To the Campus Community,
We write today with heavy hearts to decry the targeted killing of eight people—six of them Asian and Asian American women—in the Atlanta, Georgia area yesterday. It is a shocking crime in its audacity and calculated racist cruelty. These shootings reflect the intolerance, racism, and xenophobia aimed at Asian Americans throughout the nation’s history. At this moment during the coronavirus pandemic these acts of hatred have risen to a level of national crisis for the Asian American community. In the Atlanta case as in so many others the violence has been particularly devastating to Asian women. While the specific motives and details are still emerging from the tragic horror that has just unfolded in Atlanta, it is important to recognize the larger trends in which hate crimes against Asian Americans have increased by nearly 150 percent in 2020.
One year ago, as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold, UMass Boston proudly joined Bunker Hill Community College and Middlesex Community College to issue a joint statement supporting our Asian American communities and denouncing the burgeoning racism and xenophobia directed toward them. In part the statement said, “We repudiate racism. We celebrate the unique cultural wealth and strengths of our Asian American communities.”
Today, we, the UMass Boston family, stand in solidarity with our mourning Asian American communities in these violent, xenophobic times. We must pause to think of the families and communities torn apart by this vicious act and empathize with our Asian American communities and our students, staff, and faculty who have experienced or felt the tide of hate. We honor the powerful visions and dreams of Asian immigrant women -- including many of our own students, faculty, and staff -- and their daily struggles and sacrifices, simply to survive in US society. Today, we must also renew our commitment to building an antiracist university and antiracist world, and to grow our understanding of how these far-reaching goals can be achievable. In doing so, we invite others to join this call to action as an essential moral imperative for all of humanity.
Sincerely,
Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Chancellor
Joseph B. Berger, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Georgianna Meléndez, Assistant Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
