SAN ANTONIO — A peace vigil was held downtown on Saturday afternoon as a healing space for San Antonio's Asian community. The event was in response to 10,370 reports of hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders reported throughout the U.S., organizers said.
The group, Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders for Justice in San Antonio, organized the event at Travis Park. In addition to having speakers and a healing circle, the idea was to also pay tribute to several incidents that made headlines across the world – including the Noodle Tree restaurant on the northwest side being vandalized with anti-Asian slurs. The group also joined other organizations in remembrance of the deadly spa shootings in Atlanta – both incidents happened in March of 2021.
The peace vigil also aimed to acknowledge the other recent anti-Asian incidents, such as the murders of Michelle Alyssa Go and Christina Yuna Lee and the passing of GuiYing Ma from an anti-Asian hate attack three months ago, organizers said.
The national non-profit organization called Stop AAPI gathered the data about the 10,000+ reports of hate incidents mentioned earlier in a survey conducted from February 2020 through December 2021.
AAPIs for Justice describes itself as a "voice that speaks up about injustice in San Antonio and educates about issues impacting AAPIs and advocacy efforts for justice for AAPIs, alongside justice for Blacks, Indigenous and People of Color."
The event was focused on the "most vulnerable to anti-Asian hate attacks, which is part of systems that are misogynistic, sexist, white supremacist, imperialistic, homophobic and profit-focused in nature, including Asian women and girls, elderly, queer, trans and non-binary folx, as well as individuals who are at risk for exploitation, including immigrant workers, spa or massage workers, and sex workers," according to a post by the group on Facebook.