One Young Resident’s Response to the Rise of Anti-Asian Hate

Yesterday, we shared our Executive Director Bob Gittens’s response to the Atlanta spa shootings on March 16. But Bob was not the only member of our community who felt compelled to immediately respond to that horrific incident. Karlah Paul, Director of Teens Learning Choices, shares how Tanya, one of our residents, reacted.  

Hate has no home at Teens Learning Choices.

After March 16, Tanya began making posters like the one pictured and put them out in front of the house. This helped bring up discussions in the house around the Atlanta shootings. But Tanya also reminded me that our neighbors at TLC (in every direction – across the street, and to our right and left) were a part of the Asian community. Tanya said she did not want them to feel how she feels as an African-American woman sometimes – excluded, looked down upon, not welcome – because she knows it's a place of pain and hurt. Tanya often notices that our neighbors’ children play on our street when it's nice out, and she wants them to feel safe and supported. At TLC, we do not support hate and violence, and we stand in solidarity with our Asian brothers and sisters. We will continue to talk about these issues in the house and encourage each other as we work on becoming positive agents of change.