly.

During the pandemic, her job at the hospital

was one of the most dangerous --

working as an anesthesiologist caring for COVID patients.

-Once COVID started, anesthesiology became,

and continues to be, one of the highest-risk procedures,

in terms of being infected,

because of the proximity to the airway

and the potential for aerosolizing viral particles.

I, in particular, was worried

about bringing it home from the hospital.

Especially in a two-physician family,

you worry that both of you could go down.

We updated our wills when we started

realizing that we were gonna be taking care of

probably a fair number of COVID patients.

-Dr. Au is now one of five

Asian-American lawmakers in Georgia.

-We have Sam Park, Bee Nguyen, and Marvin Lim in the House.

And we have me and Senator Sheikh Rahman

on the Senate side. Of the five of us,

four of us represent Gwinnett County.

-For the first time in Georgia's history,

Asian-Americans made up a small yet vocal bloc

in the state capital.

-I think that part of the work that we try to do

is to just constantly call attention

to raise that level of awareness --

Asian people live in Georgia,

and that anti-Asian violence and discrimination is a problem,

even if you yourself don't encounter it

or read about it every single day.

Being an Asian-American leader in Georgia

is being able to increase visibility of these problems

that we're well aware of but other people might not be.

-In the wake of the tragedy,

Senator Au and her colleagues immediately got to work.

-We very quickly put together a plan

to turn our grief into action.

We dropped a coordinated slate of three bills

on the House side and the Senate side

that were directly inspired by, and seeking to fix,

some of the problems that were laid bare

in this violent crime.

Two of the bills had to do with increasing language access

in communities that do not speak English as a first language,

to interface with law enforcement

and officers of the peace.

And the last bill had to do with g*n safety,

which is something we heard a lot about from the community.

Now, in this case of March th,

the g*nman purchased his firearm that morning,

and by that evening, had used it to k*ll eight people.

And that is something that people are very united on,

is that they felt unsafe in an environment

where g*ns were so readily available

and used to k*ll so many people so rapidly.

♪♪

-BJay Pak is a Republican

and former U.S. attorney under President Trump.

Now working in the private sector,

he is providing legal counsel to two of the families

in the ongoing trial of Robert Long.

-People tend to underestimate

the amount of psychological toll a trial takes.

The longer the case goes on, the more emotional toll

that it takes on everyone involved.

And it wears people down.

Part of my practice is crisis management,

and so that's how I ended up taking the calls

from the two families that I represent --

Ms. Yong Ae Yue's family

and also Ms. Suncha Kim's family.

They're all on the same page

that they just want justice done.

-In July , Long pleaded guilty

to four counts of m*rder in Cherokee County

for the deaths of Delaina Ashley Yaun,

Daoyou Feng, Paul Michels, and Xiaojie Tan.

But the district attorney declined to charge the shootings

as a hate crime motivated by race or gender.

The FBI also declined to press any federal hate-crime charges.

Many Asian-Americans disagreed.

To them, the killings

were motivated by both race and gender.

-In his rampage, he passed several different racial groups.

He found and targeted Asian-owned spas

operated by predominantly Asian women.

-On Piedmont Road, where the two spas are located,

there's a strip club right next to one of the spas.

And so when Long was saying he wanted to get rid of temptation,

you know, the question arises,

"Why was it these two spas that are filled with Asian women,

and not a strip club or another bar or another spa?"

This is where culture plays a big part

in understanding what exactly happened.

As an Asian-American woman, you've been hypersexualized.

There's that in the background.

-In Cherokee County,

the most powerful evidence of, you know,

that this was a crime motivated by hate or gender

is the fact that he targeted Asian businesses.

From a perspective of a district attorney,

looking at the facts in the case,

the evidence is not as strong initially

for a hate-crime statute.

But if you move forward to the city of Atlanta,

not only that, he had minutes from the k*lling spree,

to begin with, to think about what he was doing.

-Long is also facing a separate criminal case in Fulton County.

There, all four victims were Asian women.

With that in mind, District Attorney Fani Willis

is taking a markedly different approach

from the one taken in Cherokee County.

