Students Respond to Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

By Anvi Bhate, Ellie Ana Sperantsas, Hannah Park, Andrew Yuan

Student organizers, in collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), hosted a candlelight vigil Monday night in response to the March 16 anti-Asian shootings in Atlanta, in which eight people, six of whom were of Asian descent and seven of whom were women, were killed by a white gunman.

To recognize and honor these victims, the student-led vigil started with a reflection from Sarah Huang and a poem by Lucy Cai, followed by a guzheng performance by upper Lina Huang. Eight minutes of silence to honor each of the eight victims of the shooting followed, and the estimated 400 attendees were invited to stand after the vigil and reflect at four tables on the quad, each table bearing the victims’ names.

“I hope Exonians take the time to honor and remember the victims of the Atlanta shooting. General media coverage of the shooting has been disappointing and has dehumanized the Asian American women victims,” organizer and senior Emily Kang said. “We wanted to create a space that recognizes the victims for their humanity and clearly acknowledge that the shooting was a hate crime fueled by anti-Asian racism and misogyny.”

“We thought that creating this space was important for a lot of reasons, including honoring the lives of the eight individuals that were killed in the Atlanta-area and recognizing gender- and race-based violence that it was,” L. Huang said.

Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sherry Hernandez invited the community to attend the vigil in a school-wide email on Sunday, March 21, following a campus-wide statement offered by Principal Bill Rawson on March 17.

“This was a concerted effort calling on all adults and the many ways they support our students in and outside of the classroom,” Hernandez said.

Religion Instructor Rabbi Jennifer Marx Asch, Dean of Students Brooks Moriarty, Assistant Principal Karen Lassey and Director of Student Activities Joanne Lembo supported the effort. Marx Asch ordered 200 LED candles with the hope that students could pick them up and place them on their windowsills in solidarity with the Asian American Pacific Islander community.

“Rabbi Marx Asch reached out with the idea of shining a light in our windows as a way to support our [Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders] AAPI community. In Jewish tradition, shining a menorah from their homes was a symbol of safety, a place to land home safely,” Hernandez said. “[The students] took care of recruiting their volunteers to distribute the candles, writing comforting and healing words, playing music, and creating a QR code for their independent fundraiser to help support the Atlanta chapter for Asian Americans Advancing Justice.”

Marx Asch spoke about the importance of the Exeter community to come together. “When I woke up Wednesday morning and read the headlines about the murders of the Asian women in Atlanta, I felt so many emotions, mainly anger,” she said. “Here at Exeter, aside from caring for members of our own particular communities, we need to build coalitions between our communities to create networks of support, protection, and positive change to make our campus and country safe for all peoples.”

English Instructor and Asian Voices adviser Wei-Ling Woo expressed appreciation for the organizers of the event and the AAPI community. “This was truly a community driven effort, led by students, adults, and allies in solidarity with the Asian American community. For their work I am truly grateful,” she said. “In my work as Asian Student Program Coordinator, time and time again, year after year, I have seen the AAPI community come together and organize the spaces and events that we need. This is a real source of power and strength. And together with the help of allies, we are even more buoyed.”

Kang expressed concern for the lack of mainstream media condemning the systemic racism that the hate crime was rooted in and silence about the lives of these victims. “We wanted to create a space that recognizes the victims for their humanity and clearly acknowledge that the shooting was a hate crime fueled by anti-Asian racism and misogyny,” Kang said. “I give credit to the administration on having a timelier response, as well as more resources available to students. However, I want to underscore that this is what should be expected. While it is a great improvement from the inadequate and tardy responses from administration in previous incidents, it is not something to praise or laud. This type of response should be the standard, the bare minimum.”

Students who attended the event thought it was a respectful way to honor the victims of the Atlanta shooting, but some were disappointed with the initial response by the Academy community.

“It's definitely not enough. I saw it. I looked at the [Rawson] email and I saw it and I was like, okay, that's it. Because it was three sentences. And I feel like without any context of what happened that day, anyone can write three sentences about Asian American violence [and] violence in the Asian community,” upper Michelle Park said. “They really could be doing more. And I don't really know. I don't really know how they thought three sentences would be enough for the entire Asian community to feel somewhat supported in the Exeter community.”

“Understandably the organizers had to take time for themselves to process the information and everything that's been happening, especially with the conflicting new sources,” upper Gretl Baghdadi said. “Certain emails sent by the administration didn't seem very sincere, but I do think the vigil was very helpful considering how many people showed up. It was very nice to see that there was so much support on campus, [using] their names helped to legitimize their personhood.”

“I honestly wouldn't have changed a thing. I'm really happy that I've got to be part of the volunteering group and help out passing out handles, but I know that the AV leaders have been working tirelessly on this and I think they did an excellent job,” upper and Student Council President Siona Jain said. “I loved Sarah's statement at the beginning. I think it perfectly encapsulated all of what the Asian Americans are feeling right now.”

Upper Bona Yoo expressed appreciation for The Exonian’s special issue on the Atlanta shooting published last week. “I am grateful that The Exonian has taken on that necessary work. In all of the other parts of the Academy, life has resumed with its usual speed and vigor, even amidst the break,” she said. “It's refreshing and relieving that at least one major pillar of Exeter, which is The Exonian, has chosen to put a pause on its normal activities and take a moment to encourage reflection.”

“I applaud The Exonian’s recent issue and Daniel Zhang’s op-Ed. As I read it, I couldn’t help but think, ‘Yes. This is it. You have named it,’” Woo said. “As a friend and former colleague remarked, a high school newspaper is doing a better job speaking the truth than the mainstream media. Student voices are powerful.”

“It’s important that we remember the names of the victims and refuse letting them be reduced to statistics. I was also surprised but glad about how many people showed up—as an Asian American, I’ve been hearing about anti-Asian hate crimes from family and family friends for a quite a while, and it’s nice to see the larger Exeter community address this issue I’ve been concerned about,” upper Emma Chen said.