RMIAN Stands with AAPI Community Against Anti-Asian Hate
RMIAN condemns the murders in Atlanta last week as an act of white supremacy, misogyny, and gender-based violence. As an organization dedicated to justice for immigrants as justice for all, we stand with the Asian and Asian American Community. Women of Asian descent are not disposable. Soon C Park, Suncha Kim, Yong A Yue, Xiaojie Tan, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Daoyou Feng, Hyun Jung Grant, Elcias R Hernandez-Ortiz, and Paul Andre Michels, were mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, and colleagues to many and their lives must be remembered.
The horrific violence in Atlanta was not an isolated incident. anti-Asian hate and xenophobia have historically fueled U.S. laws, policies, and rhetoric, including immigration laws. For example, the text and implementation of laws like the Page Act of 1875, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and the Cable Act of 1922 patently discriminated against people of Asian descent and Asian Americans. Our courts have repeatedly affirmed these and other discriminatory laws and policies.
The historic pattern of discrimination against people of Asian descent and Asian Americans can be felt today in the sheer amount of hate crimes committed against this community. According to Stop AAPI Hate, 3,795 anti-Asian hate crimes have been reported since March 19, 2020.
As Hiroshi Motomura, RMIAN co-founder and Board Member, and a law professor at UCLA School of Law, stated in a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives last week, "No hate crime is an isolated act. We need to take national responsibility for the role of law in what we are seeing today. By discriminating in ways that suggest some U.S. citizens don’t belong here, our immigration laws have laid the foundation for hate crimes. And as long as our laws continue to lay this foundation, our entire country will suffer, because the promise of a shared citizenship that can unite us all will remain unfulfilled."
RMIAN reaffirms its commitment to supporting all people of color, including immigrants; to making our immigration system more just and equitable, and to combating white supremacy in all its forms.
We implore our colleagues, friends, and community members to take action to understand this discriminatory history and to stand up against this hate, including through the resources provided below:
Sign on to the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJ) - Atlanta collective community statement;
Donate to support the victims and their families;
Sign up for a training with AAJ - Chicago to further understand the reality and history of anti-Asian violence and how you can help;
Attend a bystander intervention training with Hollaback Bystander Training;
Learn more about what is happening and the historical context, such as through the extensive research and reporting conducted by Stop AAPI Hate;
Show up to the Stop AAPI Hate Colorado Community Rally
Donate to the work of Asian and Asian-American led organizations on the front lines, including:
Check out additional resources listed here.
In solidarity,
RMIAN Staff Members & Board of Directors