She is applying Georgia's new hate-crime enhancement statute,

acknowledging the racial and gendered nature of the crime,

and is seeking the death penalty.

-And I am very comfortable in my decision

to create -- to request sentencing enhancements

based on the fact that race and gender played a role.

-Does that fall under a hate-crime statute at all?

-It calls on what is commonly referred to

as a hate-crime statute, yes. -Thank you.

-Thank you all for coming.

-After the death of Ahmaud Arbery,

a black man m*rder*d while jogging,

Georgia became one of the last states

to pass hate-crime enhancement legislation.

Signed by Governor Kemp in June of ,

the law requires additional punishment

if a person is found to have committed the crime

due to racial and/or sexual bias.

Fulton County's charges against Robert Long

will be the first major case to test the boundaries of that law.

-Fani Willis has to prove the fact

that the defendant committed the acts

with certain bias or perceived bias in mind,

including against women or against Asian-Americans.

My understanding is, Mr. Long did not admit

that he, in fact, targeted these victims

because they're female or they're Asian-American.

But so that's gonna be the challenge.

And I believe that Mr. Long will probably try

to poke holes in that -- that theory.

Wherever there is a death-penalty case,

there's certain constitutional safeguards

that are put in place, and so that's gonna delay

the final resolution of this case.

And I expect it'll take

a couple -- at least a couple years.

-Fani Willis did not respond

to a request from PBS for an interview.

But while serving as a U.S. attorney,

Pak had investigated numerous potential hate crimes

at the federal level.

The shootings in Atlanta reveal that prosecuting hate crimes

aimed at Asian-Americans presents unique challenges,

compared to other targeted groups.

-We had a lot of instances

where there were nooses found in the workplace.

We know what that means.

It was geared towards intimidating black workers.

In the Jewish community, there is the n*zi symbol.

But towards the Asian-American community,

we don't have one symbol or multiple symbols

that really solidify the ideology

against Asian-Americans.

So it makes it a little bit tougher,

so you have to really look and dig

to find evidence of that motive.

-Another problem is that Asian-Americans

are the group most likely to under-report hate crimes,

for reasons ranging from fear of retaliation

to mistrust of law enforcement.

What's more, the crimes that are reported

almost never end in a conviction.

A recent study by the New York Bar Association

found that only % of anti-Asian attacks

in the last two years

resulted in a hate-crime conviction.

-We under-report.

As a community, we just don't report enough hate incidents.

And we got that cultural mentality

of doing everything we can

to just assimilate as quickly as possible.

And then we don't speak out about things.

We're galvanized to try to change that.

-The tragedy of the Atlanta shootings

may have done just that --

to not merely spur efforts against anti-Asian violence

but also galvanize others in solidarity

with black and brown communities to take meaningful action.

-My body. -Stop Asian hate.

-My body. -Stop Asian hate.

-I am proud to be Asian! -I am proud to be Asian!

-I belong here! -I belong here!

-I am proud to be Asian! -I am proud to be Asian!

-In Washington, the shootings

made the COVID- Hate Crimes Act

more urgent than ever.

The legislation was introduced by

U.S. Representative Grace Meng and Senator Mazie Hirono,

and passed in a rare moment of bipartisan agreement.

It was signed into law by President Biden

less than a month after the shootings.

The bill is intended to support

language access and other critical resources

to enable local community organizations

to better work with law enforcement.

-We wanted to make it easier for people,

especially those who didn't speak English,

to be able to report both hate crimes and bias incidents.

We also passed that legislation to give more resources

to our local community organizations,

to help our community at the most grassroots level.

-Some believe the bill doesn't go far enough

for meaningful change.

Even so, it was of historical symbolic importance

for Asian-Americans.

And the fact that it passed so quickly,

and by both parties,

indicated there was nearly unanimous consensus --

anti-Asian hatred had to be addressed.

Lastly, the bill can be viewed as a stepping-stone,

granting the federal government leeway

to better research and investigate

hate crimes against Asian-Americans

and, ideally, lead to better outcomes.

