The killing of eight people, including six Asian women, near Atlanta on Tuesday has sparked a wave of grief and outrage across the U.S. and calls for an end to the hate and violence targeting Asian Americans over the past year.
Seattle-area tech companies and personalities from across the community joined in condemning Tuesday’s attack and the surge in hate crimes.
The response is similar to the way companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and others reacted last summer in the days and weeks following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
Microsoft shared a series of tweets just last week calling out racial discrimination and violence directed toward the Asian American Pacific Islander community.
https://twitter.com/Microsoft/status/1370503857608998920
On Wednesday, the same day it was holding an event on diversity and inclusion, the events in Atlanta had the tech giant, CEO Satya Nadella and President Brad Smith expressing anger and sadness and reiterating the need to bring people together.
https://twitter.com/BradSmi/status/1372291332366954497
The Guardian reported that from March 19, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021, Asian Americans from all 50 states reported nearly 3,800 hate-related incidents, including “everything ranging from verbal abuse to physical assaults, from getting coughed on to getting denied services because of their ethnicity.”
The information, considered a fraction of hate incidents that actually occur, was in a report released on Tuesday by Stop AAPI Hate, a not-for-profit coalition tracking incidents of violence, discrimination and harassment.
Here are more reactions, including Xbox chief Phil Spencer:
https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/1372231284966051842
Amazon and AWS CEO Andy Jassy:
https://twitter.com/ajassy/status/1372655139115307012
Boundless co-founder and CEO Xiao Wang:
https://twitter.com/xiaowa/status/1372066200247705600
Convoy co-founder and CTO Grant Goodale:
https://twitter.com/ggoodale/status/1372256925799223296
Textio co-founder and CEO Kieran Snyder:
https://twitter.com/KieranSnyder/status/1372100596455514114
Female Founders Alliance founder and CEO Leslie Feinzaig:
https://twitter.com/LeslieFeinzaig/status/1372230621850832898
Ada Developers Academy CEO Lauren Sato:
https://twitter.com/LaurenSato/status/1372221406264446982
Former Placed founder and CEO David Shim offered to match every dollar up to $10,000 donated to a Go Fund Me in support of the AAPI Community Fund.
https://twitter.com/davidshim/status/1372223225522843658
https://twitter.com/davidshim/status/1372223226407915529
Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce:
President and CEO Rachel Smith issued a statement of solidarity with the Asian American community.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the victims of yesterday’s mass shooting in the Atlanta area, the majority of whom were of Asian descent. The surge of violence and hostility toward the Asian American community across our country, including recent incidents here in our region, is heartbreaking and unacceptable,” Smith said.
“We must fight racism in all its forms and at all turns to make our communities safer and more inclusive. We condemn these acts and we stand in solidarity with our Asian American colleagues, friends, and fellow residents.”