Atlanta holds rally for Asian justice, remembers victims on anniversary of spa shootings

March 16th, 2022

Community leaders hold a banner at the Asian Justice Rally held on March 16, 2022, marking the anniversary fo the spa shootings. (Jasmine Robinson/WABE)

More than 100 people gathered in downtown Atlanta on Wednesday to remember the eight people who were killed at three Asian spas last year.

Pan-Asian community leaders marched and carried a banner saying: Break the silence, justice for Asian women.

The rally was one of many held today across the country to mark the one-year anniversary of when a 22-year-old white man killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women.

He is serving four life sentences without parole in Cherokee County for killing Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun González and Paul Michels at Young’s Asian Massage.

In Fulton County, District Attorney Fani Willis is seeking the death penalty and heightened sentencing under the state’s new hate crime law for the murders of Suncha Kim, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant and Yong Ae Yue.

Spa Shooter Charges

Robert Peterson is the son of Yong Ae Yue. At the rally on Wednesday, he said this attack was a specific and intentional killing of Asian women.

“She would also want you to understand that her race and her gender are inextricably linked. My mother was an Asian woman who was targeted for who she was,” Peterson said.

Other Georgia leaders like Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, state Sen. Michelle Au and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams spoke at the rally which also served as a vigil.

These rallies happen as data shows violence against Asians in the U.S. continues to increase.