Much of Professor Jooyoung Lee’s research focuses on gun violence and how it impacts communities and marginalized groups. With the horrific shooting events in Atlanta, Jooyoung shares his insights with several media outlets.
The Washington Post article “Shootings in Atlanta put focus on year of heightened anti-Asian violence in the West” discusses the alarming rise in anti-Asian hate crime all over the globe. Professor Lee states that the mass shooting in Atlanta is not an isolated incident, rather an example of the increase of anti-Asian racism since the beginning of the pandemic in various Western countries. You can read the whole story at The Washington Post website here.
CTV News article “'It's incredibly disheartening': Asian-Canadians reeling from trauma after slayings in Georgia” looked at how the mass shooting has affected Asian-Canadians. Professor Lee explains that people can experience vicarious trauma from the news of tragic stories; especially stories relating to race and gender. Exposure to social media has increased significantly becoming a part of our daily lives. This means vicarious trauma from horrific news events has become an overwhelming issue. You can read the article on the CTV News website here.
Professor Lee joined CBC Radio One to discuss the mass shooting. Professor Lee shares his experience growing up close to where the shooting occurred and acknowledges that Asian-Americans have experienced overt racism and violence prior to the pandemic and it has only grown since then. Anti-Asian racism, Professor Lee suggests, has been invisible to the public eye until recently. Though the discussion has been broadly about anti-Asian racism, Professor Lee states that this story needs to be looked at through an intersectional lens. Typically, these acts of violence happen to Asian women at a much greater frequency. Professor Lee suggests that there are many layers to this story that should be examined and learned from in multiple ways. As for Canada, Professor Lee would like to see Canadians stop perpetuating the myth that racism is not a problem here and to confront the reality that it needs to be addressed. You can listen to the full CBC interview here.
CP24 interviewed Professor Lee regarding the motivations of the Atlanta shooting. Professor Lee explains that racism and misogyny are often interwoven. Professor Lee uses Elliot Rodger, the mass shooter in the Isla Vista killings in 2014, as an example. Rodger, seen as a leader in the incel movement openly advocated for white supremacy in his manifesto. Professor Lee argues that cases like these should not be seen as a motivation of one or the other because they are often both. You can watch the full interview here.
JooYoung Lee is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto St. George campus, faculty member in the Centre for the Study of the United States, and Senior Fellow in the Yale University Urban Ethnography Project. His research interests are focused around how gun violence transforms the social worlds and health of young Black men in different contexts. His current work examines how murder transforms families and communities; how we can use videos to enhance research on interaction; and a collaborative SSHRC-funded study with Julian Tanner and Scot Wortley on youth experiences with guns in Toronto.