We see you. We believe you. You matter.
Over the past year, the violence against the Asian/Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community has significantly increased. This anti-Asian climate cultivated an environment that allowed a brutal mass murder last week that targeted Asian-owned businesses and resulted in eight people shot, six of whom were Asian American women.
We say their names:
Soon C. Park, age 74
Hyun J. Grant, age 51
Suncha Kim, age 69
Yong A. Yue, age 63
Delaina Ashley Yaun, age 33
Paul Andre Michels, age 54
Xiaojie Tan, age 49
Daoyou Feng, age 44
We send our deepest sympathies to their loved ones and their extended communities. The Women’s Center supports our AAPI students, faculty, and staff and we commit to showing up in solidarity with the AAPI community as continued anti-Asian racism and xenophobia persist in the U.S and transnationally.
According to research from Stop AAPI Hate, there were nearly 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents in the past year, including shunning, slurs, and physical attacks. It is of considerable concern that 68% of these attacks have been directed at women. Last week’s violence was not an "isolated event," nor was it because of a "bad day" or a "sexual addiction.” It is the direct result of a growing escalation of violence, harassment, and xenophobia against Asians, Asian-Americans, and Pacific Islanders and stems from a long history of white supremacist oppression directed against all people of color.
Grace Lee Boggs reminds us that, "The only way to survive is by taking care of one another."
We believe this so firmly that we put this quote on our Women’s Center t-shirts. One of the ways we can take care of each other is by digging in deep, learning with open hearts, unpacking our biases and misunderstandings, and committing to doing better. While we know many places have been sharing resources for support and further learning, we’re offering our own (non-exhaustive!!) list we curated from an intersectional feminist and critical social justice lens. You can also access additional resources here and here.
Articles + Other Publications
The Long History Of Sexual And Physical Violence Asian Women Face In The U.S.
How the history of spas and sex work fits into the conversation about the Atlanta shootings
Fetishized, sexualized and marginalized, Asian women are uniquely vulnerable to violence
A specific kind of racism': Atlanta shootings fuel fears over anti-sex-work ideology
NPR's Code Switch: Screams And Silence
Black and Asian American Solidarities: A Reading List
Organizations to Follow
Red Canary Song: A Grassroots Collective of Asian and Migrant Sex Workers, Organizing Transnationally
Website | Instagram | Twitter
AAPI Women Lead
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Asian American Feminist Collective
Website | Instagram | Twitter
Asian Americans Advancing Justice: As the national voice advocating for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across a range of issue areas
Website | Instagram | Twitter
Hollaback’s Bystander Intervention Trainings to Stop Anti-Asian/American and Xenophobic Harassment.
Learn more and register here via their website.
VietRISE: VietRISE advances social justice and builds power with working-class Vietnamese and immigrant communities in Orange County
Website | Instagram
Artists to Follow
Calista Ogburn (Writer, Podcaster, UMBC Class of 2021; she/her pronouns): This summer Ogburn published “this is it.” This poetry book brings to light the rising anti-Asian racism as the spread of COVID-19 has increased. It captures Ogburn’s experience of loneliness, heightened anxiety, and feeling lost during a global pandemic. Ogburn also just launched a podcast called Morning Glory.
Website | Podcast
Jenny Yang (Comic, Writer, Activist; she/her pronouns): Yang is the co-founder and co-producer of Dis/orient/ed Comedy, a nationally touring comedy showcase of Asian-American women. Before comedy, Yang was a labor organizer working with over 85,000 people for equity.
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Chanel Miller (Artist, Activist, Writer, Survivor; she/her pronouns): Miller is a writer and artist who received her BA in Literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her critically acclaimed memoir, KNOW MY NAME, was a New York Times bestseller and received numerous awards as one of the best books of 2019. Her Instagram features comics and illustrations that explore themes of identity, healing, and politics.
Instagram|Website
Quyen Nguyen-Le(Filmmaker, Writer; they/them pronouns): Nguyen-Le is a queer Vietnamese American filmmaker whose films examine the intersections of identity.
Instagram | Website
Laura Chow Reeve/radicalroadmaps (Illustrator, Designer, Organizer; she/her pronouns): Radical Roadmaps is a graphic recording and illustration practice, where Reeve aims to create accessible and visual political education tools. Particularly focused on working with BIPOC led organizations and organizers, Reeve has created graphics on topics such as base building, mental health stigma, sex work decriminalization, reproductive justice, prison abolition & more.
Instagram | Website | Alt-Text for Instagram
Women’s Center Blog Entries: Asian and Pacific Islander American Voices
Survivorship Looks Different in the Asian American Community
Posted on November 1, 2018 by Samiksha Manjani
Across Worlds and Identities: The Spaces in Between
Posted on October 6, 2016 by Prachi Kochar
Wish I could be [seen] in your world
Posted on April 8, 2015 by Yoo-Jin Kang
Invisible, often liminal- Growing up as an Asian-American Immigrant Woman in the United States
Posted on October 23, 2014 by Yoo-Jin Kang
Women of Color: Telling Our Stories, Our Way. A Portrait Series by Yoo-Jin Kang
Posted May 5, 2015.
Access the full category archive here.
Telling Our Stories: Asian Voices
During the spring 2015 semester, the Women’s Center and Women of Color Coalition was awarded a Campus Action Project grant from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in order to fund student led projects that fight stereotypes and biases. Our project, called “Telling Our Stories: I’m Not/I Am,” aimed to (1) raise awareness and reject stereotypes about women of color and (2) create space for women of color voices and counternarratives. We launched our project with the “I’m Not” poster campaign, with hopes to disrupt the misguided assumption that racialized gender stereotyping is not a problem for our campus community.
To view some of the “I’m Not” posters featuring Asian community members’ experiences, click here.
You can also view images from the project’s events and all the Telling Our Stories posters here.
This list can be viewed via a google doc. As we shared, this is not an exhaustive list and we may add more resources to the google doc in the future.
To our AAPI community members, and especially those who identify as women - We see you. We believe you. You matter.
We are ready to provide support, care, resources, and referrals as needed. To connect with Women’s Center staff email us at womenscenter@umbc.edu or call us at 410-455-2714.
