BOSTON, March 23, 2021—According to Stop AAPI Hate, almost 4,000 incidents of anti-Asian violence were reported in the past year, with nearly 70% of the reports coming from women. Last Tuesday, this hateful intersection of misogyny and racism was again made all too clear when six Asian women were among the eight people killed by a gunman in Atlanta.
Regardless of whether prosecutors choose to label these murders a hate crime or not, we condemn this continuation of violence that builds on a history of oppression against AAPI women and people of Asian descent across all genders.
We want to elevate several organizations and voices that have been issuing calls for justice and offering resources:
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) has partnered with Hollaback! in response to the rise in anti-Asian/American and xenophobic harassment. You can register for their free bystander intervention training here.
- Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) has developed a valuable and detailed resource list “to mobilize the philanthropic sector towards meaningful action in the midst of heightened violence and hate targeting Asian American communities.”
- FSG’s AAPI affinity group recommends this excellent essay in the New York Times from Cathy Park Hong, “The Slur I Never Expected to Hear in 2020,” in which she writes “I’ve been conditioned to a certain kind of unspoken racism. This pandemic has unmasked how vicious it really is.”
We ourselves remained silent in the face of escalating anti-Asian hate and violence for too long. The deaths in Atlanta are too steep a price to pay for that lesson. We stand in solidarity with Asian colleagues, friends, loved ones, and partners and hope you will join us in speaking out against hate.
