AAPI Solidarity Statement
we are stands in solidarity with the Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander communities. We recognize the mass shooting that claimed eight lives, including six Asian women, and injured one other person on March 16th as an incident of domestic terrorism and a hate crime. We feel the profound grief, fear, frustration, and urgency expressed by the victims’ loved ones and the larger community. We also reject the media’s narrative that this incident was not about race. Not only was it about race, but it also included the intersectionality of race and gender identities.
Furthermore, we recognize that this is but the latest manifestation of centuries-old Anti-Asian and Anti-Immigrant sentiments. While we’ve all witnessed their renewed fervor over the last year, we also know it is vital to contextualize this terrorism within the long history of laws, policies, and biases that have attacked the AAPI community with devastating and enduring impacts. However, from this same history, we know that we can all draw on the spirit of resistance and willingness to Stop White Supremacy that so many who came before us embodied. We are reminded that “Our survival is non-negotiable,” as the multi-racial student coalition best known as the Third World Liberation Front, unequivocally declared in 1968.
With those Bay Area student-activists in mind, we are encouraged and issue another of their calls to “Talk to and know your brothers and sisters.” When we tell our stories, we share our burdens, and are able to identify the source of our similar struggles: white supremacy. To honor the victims’ lives, we are pledges to remain steadfast in our effort to dismantle white supremacy in the U.S. and expand that effort abroad. In closing, we extend our love and support to their families.
Black Student Union “Our Survivable is Non-Negotiable,” San Francisco State Strike Collection, Special Collections at San Francisco State University.
Ibid.
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