WASHINGTON, DC - Yesterday’s horrific murder of eight people, including six Asian women in spas outside Atlanta, brings even greater urgency to the need to combat the unconscionable rise of violence and hate crimes directed at Asian people and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI).
We lament and mourn these senseless deaths and stand in solidarity with our Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander sisters and brothers.
Since the pandemic started last March, nearly 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents have been reported, the majority of them impacting women. It is not uncommon for women to bear the brunt of violence against one group.
While yesterday’s incident has yet to be declared a racially motivated attack, the rise of white supremacist terrorism, the spread of hateful anti-Asian rhetoric in the last presidential administration and in the media, and the increase of crimes committed against Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities in the last months are undeniable. The devastating impact on AAPI communities in particular and on our country is unquestionable.
Sojourners condemns the white supremacy and violence present throughout U.S. history that has marginalized AAPI communities and leads many to perceive AAPI people as perpetually foreign. From the Chinese Exclusion Act, to the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II, to the present wave of hate crimes that directly results from the scapegoating of AAPI people, hateful violence against one group has no place in our nation and in the beloved community we seek to build.
Rev. Adam Russell Taylor
President
Sandy Ovalle
Director of Campaigns and Mobilizing