This week was tougher than most. On Tuesday night, a gunman opened fire on three massage parlors in Atlanta, killing eight innocent people. There’s been a lot of debate surrounding what transpired (primarily, “was it a hate crime?”), and to that, I can only say this: to deny how this shooting was anti-Asian, anti-women, and anti-sex work is to reinforce several forms of violence. So is to chalk these murders up to “a really bad day.”

It’s hard for me to intelligibly express my feelings on everything because, to be honest, I’m still trying to process this most recent devastation on top of the rising (and often underreported) number of anti-Asian hate crimes. Along with, of course, the long-documented histories of violence against women and sex workers. It’s heavy, and it’s going to take more than just a few days to settle my mind.

That’s all I’ll say for now, but know that this crime hit close to home. It reinforced many of the fears that I’ve felt for myself, for my family, and for my Asian friends throughout this pandemic. That’s a lot to carry around.

But as much as I’d love to push those feelings aside, it’s crucial that we continue to dissect why this happened and why violence like this keeps happening. We can’t afford to become complacent. This needs to be ongoing work.

I stand in solidarity with the multitude of communities harmed by Tuesday’s shootings. May we refuse to let it go by as another blip in the news cycle.