by Connie Chung Joe, CEO, AJSOCAL
When I got the call on January 22, 2023 at 7 am, asking what we were going to do about the mass shooting that had happened in Monterey Park the night before, I was in disbelief. How could this happen in the peaceful, quiet enclave of Monterey Park?
At AJSOCAL, we did not have experience with mass shootings so close to home. We offer legal services and protect civil rights. But at 7am, what I knew was that our people needed us. The victims were mostly Asian American because the neighborhoods in San Gabriel Valley are overwhelmingly Asian. And it happened on the eve of Lunar New Year, which for many Asian communities, is the most important holiday of the year. It’s like gunning down a Santa Claus Christmas Parade.
By 10 pm that night – within 24 hours of the shooting – we banded together with nine other API community-based organizations and philanthropies to open a victim’s fund on GoFundMe. We worked tirelessly to ensure both direct victims and the larger community could access services and support such as government benefits, legal advice, and cash assistance. We worked with over 50 community-based partners and government agencies to help coordinate language support, create a directory of culturally specific resources and educate the community on how to navigate the systems. Crisis response after a mass shooting was new waters for us, but we worked around the clock to learn and respond to the myriad of needs from the community as best we could.
When we learned that the shooting was not racially motivated (the gunman was Asian), we were still rattled and triggered. We’d had three years of so much violence – this massacre, the Atlanta spa shooting in 2021 and over 11,000 incidents of hate reported to sites like Stand Against Hatred and Stop AAPI Hate. Our Asian American community has felt so victimized because during the pandemic about one in every two or three Asian Americans experienced racism or microaggressions (as found through surveys by AJSOCAL and Pew Research Center.)
It’s hard to believe that one year has passed.
Our Asian American community in Southern California, and the San Gabriel Valley, will forever remember and mourn this tragedy. There is a lost innocence for our suburban, Asian enclave that felt until then immune from such terrible violence and loss of life.
But as I carry the heartache from this anniversary, I also hold close to me powerful moments of strength, heroism, resiliency, compassion, community, and love.
The world witnessed the exceptional bravery of Brandon Tsay, the 26-year-old Chinese American man who fought off the gunman, wrestled away his gun and chased him out of the second ballroom in Alhambra. There is little doubt that Brandon saved the lives of many ballroom dancers who were celebrating Lunar New Year that night at the Lai Lai Dance Studio his grandmother had started more than 20 years ago. Brandon has become a national treasure and works closely with his sister, Brenda, to keep ballroom dancing alive for their community in San Gabriel Valley.
I think about Kristenne Reidy, the daughter of Valentino Alvero, who wanted the world to remember her joyful, compassionate late father. Valentino was a Filipino immigrant who had built such a strong bond over decades amongst his ballroom friends, he would sing Chinese karaoke songs. During a TV interview, Kristenne met Valentino’s dance partner, who he’d pulled down to the ground and shielded when shots were fired, which cost him his life.
The beauty and support extended beyond the San Gabriel Valley and the Asian American communities. Across the country and beyond, we received over 11,000 private donations exceeding $1 million in less than 2 weeks to the Monterey Park Victim’s Fund. The largest single donation was $100,000 that came from an Indigenous tribe. At the vigils and events following the tragedy, we saw thousands of people of all races and backgrounds driving sometimes hours to pay their respects, wearing “Monterey Park Strong” shirts and holding other signs.
Last May for AAPI Heritage Month, AJSOCAL partnered with Brandon and Brenda Tsay to host a Community Dance Celebration at Lai Lai Studio where hundreds of people came to heal, show community support, and watch professional and amateur dance performers. I met a dozen of the victims that day who shared what it had been like to be at Star Dance Studio and the challenges they continued to face. One man showed me the gun wounds on his body and shared that this was one of the first times he’d left his home because of the fear and anxiety of being out in public. By the end of the event when the dance presentations were done and the DJ had opened the floor to the audience, I saw him on the dance floor, smiling as he twirled his partner.
Reflecting on what happened one year ago today, I am reaffirmed. Despite the permanent scar that the Monterey Park Lunar New Year mass shooting has left, we are a resilient and thriving community that will continue to find joy, beauty, strength, and healing.
