REPOST: Follow Up to “An Open Dialogue on Anti-Asian Racism”

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 15:20:44 -0400

OEI is reposting this important message on behalf of the AAAFSC. The original post can be found here.

Dear Asian and Asian American Faculty and Staff Members and Community Allies:

The AAAFSC board would like to extend our gratitude for your support at the March 22, 2021 event “An Open Dialogue on Anti-Asian Racism.” We appreciated the candid and heartfelt comments shared by community members that allowed us to process our collective grief and the allyship that so many of you expressed.

We are heartbroken over the murders of 8 people in Atlanta over the past week, 6 of whom were women of Asian and Asian American descent: Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue.

We see this violence as the latest in a surge in similar acts towards Asian and Asian American communities over the past year, and also part of a longer history of violence and discrimination against Asian and Asian American communities. Furthermore, we recognize these acts are the result of systemic white supremacy, and we stand in solidarity with other minoritized communities in our campus and beyond to condemn white supremacy, hateful violence, and discrimination in all of its forms.

Taking a cue from our discussion on March 22 and the Association of Asian American Studies statement in response to the Atlanta murders, we have collated some resources below to gather the “collective knowledge and feeling” of the many Asian American scholars, activists, journalists, mental health professionals, writers, and individuals who have released statements and written opinion pieces to provide historical, political and emotional context for the effects of these murders.

In addition to the list of resources that we sent out last week and a list of resources compiled by the Women’s Center, below we have gathered additional readings and responses that address some of what came up in our discussion yesterday: themes of building cross-racial solidarity, Asian American invisibility/hypervisibility, the model minority paradigm, intersections of racism and misogyny, increased education on Asian American history, and intergenerational trauma and relationships.

We hope that these sources will help you process the events of this past week and year.

In solidarity and support,

The AAAFSC board: Tamara Bhalla (chair), Aditya Desai (member at large), Soonhee Lee (member at large), Shuyan Sun, (member at large), Fan Yang (secretary)

READ:

Pawan Dhingra, The Most Effective Way to Fight Back Against Anti-Asian Hate, CNN, 3.21.2021

“In order to effect lasting and meaningful change, we need an educational campaign starting in K-12 schools that reveals the strength and complexity of Asian Americans.”

Jennifer Ho, To Be an Asian Woman in America, CNN, 3.17.2021

“To be an Asian woman in America means you can't just be what you are: a fully enfranchised human being. It means you are a blank screen on which others project their stories, especially, too often, their sexualized fantasies -- because US culture has long presented Asian women as sexualized objects for White male enjoyment.”

Milliann Kang, Why Are Perpetrators’ Motives Given More Importance Than the Lives They Take?, Ms.Magazine, 3.22.2021

“This racialized sexualization of Asian women has deep roots in U.S. society and culture, making them vulnerable targets for harassment and violence, motivated simultaneously by misogyny, xenophobia and anti-Asian racism. But these points seem to be lost on those who refuse to recognize this as a hate crime, simply because the perpetrator said it wasn’t.”

Viet Thanh Nguyen and Janelle Wong, Bipartisan political rhetoric about Asia leads to anti-Asian violence here, The Washington Post, 3.19,2021

“The experience of racial discrimination does not happen for any group in isolation; white supremacy depends on pitting people of color against one another so they do not see their shared cause. Racial profiling does not stem from the same stereotypes for Asian Americans, Black people, Muslims and other groups, but it serves a common purpose — to define who is essential and who belongs to the nation.”

Jerusalem Demsas and Rachel Ramirez, The history of tensions — and solidarity — between Black and Asian American communities, explained.Vox, 3.16.2021

“Ultimately, there is a failure to remember what got America to this place of racial hierarchies and lingering Black-Asian tensions: white supremacy....And for Black and Asian American communities to move forward, it is important to remember the root cause and fight together against it.”

A List of Asian American Books and Memoirs compiled by the LA Times

WATCH:

PBS’s Asian Americans (2020)

Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded (2011, Deborah Gee)

Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987, Renee Tajima-Peña, Christine Choy, Nancy Tong)

ACT:

Support community efforts in Atlanta, Georgia: AAPI Community Resources Offerings Form (mutual aid intake form), sign on to a community-centered response against anti-Asian violence, & donate to support families of the victims, Atlanta Action Card

Call your elected officials to support community centered policies for addressing hate violence

Protect AAPI workers at your workplace or union with these APALA Guidelines.

Join a vigil, read statements by Atlanta-based AAPI organizations & sign-on letters

DONATE:

Red Canary Song

Advancing Justice Atlanta Victim and Family Support Fund.