-I'm hoping that when we collect enough data --

that's the first step -- that we'll be able

to pass additional legislation and protection

or actually petition for funding

to educate the community more about this.

And that's kind of what happened

under the anti-Asian-hate COVID statute

that was passed this year.

-And so if we don't even label this as a hate crime,

whether we win or lose,

we lose that kind of data collection

where we can see, "Hey, there has been an increase

in racial hatred against Asian people."

And so, for me, I think it's important

that we label this a hate crime.

Again, let the legal people figure out the win/loss.

Let the legal people figure out

how to prosecute and things of that nature.

But I think, symbolically, for the community,

it's important that you see us for who we are.

It's important that you acknowledge

that this is something that is real.

-Stand together. We have to fight together.

-It gave me hope initially, when I saw

the rallying from different communities,

the "break the silence" notion -- right? --

"Stop Asian hate."

But just look up on television and to see the brutality

perpetrated against Asian women in subway stations

and regular everyday activities is disheartening.

-That winter, a series of brutal assaults on Asian women

swept through New York City.

-Police say this homeless man shoved

-year-old Asian woman Michelle Go

onto the train tracks of an oncoming southbound "R" train.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

-We come together today,

and in the weeks and months ahead,

to work to honor the legacy of people like Michelle.

-It's really so emotionally hard on our community.

It just seems like as we are mourning one tragedy,

mourning the life of one person,

another incident or two or three happen.

--year-old Christina Yuna Lee was k*lled after a homeless man

followed her into her own apartment

and stabbed her repeatedly.

-Breaking news --

police say they've arrested the man

who attacked seven Asian women on the same night.

And tonight we are learning new details about the suspect.

-The police commissioner here telling me

this is one of the worst acts of brutality

he has seen in his entire career.

Over strikes, and this woman, police say,

she is the victim of a hate crime.

-Enough is enough! -Enough is enough!

-Enough is enough! -Enough is enough!

-I'm at the point where I can't take it anymore.

Our elected officials need to act.

I am begging them to act

so that not another life is lost.

-As the number of attacks continued to mount,

Asian-Americans again

turn to their communities for protection.

Hundreds of women lined up in New York's Chinatown

to receive pepper spray.

Civilian patrols formed nationwide.

And the elderly took up group classes in self-defense,

learning how to fight back.

♪♪

In the months since the shootings,

Atlanta's Asian-American community

has seen its legislative agenda resisted again and again.

Three public safety bills sponsored by Senator Au

were dropped by the Senate.

And in November , Georgia's GOP succeeded

in its long-range goal

to regain lost power in Gwinnett County.

-Among the map changes,

District represented by Senator Michelle Au,

the first Asian-American woman in the Senate.

Her Democratic-leaning district in Gwinnett County

will now include part of heavily Republican Forsyth County.

-The Senate has been accused of targeting a senator.

Well, first of all, that is an overly simplistic analysis

of an extremely complicated process.

-Au's Senate district, which had grown into

a minority-majority in recent years,

was now the only one targeted by state Republicans,

who now seized the once-in-a-decade opportunity

to redraw the district map.

They reverted the district back to one that was majority-white

and far more favorable to the GOP.

-Seeing that historic Asian turnout

and the fact that it actually

surpassed the margin of victory in Georgia

made a lot of people

who were sleeping on the Asian-American electorate

sit up and take notice.

So what we see is that the party in power

uses this redistricting as an excuse

to more favorably draw the district lines

in a way that ensures them electoral victories,

not just for the next cycle but for the next years.

What happened with my district is,

of the Senate districts in Georgia,

one of them was targeted to be flipped back to Republican.

And that Senate district was the one I represent.

-While that has long targeted African-American

and most recently Latinos in the last redistricting cycle,

and unfortunately is now attacking Asian-Americans,

we are seeing a fracturing of their political power

to organize and to seek representation.

-Asian-Americans have to exert

the political power that we wield

to ensure that we are fighting for our seat at the table.

-Senator Au's colleague, State Representative Sam Park,

is leading efforts to thwart

what he sees as a Republican takeover.

