May Lee, of Sacramento, holding her dog Neptune, attends a candlelight vigil in front of Sacramento City Hall on Wednesday, March 17, 2021, to honor the victims from Tuesday’s shootings in Atlanta. The vigil, organized by Asian American and Pacific Islander community members, was attended by various groups and people in solidarity with Asian women in the wake of the mass shooting.
Xavier Mascareñas
xmascarenas@sacbee.com
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Good afternoon, Equity Lab readers:
It’s Wednesday, March 24, 2021.
I’m Jeong Park, the California economic mobility reporter for The Equity Lab and The Bee’s Capitol Bureau.
I intended to write about my job at The Bee: What I write about, how I think about the issue of economic inequality and how I hope to learn more from you.
But I can’t stop thinking about the recent shootings in Atlanta, which killed eight, including six women of Asian descent.
While law enforcement has not labeled the shooting a hate crime, it’s part of a string of violence affecting Asian Americans across the country, including right here in Sacramento.
Something I didn’t know until recently, however, was the long-running history of local violence, seen and unseen.
A month ago, I went on a weekend drive to Marysville, where Chinese immigrants in the late 19th Century made a stand against terrorists who went after Chinatowns across the north state.
A couple of weeks ago, I was on an assignment in Stockton, where in 1989 a gunman killed five schoolchildren and 32 others, predominantly Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants.
Just a few days ago, I was biking along the Capitol Mall, where the City Council let developers bulldoze Japantown in the 1950s to make room for redevelopment.
Yet, I didn’t know of any of those events until last week, when I started digging more into the region’s history.
I don’t know how we can prevent anti-Asian violence. Frankly, I don’t think anyone has a definitive answer.
But as we look forward, a good first step would be to recognize the breadth and depth of anti-Asian violence across the country, including right here in our region. Only then can we work on a long, hard, but truly necessary process of working toward a solution.
— Jeong Park
How are you coping with anti-AAPI violence?
Sacramento, like many cities across the country, has seen a troubling rise in violence against Asian communities. The tension and fear reached a new height this past week after the Atlanta shootings.
We want to know how you’re coping with anti-AAPI violence. Let us know here.
• • •
Here’s what else you need to know this week:
Must-Read Stories
DEMANDING CHANGE FOR ASIAN COMMUNITIES: Sacramento, like other cities around the country, has faced a spike in attacks and discrimination against Asian Americans. In a county where nearly one in four residents identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, the shootings, which left eight people in total dead, has resurfaced painful memories for many in Sacramento of discrimination, violence and hate. [Read more here]
RACISM IS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS: Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a stark and measurable increase in violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The number reported is likely an undercount as many do not feel safe coming forward. Communities have formed their own neighborhood watch groups to protect themselves and their neighbors. [Read more here]
Grocery workers aren’t the only ones pushing for COVID hazard pay in California. What’s next? | The Sacramento Bee
Prisoners Keep Dying of COVID While ‘Compassionate Releases’ Stall in Court | Vice News
Here’s What We Know About The Victims Of The Spa Shootings Near Atlanta | Buzzfeed News
There Have Been At Least 3,795 Hate Incidents Against Asian Americans During The Pandemic, A New Report Shows | Buzzfeed News
What we’re watching (and you should, too!)
Amend : The Fight in America
This new docuseries on Netflix will have you critically analyzing the words in our United States Constitution. Amend takes its audience through centuries of battles that have been based on one objective: equality.
Under the 14th amendment, the U.S. constitution says that all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. are citizens of the United States and the state they reside in. So how come something so simple can cause bloodshed in the country for centuries - and still today? What does it stand for, who is it designed to protect, and has the ratification served its purpose?
If you’re a teacher or educator of some form, you should consider making an assignment centered around this documentary, especially as classrooms return to in-person instruction. It’s a 6-part documentary series and each episode is about an hour long.
It’s a chance for Americans to learn something that wasn’t taught in the school history books. You’ll even see how education was taught differently because of this word “equality”.
— Marcus D. Smith
Join The Sacramento Bee’s Equity Lab for questions and answers with health professionals and experts on the future as the coronavirus pandemic begins to slow.
Live Event: ‘Views & Voices — Asking your COVID questions on what comes next’
Join us at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, March 25, for a live virtual event about the future of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this Q&A with health professionals and experts, we learn more about what to expect in the next few months — when you might get your shot, what are safer activities — as the COVID-19 pandemic finally begins to slow.
