We are hurting with you. Together we can end hate.
Dear CAAL Leaders,
We are devastated by yesterday’s horrific mass shooting in Georgia, where a gunman shot and killed eight people at three different Asian businesses. Six of the eight people killed were Asian, and all but one were women. We grieve with our communities and are holding the victims and their families in love and care.
This attack is part of a pattern that follows a long history of anti-Asian racism and hate. It is not just interpersonal but also entrenched in racism, xenophobia and misogyny. In the past year alone, anti-Asian violence has looked like violent attacks that disproportionately target children, women and the elderly; verbal harassment in schools, private businesses and public spaces; the deportation of 33 Vietnamese community members this week; and the police killing of Christian Hall and Angelo Quinto.
These incidents have left our communities traumatized, fearing whether we can safely go about our daily lives and wondering whether systems and institutions will invest in us and help protect us. What happened in Georgia is racialized misogyny, and we cannot compartmentalize and pick which identity the shooter was most hateful towards to have committed such atrocity. We cannot simplify how one man could have developed such hate when we are reckoning with systemic racism and global gender-based violence. Let’s all stand with the local community in Georgia to support the victims and their families and stand together to end anti-Asian violence.
To our Asian Minnesotan communities, we invite you to take time to grieve and express your needs. Check-in on your loved ones, limit your exposure to news, breathe, and know that your feelings of outrage, grief, and exhaustion are justified. We are here with you. We hurt with you. If you identify as Asian Minnesotan, we invite you to join us tomorrow, Thursday, March 18, 2021 from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM CDT for Honoring the Lives Lost in Atlanta, a community gathering where we will come together in grief and in rage to hear from our community members and share a moment of silence in honor of the lives lost in Atlanta.
To our non-Asian allies, show up with us. Be in solidarity with our struggles, speak out against anti-Asian hate in your communities, demand better from our leaders, and don’t let systems divide us. We can work together to combat anti-Asian racism as we move towards healing and justice.
Join us on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM CDT for Unheard Stories: Asian Americans Experiencing Hate, a public community event to hear from leaders and community members about what has been occurring in Minnesota and nationwide, hear from victims of hate, and work together with us to take action against violence and hate. Speakers include U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, MDHR Commissioner Rebecca Lucero, CAAL Executive & Network Director Bo Thao-Urabe, and others.
Read Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta’s statement to hear local voices and sign on to support a community-centered response. If you want to support the efforts in Georgia, the local community is asking that you complete this form.
In solidarity,
The CAAL Team