The response within the global Asian community to news of the Atlanta shooting was, ‘not again’. We saw this coming
On a quiet Sunday during the height of Sydney’s Covid lockdown last year, I went to deliver groceries to a friend’s mother, a Chinese woman in her late 60s who lived alone. While I was there, we went outside to speak with a neighbour about a noise issue. What transpired next was fairly predictable. Her neighbour demanded to know where she was from, accused her of being “un-Australian”, spat at her feet and told her to go back to where she came from. After the encounter, I asked if she wanted to go to the police. She said no, only: “I’m lucky it wasn’t something worse.”
Related: Authorities name all eight victims in Atlanta spa shootings
