The following statement was issued by Aleyamma Mathew, Director of the Collective Future Fund, in response to the murder of eight people in Atlanta on March 16th, six of whom were Asian women.
“We grieve today for the lives tragically lost in Georgia: Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun and Paul Andre Michels, and we send our support to their loved ones and communities. After a year of rising anti-Asian violence as a result of racist comments by the former President, his political allies, and media personalities, too many of us knew that a moment of abhorrent violence like this was on the horizon.
This violence is not new, and we cannot ignore the fact that it is rooted in white supremacy and misogyny. The fetishization and dehumanizing sexualization of Asian women – and these workers in particular – makes this an undeniable case of sexualized violence based on race.
In addition to grieving this appalling loss of life, the AAPI community and survivors of gendered, racist violence are also facing another layer of trauma and pain. Even in the face of such clear racist and sexist violence, it is not being named as such. We are seeing the violent impact that the erasure of the experiences of AAPI women has in the narratives coming out of this tragedy. We see the humanity of the perpetrator prioritized over the humanity of his victims. We see media and leaders struggle to articulate and understand the intersecting, interwoven oppressions that made this white man choose to attack these women, in these workplaces. And we see that the carceral systems, supposedly intended to deliver ‘justice’, will continue to criminalize and ostracize the very communities that are hurting the most in the wake of this violence.
We stand in solidarity with all those who face continued xenophobia, racism, and white supremacist violence. We stand in solidarity with survivors of gender-based and sexual violence. And we commit to continue supporting the visionary leaders working to build a collective future where all survivors live free from all forms of racist, patriarchal violence, in shared abundance, safety, dignity, and power.”
Please find below a list of organizations we have partnered with at the Collective Future Fund, who are working on the ground across the country to support AAPI women, queer, trans*, and non-binary people, and survivors.
Please consider supporting their work if you have the means to do so.
