We’re horrified to hear of the violence that left 8 people dead, 6 of whom were members of our Asian community. As we mourn the loss, we also need to continue to condemn these acts of violence, condemn the system of white supremacy, the hypersexualization and fetishization of Asian women that allowed this to happen, and support our Asian community during these times. Our hearts are with the families of the victims and with our Asian community who are hurting and grieving and scared.
These attacks are not new; our Asian communities have long been seen as an outsider, and COVID-19’s health and economic impacts on the people, and political scapegoating by certain politicians that pit communities of color against each other have exacerbated this. Not only was this shooting specifically targeted at our Asian community, but it was specifically aimed at Asian women, who are especially vulnerable, experiencing higher rates of discrimination and violence during this pandemic. The effects of xenophobia and misogyny is nothing new, having systemic origins from the Page Act of 1875, a precursor to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which excluded Chinese women, and continues to this day when 6 Asian women were killed in this shooting by a white supremacist.
We maintain that more police is not the answer and it will never be the answer to healing. Police and militarization have always been part of the problem in upholding white supremacy and in continuing the cycle of harm against our most marginalized communities, including our Black, brown, Asian, disabled communities and beyond, killing us and leaving survivors traumatized. These tactics seek to divide us and keep us from building together.
The solution has always been our community — with the people and with our neighbors. Community accountability and an investment in our communities, in our schools, in our work and jobs, in our public spaces, and more, will break the cycle of harm. This cross-racial, intergenerational solidarity is the way we can work towards building a better, more just, and community-driven world for us all.
Continue to speak up to #StopAsianHate; continue to learn the history that led to this moment and to these attacks; continue to build relationships across race, across gender, across age, across zip codes; continue to support our Asian and Black communities. We can do this.