GEO Statement on White Supremacist, Anti-Asian Attack in Atlanta

by Communications Chair
on March 18, 2021

GEO grieves with our Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) members, community allies, students, staff, faculty, friends, and family, and strongly condemns the anti-Asian, white supremacist violence wrought in Atlanta on the 16th of March. We mourn the murders of Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Kim, Sun Cha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Xiaojie Tan, and Daoyou Feng, as well as Delaina Ashley Yaun and Paul Andre Michels, who were also killed in the attacks. Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, the lone survivor, remains in intensive care. Another racist attack by a white man, on a 76-year-old elderly woman named Xiao Zhen Xie, occurred on the following day in San Francisco; she thankfully survived this attack but was forced to fight for her life.

Anti-Asian racism, hate crimes, and harassment are not new, and indeed the exclusion and dehumanization of Asian people, and the fetishization of Asian/ AAPI women, are systemic crises that arise repeatedly in the history, legislation, imperialist foreign policy, public rhetoric, military interventions/ war crimes, policing (including ICE’s deportation of 33 Vietnamese refugees this week), and media of this country. Harmful, racist, white supremacist narratives peddled and promoted by public officials and politicians (across the political spectrum) and nationalist groups during the COVID-19 pandemic have only increased the severity of these phenomena – Stop AAPI Hate reported that nearly 4,000 hate crimes against Asian folks were reported to them between March 2020 and February 2021. 

These targeted murders by a white nationalist man and the shameful excuses and apologia offered by some media outlets and by the Georgia sheriff’s spokesman further highlight the impunity with which violent white supremacy can operate while communities of color are over-policed and are criminalized. 

This attack must be understood as the intersection of anti-Asian racism and misogynistic gender-based violence, and as part of a broad phenomenon of racist violence targeting immigrant and undocumented workers, including sex workers. It is incumbent upon all of us to speak out against these despicable forms of hate and to stand in solidarity with our Asian siblings.

We have provided an initial list of organizations and funds accepting donations, resources, and events below. We will continue to update as we become aware of others to add. 

We also want to offer GEO’s BIPOC Caucus as a resource for amplifying the voices of people of color, including AAPI folks, within this union and in the larger University of Michigan community, including but not limited to the voices of undergraduates and staff. Any members of our community who identify as BIPOC are welcome to bring concerns to the caucus. To get involved, email BIPOCchair@geo3550.org. 

Resources

Campus Events

Statements & Resources from Campus Units & Individuals

Categories:

GEO News

Tags:

No Tag

Comments are closed

GEO on Facebook
GEO on Twitter