-Republicans are willing to break the rules

just so that they can get what they want.

We are fighting their attack against Gwinnett,

tooth and nail.

This is tyranny of the minority.

-Park is the chair of the Gwinnett State House delegation.

-Yeah, yeah.

-...is a no-brainer for me.

-Given the shifting political landscape,

Au's reelection to the state senate would be unlikely.

Accordingly, she made a tactical pivot,

and, in December , announced her run for a seat

in the Georgia State House of Representatives.

-Our goal is to make sure that we are adequately representing,

that people don't think

that our community is invisible anymore.

So, you know, you want to stay in it,

and you want to keep doing the work,

these are the adjustments we make.

[ Indistinct conversations ]

-Sam Park's colleague in the House, Bee Nguyen,

is a representative at large

and one of Georgia's five Asian-American legislators.

Like Au, she is also running for a different seat,

as Georgia's secretary of state.

-I'm not naive enough to think that a party in the majority,

given power, is not going to use all the power they have.

The reason they focus on North Fulton and on Gwinnett

is because of how fast this area is changing.

They can see it for themselves.

You can see it in this room, how it looks.

And they try to stave off the change as hard as they can,

as desperately as they can, for as long as they can.

It's not gonna work.

I, for one, I'm going to be running for House District .

♪♪

-We are both simultaneously running campaigns

at the same time,

and I don't know what other opportunity

I've had in Georgia, as a lawmaker,

to stand side-by-side

with an Asian woman who is also running for office,

who is also serving at the same time.

And I can't tell you what a difference it made last year

when we were grappling with this horrific and violent sh**ting

that took place right here in our state.

We know that representation matters

for many different reasons.

We know that it matters because of cultural understanding,

cultural nuances, language barriers.

We know it's important to see people who look like us

represent us.

-Bee and I have often heard from people,

"You're the first this to hold this office.

You're the first, you know, Asian woman to hold this seat,"

this and that.

The point is not to be the first.

The point is to not be the last.

[ Applause ]

-A year later, in San Francisco, Vicha's family

still seeks justice for his m*rder.

[ Applause ]

-And on the anniversary of the Atlanta shootings,

Asian-Americans continue to rally around that message --

that in the face of violence,

they would no longer remain silent.

-Break the... -Silence!

-Break the... -Silence!

-Stop Asian... -Hate!

-I think of Asian-Americans overall,

is that assimilation model

that previous generations have had

doesn't work.

That mindset of trying to keep our head down,

trying to get jobs, et cetera, that system doesn't work.

-We will no longer be silent.

Our communities and victims will not be forgotten.

We will not wait for another tragedy in our community

to do something about it. [ Applause ]

-The... -Silence!

-Break the... -Silence!

-I, too, have kind of put my head down to survive,

but I can't do that anymore.

I do think that this is a galvanizing moment.

-We must rally, we must stand in solidarity.

We must protect each other.

-We were not taught that we are an important part

of the political participation.

And I think that the younger generation,

we're starting to understand why it's so incredibly important

to mobilize on behalf of our community.

-As an American, I felt like I wanted more for America.

We live here. It's our America, too.

We have a right to it.

We deserve to feel safe and protected.

-For Asian-Americans, this has to be a unifying moment.

This concept of Asian America under this banner,

this is a moment to create progress for our community.

-We are better equipped to fight for ourselves.

-And respond with hope.

-I think that both Asian and black communities

can get on board and see

that we're fighting a similar, parallel fight.

-This is a nation that has made mistakes,

but we cannot atone if we don't know what we've done wrong.

-I am the proud son of Yong Yue.

For the safety of our communities and our family,

she would ask that we do speak up

and break the silence to be heard,

to be visible, respected, and represented

in all aspects of our lives.

[ Applause ]

-While violence against Asian Americans has not stopped,

neither has resilience,

nor a belief in the power of collective action.

Communities across the nation continue to work together

at every level to fight for justice

and bring about lasting change.

[ Soft music plays ]

♪♪

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♪♪

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