The GW Local

By Alex Teerlinck

March 16, 2021. 8 people killed in Atlanta, Georgia. Less than a week later, 10 dead in another mass shooting at a Colorado grocery store. In the 84 days of 2021, there have been over 100 shootings. A dark shadow of violence, racism and domestic terrorism hang over our country as we seek to navigate a transition to a post-lockdown America. Combined with our failure to take meaningful action towards gun control legislation, we develop the unshakeable fear that our return to normalcy entails a return to mass shootings and the continued rise of domestic terrorism.

We need to talk about what’s been brewing under the surface and how it directly correlates to the tragedies that occurred over spring break. More importantly, we need to understand how gun violence, racism, misogyny and domestic terrorism are all intertwined. Now is our moment to take action towards combating this intersection of crises that plague our future. 

To incorporate voices and perspectives of the GW community in this key moment of reflection, I first reached out to Adam Friedman, a GW junior with extensive backgrounds in gun control advocacy and sexual assault prevention. Adam is also a co-founder of Team ENOUGH, a youth-led organization dedicated to educate and mobilize young American voices against the gun violence epidemic. 

Q: How has the past year changed American gun violence trends, if at all? How have political extremism and white supremacy influenced the issue of gun violence?

Friedman: We saw a huge increase in gun sales during the initial wave of the pandemic. With that initial increase in gun sales, we also saw a huge uptick in IPV (intimate partner violence). 

As a result of people being in close spaces with another, we saw a huge increase in gun violence during COVID, making it more of an issue than it has been in the past. Widely publicized mass shootings have gone down, but there was an increase in gun violence in American cities by as much as 50 percent. People pay attention to large highly publicized mass shootings and ignore the regularity of gun violence in communities.

 A number of different factors converging, publicized shootings we see people who shouldn’t have access to guns getting guns who are deeply misogynistic and racist, this all has to do with America’s roots and gun laws. Our gun laws have not been updated and in the last 25 years we saw legislation expire. There have been no legislative solutions since. White supremacy is a perpetual issue in our country that leads to horrible acts of violence. 

Q: Legislation to solidify background check practices is currently up for discussion in the Senate. What does that entail and how can students do their part to help it pass?

Friedman: Most of the sales that happen in our country show that 30 to 45 percent of guns are sold without a background check. Call and write your elected officials. It’s really important to maintain pressure in the long term. One nuance is being strategic about it. Reaching out to legislators on the committees, reaching out to the person who represents you, and maintaining a strong presence in the community is very valuable. Remember that if it fails, we need to maintain constant pressure because this is one of the best chances we’ve had in a number of years in passing gun violence prevention laws federally. Additionally, some of the most important and life saving laws include violence intervention programs at the state based levels. Call your elected officials, plan demonstrations and plug into local mutual aid networks. Things work when we all get together to push the social needle. 

Q: What can we take away from the intersection of gun violence and increased instances of  Asian American hate?

A: People are acting in an organized sense to commit domestic acts of terror. When we look at identity, already you see a significant increase in risk of violence. Intersecting identities are targeted by white supremacy and a racist system. It’s really dangerous for guns to be in a situation that already has a power disparity. 

Adam’s insights on gun violence and its trends in America show two things to be true. First, legislation will be an essential step towards making things right. Our moment right now requires us to be applying constant pressure for gun control laws on the federal and state level. Second, gun violence is an issue reflective of the larger power disparities and hierarchies of white supremacy in America. To focus more on this second statement and give a space to address anti-Asian hate, I had the privilege of talking with Sydney Walsh and Caitlyn Phung, two Asian American GW students. 

“This vigil was held to honor the lives lost during the recent shootings in Atlanta, Georgia. After these shootings, mainstream media outlets finally began to cover rising anti-Asian sentiment, which has been addressed throughout the Asian American community for the past year,” junior in the Corcoran School of Arts and Design, Walsh said of the photographs she took at the Atlanta vigil.“The fact that it took this many lives and a mass shooting for this to gain national attention is heartbreaking, but not surprising in our nation or to me as an Asian American.”

We must listen to the voices and the experiences of the Asian American community. Our words and actions matter. Sydney’s statement on the lack of media coverage speaks to our failures to conceptualize struggles just because we may not see them. Phung, a recent graduate, encourages us all to do better and open our eyes to our history to realize the weight of this moment. 

“Hold space for your Asian American friends to express whatever feelings they may have, but also respect that everyone heals in different ways. If an AAPI doesn’t post or share, it doesn’t mean they don’t care. We are tired, frustrated, and frankly shaken up,” Phung said. “Asian hate is not new. History shows that it’s been decades in the making, yet our textbooks do a poor job showing it. Better education is needed to spread awareness on how implicit bias is deeply rooted. Asians are not a virus, hate is. In the midst of the grief and pain caused by the rise in AAPI hate crimes over the past year, I’ve also seen grit, strength, and resilience amongst AAPIs and their allies. There is a lot of work ahead, but it’s just as important to acknowledge how far AAPIs have come in making their voice heard and having a seat at the table.” 

This article touches on a wide spanning range of issues and our conversation doesn’t end here. Should you take one thing away, it’s that the events in Atlanta and Boulder aren’t a “return to normal”. These events are an inevitable manifestation of our promotion of white hierarchical power structures and failure to act in favor of common sense gun laws. 

For more information please consult the following resources. 

For more information on Adam’s project, team ENOUGH: https://www.teamenough.org

To read the Asian American Commission’s most recent guide for community action: https://www.aacommission.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AAC-Community-Action-Guide.pdf

For a more comprehensive understanding of our of anti Asian-American history: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-history-of-anti-asian-american-violence

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