We continue to grieve the murders of Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Fengin, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue last week. We write today to honor their memories and to express our solidarity with all the impacted communities, including but not limited to Asian folks who have been the targets of racism throughout US history and particularly Asian women who have been sexualized, objectified, and subjected to misogynist violence.
To our AAPI Fellows, Alumni, Friends, supporters, and wider community, we love y’all. We are dedicated to fighting for the safety and liberation of AAPI communities, and we want to support the grief needed to digest this moment.
We unequivocally condemn white supremacist violence in all its insidious expressions. We are thinking about what being in solidarity means and we invite you to join us. We’ve found statements from organizations including APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, and a potential site placement for QVS for this upcoming year) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice, in Georgia, to be grounding.
We’ve also found several articles helpful in framing the conversation and lifting up the voices of Asian and Asian American women in the US. Jennifer Hope Choi writes about class, race, the American dream, and how different generations may be experiencing this event. Yves Nguyen, an organizer for Red Canary Song (a New York City-based group that supports Asian sex workers and allies) identifies the deadly consequences of overlapping hatreds, stating that “There’s a hatred for both sex workers and immigrants and being Asian and being women, and they all intersect. It would be irresponsible to not talk about all of those parts.”
And this one, by May Jeong, ends by reminding us that “It is the instinct of the living to commemorate the dead, to make their passing not be in vain. I, too, am vulnerable to such impulses, and so I end by saying Georgia reminds us — I hope — that anti-Asian violence is also anti-women violence, anti-poor violence, and anti-sex-work violence, that our fates are entwined, that fighting oppression means fighting oppression not just in one’s own narrowly defined community, but also everywhere.”
Resources-
- PBS series Asian Americans about the history of identity, contributions, and challenges experienced by Asian Americans.
- The Smithsonian’s video series We are not a stereotype: Breaking down Asian Pacific American bias which explores what it means to be Asian Pacific American and the impacts of Asian Pacific American stereotypes.
- Asian Enough Podcast
- Library Guides: DEI Read & Learn: Coronavirus Racism
- Yellow-Peril Teach-In Resources
- Tools for interrupting micro-aggressions
Articles-
- Why Did My Mother and I React So Differently to the Atlanta Shootings?
- The Deep American Roots of the Atlanta Shootings
- Atlanta Killings: Sex Worker Advocate Sees Deadly Consequences Of Overlapping Hatreds
- America’s long history of scapegoating its Asian citizens
- The true “coronavirus pandemic” is the spread of racism and xenophobia through the media
- What is the Model Minority Myth?
- Anti-Asian Racism Exposes the Model Minority Myth
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The featured art is from Jess X. Snow, a film director, artist, pushcart-nominated poet, children’s book author and community arts educator who creates queer asian immigrant stories that transcend borders, binaries and time. This art piece is an illustrative meditation portal for Asian & Pacific Islander community and allies. Check out their work here.