by Kiersten Hacker

Despite a steady drizzle, students and College Park community members safely gathered on McKeldin Mall on Wednesday evening for a candlelight vigil to mourn the lives of eight people lost in the recent shootings in Atlanta. 

Speakers ranging from students, to an alumna, to UMD President Daryll Pines then spoke to the crowd of supporters as easels holding pictures of the eight victims lined the steps outside of McKeldin Library while attendees placed flowers underneath.

Of the eight lives lost, six were Asian American women, sparking conversations about the increase in anti-Asian sentiments and hate crimes due to racist rhetoric with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Oppression and violence against Asian Americans have been present for centuries, but recently there has been nearly a 150% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes, according to data analysis by researchers at California State University, San Bernardino.

Three undergraduate students, Tiffanie Choi, Elizabeth Hsu and Lily Larson, organized the event after feeling frustrated and angry with the initial lack of response and resources from UMD following the tragic attacks. Choi said that the lack of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) representation at UMD has left students with no safe space and that it is important to use everyone’s emotions to finally amplify AAPI student voices speaking out about racism that is often overlooked.

Students speakers shared their experiences with racism and sexism as members of the AAPI community, the pain they feel and the fear they have for their families. “We know that until you are in our shoes, basically, you can never understand our pain, but we want to express how we feel so we can get through to everyone so they can try to actually start fighting for us and fighting for our community,” Choi, a sophomore computer science student said. 

The student speakers called on their fellow community members to continue doing anti-racist work to break down systems of opression that uphold white supremacy and sexism, even after attention on the issues faced by Asian Americans may fade. Students also called on Pines and the administration to take actions that go beyond email statements or renaming residence halls to build support for AAPI students. 

“The administration and [Pines] himself need to understand that it doesn’t take just one event. You can’t just come to one event and think it’s okay; you have to take further action and it has to be more immediate than just one week late statement every time something happens,” Choi said. 

Further action will be taken by Choi, Hsu and Larson, in addition to other students and different AAPI student organizations, to create and release a list of demands for the university. “We’re going to try to get all the Asian organizations to sign it together because it would mean a lot coming from many Asian organizations versus just the three of us or us and our volunteers,” said Larson, a sophomore studying computer science and mathematics.

The three students will also work with the Asian American Student Union to establish a Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Social Justice Task Force task force. 

Hsu said that she hoped the vigil would raise awareness and inspire people to learn about the violence and discrimation Asian Americans have faced. 

“And it’s obviously not just now, it’s been happening, it’s happened since hundreds of years ago,” Hsu, a sophomore computer science student said. “It’s just important that people realize we can’t wait until a tragedy happens to start talking about it and we want to prevent the next tragedy.”

Once the speakers had expressed their thoughts with the community, a moment of silence was held for eight minutes — one minute for each victim — followed by the lighting of candles. Attendees placed the candles and signs around the flowers underneath each victim’s picture to honor and mourn the tragic loss of life as a UMD community.

These are the names of the eight Atlanta shooting victims:

Soon Chung Park, 74

Hyun Jung Grant, 51

Suncha Kim, 69

Yong Ae Yue, 63

Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33

Paul Andre Michels, 54

Xiaojie Tan, 49

Daoyou Feng, 44