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Student Wellness Hub

Against Anti-Asian Racism: EAS Organized Townhall

Statement Against Anti-Asian Racism

We in the Department of East Asian Studies stand together with students and community members who are deeply impacted by the escalating violence against Asians, Asian-Americans, Asian-Canadians, and grieve the losses of the eight victims murdered in Atlanta, six of whom were Asian/Asian-American women. We voice our solidarity and condemn anti-Asian racism, misogyny, xenophobia, ageism, white supremacy, Islamophobia, and hate crimes based on ethnicity, citizenship, age, gender, and sexuality. We condemn the denial of systemic racism that affects all people of Asian descent and other racialized and visible minority groups in Canada.

As scholars of Asia and the Asian diaspora, we are committed to teaching and learning the histories, geopolitics, and legacies of imperialism, settler colonialism, indentured labor, exclusionary immigration acts, wartime internment, and the gendered labor exploitation that have shaped the current climate of anti-Asian racism in North America. Beyond this horrific tragedy that manifested in the killing of these victims are the lived experiences of those who have confronted systemic discrimination, and macro- and micro-aggressions in the past and who continue to confront them in the present. We express our univocal support for the work that is needed to create a safe and inclusive environment inside and outside the campus, and to collectively move towards a more just future.

The Department will be holding a town hall shortly to share thoughts and experiences, and foster alliances between concerned students and faculty members.