After Atlanta Attacks, How Do We Move Forward? Protesters Dana Liu, center front, and Kexin Huang, right, both of Newton, Mass., display placards during a rally held to support Stop Asian Hate, Sunday, March 21, 2021, in Newton. A gunman has been charged with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlors in an attack Tuesday, March 16. Seven of the eight people killed in the attacks were women, six were of Asian descent. Steven Senne/AP Share Under The Radar | Atlanta Attacks The advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate had already documented more than 3,000 anti-Asian incidents of racism before the Atlanta murders. Worse, the March 16 murders of eight spa workers — six of them Asian women — did not stem the tide of anti-Asian racist animus. Instead, the reported episodes of physical and verbal assaults spiked. Now, Asian Americans and allies are pushing for increased awareness and demanding legal protections.