'It's time for people to hear us': Georgia's Asian Americans vow to stand up against hate

The high-profile response from local leaders reflects a change in a state where Asian American voices have been historically unheard

On Monday morning, the day before a 21-year-old white man killed six Asian women and two others in the Atlanta metropolitan area, Dr Michelle Au, who became Georgia's first state senator of east Asian descent only months ago, stood to address her colleagues at the state capitol.

She spoke of the spitting, stabbing, punching and other acts of violence aimed at Asian Americans in the last year, including incidents in Georgia. She told her colleagues that otherization, exoticization ... and racism against Asian Americans are not new," and spoke of the difficulty in changing these conditions when ... voices like yours are not always heard."