https://ift.tt/2QoVj6G Thip Athakhanh says her approach to facing racism used to be to “shrug it off, be silent and continue to move forward.” A chef who owns the Lao restaurant Snackboxe Bistro in Doraville, just outside Atlanta, Athakhanh typically took the occasional name calling and condescension she would receive in stride, and avoided publicly voicing her opinion on issues related to Asian hate out of fear of retaliation that could harm her business or employees’ livelihoods. “As a restaurant owner, as an Asian woman, we always try to remain neutral,” she says. “I don’t want to try and draw attention to myself that would risk the business.” But the Atlanta spa shootings —in which a lone gunman drove across Atlanta to three businesses, killing eight people, six of them Asian women—completely changed Athakhanh’s perspective. “I nearly shut down; it was an agonizing feeling,” Athakhanh says about hearing the news. “Those [victims] could have been my mother, my sister, my fri...
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