On March 16, 2021, a series of shootings in the Atlanta-area claimed the lives of eight people—including six women of Asian descent. The Duke community came together in remembrance of the victims exactly a year later. Both Duke’s Asian American and Diaspora Studies Program and the Center for Multicultural Affairs hosted events to help Duke’s community grieve the losses of the victims.
AADS hosted a panel on March 16 to address the violent sexualization of Asian women. Dr. Anna Storti—an assistant professor of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies at Duke—moderated the event and was joined by Dr. Helen Jin Kim, Dr. Vernadette Gonzalez, and Kate D’Adamo. The four speakers confronted the systemic patterns of white supremacy and dehumanization of Asian women. The panel also discussed controversy behind the “#StopAsianHate” hashtag on social media, including its decontextualizing of the violence against the AAPI community and the lack of integration with other racial justice movements.
The Center for Multicultural Affairs hosted a virtual vigil later in the day to honor the lives of the victims of the shooting. Sebin Jeon—a junior at Duke involved with the Asian American Studies Working Group—helped plan the vigil and called it “a space that a lot of students and staff at Duke really needed, given that we couldn’t grieve as a community because of COVID last year.” Maij Mai—the Assistant Director of the Center for Multicultural Affairs—said the vigil went “phenomenal mostly because the intentions of the vigil were phenomenal,” continuing that “there was a lot of intentionality that the whole process was wrapped up in a lot of care.” Maij Mai, Sebin Jeon, and Kelsey Lam—an intern with the Office of Student Affairs—began planning the event in October, ensuring that Duke had a space to grieve on March 16.
Written by Sanjit Beriwal
ASIAN AMERICAN & DIASPORA STUDIES PROGRAM