A unity vigil was held in City Heights to mourn the victims lost to gun violence in both Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay in the past week.
The event was organized by the Asian Solidarity Collective. It took place at the City Heights Performance Annex on Fairmount Avenue. A community altar was set up along the stage’s edge. There were flowers, candles, incense, pens and paper to write messages, and more.
“The reason why it feels like so much, is because it is all happening at once and it’s very easy to be hopeless and cynical,” said Stacey Uy, one of the event’s organizers.
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Uy acknowledged that there is strength in being together, not only to mourn, but also to move forward.
“Asian and Asian American communities are so close knit and when anything happens to one of us, it happens to all of us,” said Uy.
That’s why the event was referred to as a "unity" vigil. Most people who took the stage as guest speakers stuck to that as the theme, and commented on how scary it was to see the shootings involve people who could be them or their relatives.
Eleven lives were lost during a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park on Jan. 21. Two days later, seven people were killed at a farm in Half Moon Bay. Both of the incidents involved members of the Asian community and despite them being hundreds of miles from San Diego, it hit close to home.
“If you just look at everyone who’s here and everyone who’s gathered here, I count on all of these people to be there for me when I need them, and I want all communities to have access to that kind of love,” said Uy.
The specific names of the people who were killed were intentionally not shared at the vigil. The organizers said they would not do so until getting direct consent from the loved ones they left behind.
At the beginning of the event, organizers also took a moment of silence to address the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, who was brutally attacked by five police officers in Memphis. The video footage of the beating was released this week. The attack took place on Jan. 7.
“When I heard about all the things happening at once,” said someone who stepped up to the stage to share their response. “It’s always so much, too much.”
“This is such an important healing space for our community to be in unity, to understand and to be able to talk,” said Arcela Nuñez, co-founder and co-director of Universidad Popular.
