With President Joe Biden set to visit Monterey Park on Tuesday, he is poised to encounter a city immersed in a longterm effort to heal.
Like the growing list of American cities before it, the Jan. 21 mass shooting — which occurred just as the city was beginning its Lunar New Year celebration — not only destroyed lives and devastated families, it shattered a sense of peace and security in a suburb long known for such traits.
In the nearly two months since the tragedy at Star Ballroom Dance Studio, residents, business owners, families and leaders have slowly been picking up the pieces.
Gone is the elaborate temporary memorial for the 11 victims at the site, where crowds of mourners came for days and days. But in its place is resolve to move forward, even as the collective memory of what happened remains fresh.
Against this backdrop, Biden on Tuesday plans to discuss his efforts to reduce gun violence in America, a discussion that will likely echo his State of the Union speech in February, when – inspired by the Monterey Park shooting and the massacre two days later in Half Moon Bay that left seven dead — he renewed a call for a federal assault weapons ban.
Many welcome the visit, but their optimism is tempered by a long recovery road ahead, one where resources for mental health counseling and support for businesses hit hard by the loss of customer traffic will be at a premium. And there’s a tinge of skepticism about whether anything can be done politically to reduce gun violence when little has happened at the federal level after other mass shootings.
In one sense, life is slowly getting back to some version of normal, nearly two months after the massacre.
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Just blocks away from the studio, Marianne Li and friends were dancing again recently at Langley Senior Center in Monterey Park, where the International Folk Dancing Club was having its regular class.
In the days right after the shooting, the senior center — a vibrant recreational community…
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