The Community-Driven Archives Initiative team stands in solidarity with the Asian Pacific American community in light of the horrific murder of eight individuals by a mass shooter on March 16th. We mourn the unjust deaths of Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, and the remaining presently unnamed victims. We offer their families and communities our deepest condolences.
This attack cannot be explained as anything but rooted in racism, xenophobia, and misogyny and we refuse to accept any attempts to disguise it as anything but.
We also mourn the deaths of Vicha Ratanapakdee and Pak Ho who were also violently attacked recently in anti-Asian hate crimes. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been 3,800 reported hate crimes against Asian-Americans, with undoubtedly countless more left unreported. This surge in anti-Asian violence in the country is a direct result of xenophobic political discourse which dehumanizes and targets Asian individuals.
Since the arrival of the first Asian Pacific American immigrants in the United States, these communities have faced unique marginalization through being Othered and exotified. This has culminated in institutional acts of violence like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Japanese Incarceration Camps, and the Muslim Ban but also countless individual acts of lynching and hate crimes. We recognize the harm of the “model minority” myth and understand that the Asian community is not a monolith and should not be treated as such.
It also cannot be ignored that this attack, along with the majority of anti-Asian violence in the past year, has specifically targeted Asian women who frequently face racist violence in the form of hypersexualization and fetishization. For this reason, we find it necessary to condemn misogyny in addition to xenophobia.
We stand with the Asian Pacific American community and condemn all forms of violence that target the community. We also stand specifically with undocumented Asians and Asians in sex work in addition to the broader community and recognize the unique difficulties these subgroups face. We wish the community strength and hope in these fearful times and we reaffirm that immigrants will always have a rightful place in this country.
We encourage non-Asian allies to take action to support the Asian community: support local Asian businesses, volunteer with local organizations to accompany Asian elders or monitor neighborhoods, call and ask local politicians what they are doing to support Asian communities, and check in on Asian friends and family. In addition, we encourage interested Asian Pacific community organizations to partner with us to help empower communities by creating authentic community archives which celebrate our respective histories.
Report anti-Asian hate crimes: https://stopaapihate.org/
Local Arizona Asian Pacific American organizations to support:
Arizona Asian American Association
Asian Pacific Community in Action - Instagram
ASU Asian/Asian Pacific American Students Coalition - Instagram
Asian Pacific American archives:
17.21 Asian Women - Instagram
AAPI History - Instagram
Asian American Archive - Instagram
Densho Japanese American Archive - Instagram
South Asian American Digital Archive - Instagram
Statement Author credit: Myra Khan, student archivist CDA