We Demand Justice

We Are Outraged and Demand Justice: We Are Outraged and Demand Justice: A Statement from the Faculty of Asian & Pacific Islander A Statement from the Faculty of Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies on the Safety of AAPI CommunitiesAmerican Studies on the Safety of AAPI Communities

supremacy in the United States. THIS MUST

STOP. WE DEMAND JUSTICE.

The violence against Asian women in Atlanta is not an aberration but is the result of the casual disregard for Asians and Pacific Islanders that has groomed US citizens to dehumanize us. THIS MUST STOP. We demand the dismantling of toxic masculinist white supremacy that is expressed most readily toward the most vulnerable in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. To citizens everywhere, we call on you to not only express solidarity on social media or in the silence of your hearts, but to be active allies who stand ready and alert to discourage, intervene in, and stop these acts of racism and violence that besiege our communities. We remind everyone that acts

As we grieve with our community and condole with the families of DAOYOU FENG, As we grieve with our community and DELAINA ASHLEY YAUN, JULIE condole with the families PARK, SOON CHUNG PARK, of DAOYOU FENG, DELAINA SUNCHA KIM, PARK HYEON JEONG, XIAOJIE TAN who ASHLEY YAUN, JULIE were murdered by a white PARK, SOON CHUNG PARK, man in Georgia on March 16, 2021; we are outraged by the SUNCHA KIM, PARK HYEON onslaught of anti-Asian violence, JEONG, XIAOJIE TAN who hatred, and terror spewed upon our community across were murdered by a white the United States. man in Georgia on March

This violence has spiked over the past 16, 2021; we are outraged four years, while few national leaders on either side of the aisle have done anything by the onslaught of antito stop it. These condemnable attacks, made possible by the rhetoric of politicians Asian violence, hatred, and abetted by state inaction, are part and terror spewed upon of a larger pattern of violence against minoritized communities in the United our community across the States. THIS MUST STOP. In expressing our anger and grief with regard to the United States. vilification and death of Asian Americans, we also stand in solidarity with Black, Native, Muslim, LGBTQIA2S+, Latinx, and This violence has other communities that have been victims of violence, much of it state-sanctioned. In spiked over the past four making this statement today, we want to specifically draw attention to the gendered years, while few national logic of the violently racist act of a white leaders on either side of the aisle of violence are sown from acts of prejudice man who killed six Asian women in Georgia. WE DEMAND JUSTICE. have done anything to stop it. These that emanate from flippant Sinophobic references and implications of the current For too long, Asian Americans and Pacific condemnable attacks, made possible pandemic to sexist locker room talk that Islanders have been the targets of state sanctioned racism in this country. This by the rhetoric of politicians and dehumanize and fetishize Asian women. THIS MUST STOP. history and reality of anti-Asian and anti-Pacific Islander structural violence has deeps roots in the United States, abetted by state inaction, are part of a larger pattern of violence against We release this statement with utmost conviction to honor our community members senselessly murdered in Atlanta, from the Chinese Exclusion Act, to the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, the minoritized communities in the and our siblings and elders who have been attacked in recent weeks, but also annexation of Hawai’i, and the continued disenfranchisement of the Hawaiian people, United States. THIS MUST STOP. In to empower our community, especially the youth, to speak out loudly and boldly to the colonization of the Philippines, to expressing our anger and grief with in defense of our community’s safety and Japanese incarceration camps during World War II, to continued sexual violence against regard to the vilification and death well-being. women in Okinawa, and to the Asian-phobic racialization of the COVID pandemic. of Asian Americans, we also stand in Anti-Asian and anti-Pacific Islander racism is a part of larger racist structures of white solidarity with Black, Native, Muslim, LGBTQIA2S+, Latinx, and other communities that have been victims of targets of state sanctioned racism in this country. This history and reality of anti-Asian and anti-Pacific Islander structural violence has deeps roots in the United States, from the Chinese Exclusion Act, to the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, the annexation of Hawai’i, and the continued disenfranchisement of the Hawaiian people, to the colonization of the Philippines, to Japanese incarceration camps during World War II, to continued sexual violence against women in Okinawa, and to the Asianphobic racialization of the COVID

To citizens everywhere, we call on you to not only express solidarity on social media or in the silence of your hearts, but to be active allies who stand ready and alert to discourage, intervene in, and stop these acts of racism and violence that besiege our communities. We remind everyone that acts of violence are sown from acts of prejudice that emanate from flippant Sinophobic references and implications of the current pandemic to sexist locker room talk that dehumanize and fetishize Asian women.

STOP.