 |
Friend, This week we are grieving eight victims of unspeakable, hateful violence in the metro Atlanta area — six of whom were Asian women. Our hearts go out to their families and loved ones, and we are keeping them in our thoughts in the wake of this tragedy. This attack points to an escalating threat many in the Asian American community feel today. As a result of hateful rhetoric and a spate of attacks during the past year, we know that too many within the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community fear every day for themselves and their loved ones. Hours before the killing, STOP AAPI HATE issued a national report on reports of anti-AAPI hate incidents they received between March 19, 2020, and February 28, 2021. They recorded 3,795 incidents during that period, the majority of which were reported by AAPI women. However, hate-related crimes are historically underreported, and we believe this data represents only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur. Please take a moment to review the report here. We all must call on elected officials to take steps to counter anti-Asian hate and other extremist or hateful ideologies. Within our communities, each of us can also take important measures to counter the AAPI hate that degrades the safety and peace of our AAPI family, friends and neighbors. The SPLC’s guide to bystander intervention is a free, shareable resource for how to respond while witnessing an act of hate. If you, or anyone you know, would like to safely report an incident of hate to the Southern Poverty Law Center, please do so here. Making sure hate incidents are reported and the voices of people experiencing hate are heard is the first step in supporting the AAPI community. We can also help by speaking up and sharing resources that actively counter hate around us. One resource we would like to share is Learning for Justice’s guide for parents, educators and caregivers responding to this week’s attack. Learning for Justice provides free resources for educators helping young people navigate critical conversations about race, gender, class and more. As we move forward, we must reflect on the impact our work can have on the AAPI community and how we can further center them in our work in the Deep South. We are committed to including and uplifting AAPI voices in our work to investigate and stop hate, protect human rights, LGBTQ rights and children’s rights, fight for immigrant justice and advance voting rights. In grief and solidarity, The Southern Poverty Law Center |
||
| |
||
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
