O4U Response to Violence in Atlanta Against Asian individuals
STATEMENT BY O4U REGARDING VIOLENCE AGAINST ASIAN COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN ATLANTA:
#O4USTOPAAPIVIOLENCE
#STOPAAPIHATE
As the O4U community, we want to express our deep care and concern for our students, volunteer organizers and sponsors who are suffering today as members of the AAPI community. We grieve, express our frustration and anger, and reflect in solidarity with our colleagues and friends and the broader Asian community. We lift up the names of those murdered in Atlanta this week. Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Julie Park, Hyeon Jeong Park.
Racially motivated violence and other incidents against Asian-Americans have reached an alarming level across the United States since the outbreak of COVID- 19. Chinese Americans and other Asian-Americans, including Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Burmese descent, among others, have been subject to racist, xenophobic attacks. In March 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly warned of a potential surge in COVID-19-related hate crimes against Asian-Americans. This also has had a very negative impact on migrants of Asian origin.
These warnings have proven true. A report on hate incidents released Tuesday by the reporting forum Stop AAPI Hate revealed that among 3,800 incidents were reported over the course of about a year during the pandemic, 68 percent of respondents were women. — NBC, March 18, 2021
This high percentage, though horrific, is not surprising. There is a century old history of the hypersexualization and abuse of Asian women in the US. The confession of the killer in Atlanta that he was a “sex addict trying to rid himself of temptation” feeds that violent white mythology that has led to harm of so many women. This is a reminder of how much work we must do at the intersection of race and gender.
We have an opportunity today to raise our individual and collective voices and act as agents of reform and healing in response to the rise in our nation of violence against Asian people. It is in these moments that ally ship is so important.
We recognize that we cannot end anti-Asian racism without working to end structural racism that harms all BIPOC individuals. We stand in solidarity with AdvancingJusticeATL in asking all allies to resist racist violence in all of its forms.
“…The broader context cannot be ignored. The shootings happened under the trauma of increasing violence against Asian Americans nationwide, fueled by white supremacy and systemic racism.”
In addition to raising awareness and providing continued education for all of our O4U students and volunteers, we support community-based safety measures and restorative justice efforts.
In addition, we advocate for local, state, and national policies that reinforce human rights and civil rights protections.
Thank you for taking care of one another.
In hope for an end to hate and the beginning of healing,
Cindi Love
