We join with Asian American communities in grief, rage, and resistance to the legacy and ongoing reality of anti-Asian discrimination and violence in this country. 

We honor the lives and mourn the loss of eight people, including six women of Asian descent, who were targeted and killed in acts of racist and misogynist violence on March 16 in the Atlanta metropolitan area. 

Asian American communities have long been subjected to discrimination and acts of violence. Over this past year, dangerous rhetoric from the former President of the United States, state and private institutions and media figures has scapegoated China, Asians and Asian-Americans for coronavirus as a way to distract from leaders’ failure to keep people safe from the virus. 

Between March 16th and March 30th of 2020, the-then president used the phrase “Chinese virus,” more than twenty times. Social media platforms and tech companies, as well as media entities like Fox News, were also directly responsible for spreading white supremacist ideology and violence. Although anti-Asian violence is longstanding and it is unclear whether to what extent recent incidents including a string of deadly attacks against Asian American elders mark a surge in violence or are merely a more visible manifestation of long-standing dynamics, there was a 150% increase in reported hate crimes against Asian Americans in 16 cities in 2020.

These incidents of violence are not isolated, but rather part of a centuries-long history of racism, imperialism, criminalization, sexualization, attempted control, and brutal economic exploitation of Asian American communities, particularly working-class Asian American women. Our political culture and ideologies of white supremacy and misogyny, fueled by brutal military campaigns and our racialized capitalist system, continue to dehumanize communities of color with devastating consequences. The Atlanta shooting is also reflective of ways in which women of all ethnicities are sexualized, dehumanized and pushed into precarity, especially body workers and those criminalized as sex workers.

Today, we lift up and support the individuals and community organizations that are defending and promoting the lives and well-being of Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities in Atlanta and across the country. Through solidarity, we will not only dismantle the systems that oppress our communities, but together advance our collective pursuit of community safety and healing. 

We recognize that white nationalism and misogyny are global epidemics. We pledge to take action to dismantle them in our institutions and cultures. And when we grow tired, we will remember the faces of those who have been killed and take one anothers’ hands and continue our labors for love and justice in their name.

Asian American Base-Building Organizations You Can Support

• 1Love Movement, Philadelphia
• Adhikaar, New York City
• Asian American Organizing Project, Twin Cities
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice, national affiliation
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, San Francisco
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles
• Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Oakland & Richmond, Calif.
• AYPAL, Oakland
• CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, New York City
• Chinese Progressive Association, San Francisco
• Damayan Migrant Workers Association, New York City
• Desis Rising Up and Moving, New York City
• Filipino Advocates for Justice, Oakland & Union City, Calif.
• Freedom Inc, Madison, Wisc.
• Khmer Girls in Action, Long Beach, Calif.
• Korean Resource Center, Los Angeles
• Mekong NYC
• National Domestic Workers Alliance
• Providence Youth Student Movement, Providence, Rhode Island
• VAYLA New Orleans
• VietLEAD, Philadelphia & Camden, New Jersey

Resources for Further Reading and Action

• From Georgia: Collective Statements and Ways to Support
• Statement from Asian Law Caucus and Bystander Training
• Time to Say Goodbye podcast: Crossover Episode with the Dig, Interpreting the Atlanta Massacre and How not to think like a cop, with Naomi Murakaw‪a‬
• Elle Magazine History of Anti-Asian Violence
• 18 Million Rising: Unmasking Yellow Peril
• Truthout: The Answer is not more Policing
• The Argument podcast: What’s Wrong with Our Hate Crime Laws?
• Red Canary Song Resources and Statement
• Addressing Hate Crimes and Transformative Justice
• Statement and resources compiled by the Barnard Center for Research on Women
• Solidarity Statement from Center for Constitutional Rights