Chinese American Parent Association of Montgomery County (CAPA-MC) Statement on the Tragedy of Atlanta Mass Shooting

On March 17, 2021, America witnessed another tragic mass shooting in our nation, and this time was targeted at Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) community. Since the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, thousands of hate crimes toward AAPI have been reported nationwide by Stop AAPI Hate.

CAPA-MC sends our deepest condolences to the families of this tragedy.  While we are grateful that no such senseless crime has happened in Montgomery County, the anxiety and fear in our community is real. Locally, just last month, Asian businesses were targeted and vandalized at our neighboring Howard County (reports here).

We strongly urge the County government, and the public school system to take more immediate and proactive actions to prevent hate and bias incidents towards AAPI and all communities. We respectfully ask that:

• Translated Montgomery County Department of Police Response to Bias and Hate into multiple languages.
• Start an educational campaign on hate and bias incident reporting.
• Swiftly investigate all reported incidents and notify the at-large community of such incidents.

CAPA-MC pledges to be a strong partner in this endeavor.  Please email us at capamc@capamc.org or call at 646-275-0565 for all collaboration on fighting against hate.

Respectfully,

CAPA-MC