ARCS Board of Directors & Committees Statement on the Recent Violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI)
March 25, 2021 | ARCS NewsLast Tuesday, March 16, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun Gonzalez, Paul Andre Michels, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue were murdered in the Metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. Six of the victims killed were Asian and all but one were women. This comes after a long year of over 3,800 incidences of anti-Asian racism in the United States taking the form of violence and harassment, which has been bolstered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ARCS Board and Committees are frustrated, angered, confused, and upset. We are grieving and processing. We are recognizing our role in living in a society that allows for this type of racism to grow and persist. We are trying to understand how cultural heritage organizations, the places where registrars and collection specialists work and often feel at home, have been a contributing piece of this society, and how we can and should intervene. We are beginning to understand our place in such events and are honestly at a loss of words following this horrible tragedy.
To our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) colleagues: we hear you. We want to be there for you, and we are trying to figure out how we can. We promise to continue our efforts to reflect upon ourselves, both as an organization but also as individuals, to better protect and uplift you. We are thinking of you as we continue our education process. We know that statements are only words, and that our actions will speak louder. Please hold us accountable to our actions to make sure we are being true to our words.
We invite all our members to join us in the education process and review the following resources:
- StopAAPIHate.org
- Asian American Community Resources
- Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center: Standing Together Against Xenophobia
- National African American History and Culture: Talking About Race
And for those members who are financially able, we encourage you to consider researching and donating to an organization that will support your AAPI colleagues and friends.
#stopasianhate #stopAAPIhate
