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In two weeks' time, consecutive massacres in New York, Texas, and California have left Black, Latino, and Asian Americans more vulnerable than ever, NBC News reports.
As the nation was still reckoning with accused white supremacist Payton Gendron killing 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket, a shooting in Dallas' Koreatown, and a fatal attack on a California Taiwanese church, 19 children and two teachers were murdered at an elementary school in the predominantly Hispanic city of Uvalde on Tuesday (May 24).
Minority community leaders say they're lending support to one another amid a time when America's most disadvantaged populations are in dire need of protection.
Chas Moore, founder of the Black-led Austin Justice Coalition, told NBC News, “I hope that we can use this moment to lean on one another." Moore continued, “The Black community just went through the terrible hate crime that happened in Buffalo. Now the Latino community is going through this. Our communities are mourning.”
Civil rights leaders across communities of color have been in contact to figure out a way to end targeted racial attacks, John C. Yang, president of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said.
“Even after the Buffalo, Laguna Woods, and Dallas shootings, all of our communities had been talking to each other by text, cellphone, and email,” Yang said.
“Those conversations have been angry, sad, frustrated,” he added. “When we get on the phone with each other, we all have this recognition of ‘here we go again.’ Because this is not the first time we’ve had these conversations.”
Yang said the brutality against Black, Latino, and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities highlights the danger of being a minority in the U.S.
“It just re-emphasizes the desperate need to work together and find solutions,” Yang said.
While many have called for stricter gun laws following the Robb Elementary massacre, experts say the country's history of racism is also to blame for back-to-back slayings of Black and Brown people. The Texas school where 18-year-old suspected gunman Salvador Ramos opened fire is located just outside of San Antonio with a 72 percent Hispanic and Latino population, NBC News reports.
Bobby Blount, a spokesperson for the San Antonio Area African American Community Fund, said, “We have to continue the mission to make the world better for our demographics, the Latinx demographics, for Asians and others.” Blount added, “It’s important that we not only support each other on this but on other matters that we’re facing across the board.”
Despite numerous states enacting more voting restrictions, minority communities should try to remain hopeful and make it to the ballot box to create change, Manju Kulkarni of Stop AAPI Hate said.
“I get it that right now people feel that government is inept,” Kulkarni said. “This is what we have, this is the way we share our collective voice, but democracy has to work.”
Reading about Black trauma can have an impact on your mental health. If you or someone you know need immediate mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor. These additional resources are also available:
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255
The National Alliance on Mental Illness 1-800-950-6264
The Association of Black Psychologists 1-301-449-3082
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America 1-240-485-1001
For more mental health resources, click HERE.
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