Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, is a widely celebrated holiday, primarily the Chinese community. Lunar New Year is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar, a calendar based on the orbital motion of the sun and moon. The Lunar New Year also celebrates many values such as unity, family ties, worship ancestors, exorcise evil spirits, and many more. This holiday has much significance and importance to the culture of many countries around the world especially China.
The city of Monterey Park in California was planning on having a festival on January 22, 2023, to celebrate the New Lunar Year. Monterey Park is just outside Los Angelos and is a tightly knit Asian community and suburb. However, they unfortunately had to cancel their festival. In Monterey Park, the Star Ballroom Dance is a very popular location. The Star Ballroom Dance Studio has become a sanctuary for the Asian American community in Monterey Park. Along with being a place of joy, it provides a sense of belonging and togetherness as well. On Lunar New Year’s Eve, January 21, the Star Ballroom Dance Studio became the site of one of the worst mass shootings in Californian history. This shattered the community as 11 people unfortunately lost their lives along with 9 people injured.
The shooter was Huu Can Tran, a 72-year-old man. Tran began this massacre by walking into the Star Ballroom Dance Studio and spraying 42 bullets everywhere with MAC-10 semiautomatic machine pistol. Tran didn’t have any connection to the victims at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, so his motive remains unclear. After the shooting, Tran shot himself inside of his van.
Overall, this mass shooting extremely hurt the Chinese and overall Asian American community not just in Monterey Park, but the whole country. A time meant for celebration and joy was destroyed.
Ayan Kumar's Blog 