The Immigration and Ethnic History Society stands with our Asian and Asian American community in solidarity, grief, and outrage. We condemn the surge of anti-Asian violence around the world and, recently, the murders of 8 people in Atlanta, including six Asian/Asian American women: Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue. We recognize that these murders fit within a long history of racist and misogynist violence against Asian women, a history that remains too often overlooked, misunderstood, or erased.
We denounce the persistence of white supremacy, in both its structural and interpersonal forms, as it continues to impact our Asian and Asian American, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities. Sometimes white supremacy comes in the form of deadly violence, but it also emerges through benign neglect and chosen indifference that leaves racialized and gendered populations, like the victims of the Atlanta shooting on March 12, 2021, vulnerable to hate-motivated violence and lacking in resources and recognition. Health and safety should not be a privilege reserved for the few. To create a more just society, we must reflect on the ways that we all have benefited, directly or indirectly, from systemic racism that leaves communities of color uniquely precarious.
We reiterate the message of the IEHS in response to the murders George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor among countless others, that the members of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society pledge to use our historical expertise to educate the public about the histories of white supremacist violence in the United States, promote an intersectional understanding of race, gender, and class in our K-12 and college classrooms, support the professional development of scholars of color in the academy, combat racism and misogyny within our own communities, and inform the work of policymakers fighting for an antiracist future.
In addition, IEHS has signed on to the American Historical Association’s recent statement, “Statement on Violence against Asians and Asian Americans,” which goes into greater detail of the historical legacies of Anti-Asian violence. To learn more about the history of racialized misogyny targeting Asian women, see #HonorAsianWomenSyllabus. For more on how to educate yourself and begin the journey of becoming allies of the Asian/ Asian American community, please visit Asian Americans Advancing Justice. For training on what you can safely do to protect your neighbors and co-workers of color, see these bystander resources.