Statement from Senator John Liu on mass shooting at Monterey Park Lunar New Year celebration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sunday, January 22, 2023
Contact: Soojin Choi |347-556-6335| press@johnliusenate.com 

STATEMENT FROM SENATOR JOHN LIU ON MASS SHOOTING AT MONTEREY PARK LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

New York, NY - State Senator John Liu today stated the following about the mass shooting in Monterey Park, California.

“As New Yorkers celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year, yet another mass shooting took the lives of 10 people across the country in Monterey Park, California, and injured 10 others. As we await more details of this horrific massacre in a majority Asian community, we are reminded of the incessant barrage of hate and constant state-of-alert Asian Americans are forced to live by today. We are not helpless, and there are steps we can take to combat ignorance, fear and hatred. Asian Americans proudly share our heritage, culture and traditions on Lunar New Year not only for our benefit, but with great hope and expectation that we may help to bridge cultural divides and ultimately erode the stereotypes and racism that too often prevents our country from reaching the dreams of our forefathers, one that MLK so fittingly reiterated when he said ‘I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

“In some ways, Americans did rise up, from ending slavery to the civil rights movement; we have baby stepped our way toward our country’s greatest ideals, but many long, rough roads lay forked before us. We may stay the course and allow for the status quo of hatred to continue, or we choose a path that includes the education necessary to teach our children to learn our shared histories, cultures and traditions as a means to stomp out ignorance, fear and senseless gun violence.

“For now, our hearts are with Monterey Park.”

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