ATLANTA — Filmmakers Gina Kim and Titi Yu watched with increasing horror as Asian American hate crimes spiked in 2020 into 2021 after the pandemic began, with many people blaming China for the start of COVID-19 and extending that to people of all Asian descent in America.
Then on March 16, 2021, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long went to three spas in two different cities in metro Atlanta and killed eight people including six women of Asian descent. Many in the Asian American community in Atlanta banded together to hold rallies and support the victims’ families as well as counteract narratives from people like a Cherokee County police officer who showed empathy for the protagonist.
“We thought March 16 was an inflection point for Asian Americans finding their voice,” Kim said, though she noted that the groundwork had already been set by Asian American activists to galvanize people into action. In Georgia, a group called Atlanta Korean American Committee Against Asian Hate quickly formed. U.S. Congress that summer passed legislation designed to more forcefully investigate hate crimes.
