(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Dozens of Asian American and Pacific Islander women gathered at the Chinese American Museum of Chicago Wednesday evening to reflect on the one-year anniversary of the Atlanta spa shootings that left 8 people dead.
"Our goal is first and foremost to remember the victims of that shooting," said Victoria Ng, executive director of the Chicago Women Asian Empowerment. "We hope that the people of our community will stand up and speak out, talk about experiences that they've had with hate crimes, as well as things that they're doing to take care of themselves and our community.”
The “Break the Silence” event featured an open-mic dialogue, yoga and meditation.
"There's been so much violence against Asians and Asian Americans, especially women, and I've had trouble processing that," said participant CiCi Xie. "I feel like being in a community, in-person, where people can talk about it and hear other peoples' voices and how they've been processing things could be really helpful."
There was also a self-defense demonstration — something participants say has become an unfortunate necessity.
"As women, in general, we're always taught keys in the hands, pepper spray, all those things, but having Asian American women so specifically targeted makes it so much worse," said Xie.
"They're targeting elders, they're targeting Asian women, they're targeting people who look weak," added Linda Trey.
Organizers say the goal of event, which was nationally organized by Asian Justice Movement, is to empower the Asian American and Pacific Islander community to move forward and speak up against violence and discrimination.
"If we share our cultures with other communities, maybe they'll better understand us and we'll have a more open dialogue and reduce the amount of misunderstanding which leads to this hate," said Ng.
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