A Response to the Atlanta Spa Shooting by Lulu Yao Gioiello
I’m at a loss for the right words, and that should be ok. I’ve spent countless hours in massage parlors, a place that literally eases my pains, soothes my worries. One of my fondest memories with my mother (and father) is her applying pressure to my temples to release tension. Physical touch is a sacred thing. These massage parlors are a place where Asian men and women defy physical societal boundaries and put their hands on strangers. To think that so many betray their trust, to think that one would want to end their lives. To think that so many Americans, so many globally, project and displace their anger with themselves and their environment on innocent humans, whether they are Asian or Black or Latinx or Trans or the elderly or female. Or just plain other beings with life.
To witness anti-Chinese government rhetoric in all circles, right or left, thinly excusing statements of ridicule, prejudice and judgement of Chinese people. To see this repeat on any minority deemed “the enemy.”
Can we all take a moment to stop and think about others’ experiences, that it isn’t about good and evil, that one individual’s actions is not representative of an entire race, though their actions can have historical, economic and political context? That it can be exacerbated by opinion, by constant comments or images in the media and in their bubbles of immediate community, either physically or online?
That hate is displaced, it’s intersectional, that the victimizer can be a victim, and that that in itself does not excuse the crime?
I think myself and many others I love and care about are at a loss for the right words, the right actions. I think some lanes to recovery and progress will formulate in this aftermath, but I don’t think it has to come immediately. I think we need time to process this. I hope we can use this time to think empathically, to treat each other like humans, to realize that one person’s pain does not invalidate your own. We are all living our traumas, successes, aches and joys simultaneous of each other. We can all use support and empathy.
To my Asian family, friends and strangers - you’re human, you’re acknowledged, and it’s ok to cry.
Anti-Asian Resources
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