Solidarity Statement Supporting Communities Targeted for Hate

View this letter as a PDF here.

April 8, 2020

Solidarity Statement – Supporting Communities Targeted for Hate

We, the undersigned civil rights and legal organizations, come together across different communities to stand in solidarity with Asian American and immigrant communities confronting a terrifying spike in COVID-19 related hate incidents.  We call on our local, state, and national leaders to condemn this hate and to ensure communities have the resources necessary to combat this rise in hate and xenophobia.  Throughout our history, too many have been targeted for discrimination, in many cases for generations, and often during times of great economic and social upheaval.

Just as we have seen in previous times of national crisis, some seek to take advantage of fear and pain to advance racist ideologies and policies, while also inspiring other acts of hate.   Over the last several weeks, we have seen white supremacists and others seek to weaponize this fear and anxiety in order to advance their own hateful ideologies.  There is a devastating spike in acts of hate targeting Asian Americans. We are also seeing an increase in the targeting of immigrants, the LGBTQ community, Muslims, Jews, people with disabilities, and people of color.[1]

Asian American civil rights organizations at the national level,[2] organizations at the state level,[3] and countless local community centers and service providers, are leading efforts to both document hate targeting the Asian American community and to serve the needs of the people targeted.  While federal data regarding the increase is not yet available, the numbers these organizations are seeing over the last month look more like what they might see over a year.

Leaders must stop the use of anti-Asian terminology related to COVID-19 that does nothing to help people suffering from the virus in the United States, but rather perpetuates anti-Asian stigma that has inspired hate violence targeting the Asian American community. Leaders must ensure survivors of acts of hate and their families have the support they need following hate incidents and hate crimes.  Local community organizations who serve people who are targeted for hate, as well as local law enforcement, must have the resources and training to prevent and respond more effectively to hate incidents and hate crime.  Language access for law enforcement as well as anyone providing emergency response and recovery services is also critical.

Many of the people who are on the front lines of this crisis treating the sick as home health care workers, nurses, doctors, and technicians, and who are working on farms and in groceries, and in other parts of the service sector to ensure our country has the food and services it needs to survive, are from the same communities increasingly targeted for hate.  In the face of hate, members of our communities are doing what we have done for generations, coming together in shared sacrifice to help people regardless of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, age, or disability.  This pandemic requires unity and working together with the resources we have to fight this virus. Therefore, we call on our leaders to join us in continuing to combat the hate and bigotry that threatens to divide us.

Signatories

9to5

ACCESS

African American Ministers in Action

Alt Consulting

America’s Voice

American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity

American Civil Liberties Union

American Constitution Society

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

American Federation of Teachers

American Jewish Committee

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Andrew Goodman Foundation

ADL (Anti-Defamation League)

APANO Communities United Fund

Arab American Institute

Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum

Asian Americans Advancing Justice

Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote

Asian Health Coalition

Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO

Asian Pacific Health Foundation

Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations

B’nai B’rith International

Bend the Arc: Jewish Action

The Bonnie Morgan Foundation for HCV

Center for Disability Rights

Center for Law and Social Policy

Center for Security, Race and Rights

Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism – California State University, San Bernardino

Community Welfare Services of Metro Detroit

The Council of Southeast PA

Council on American-Islamic Relations

Defending Rights & Dissent

Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund

Education Law Center

Emgage Action

Equality North Carolina

Fair Count, Inc

Faith in Public Life

Family Equality

Family Health Institute of Georgia

Fund for Leadership, Equity, Access and Diversity

Girls Inc.

GoodWorks: North Alabama harm Reduction

Heb B United

Hep B United Philadelphia

Hep Free Hawaii

Hepatitis B Foundation

The Hepatitis C Mentor and Support Group, Inc.

Hepatitis Education Project

Hindu American Foundation

Hispanic Federation

Human Rights Campaign

Immunize Colorado

Indiana Recovery Alliance

International Care LLC

Japanese American Citizens League

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Jewish Women International

Justice in Aging

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

Lambda Legal

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

League of Women Voters of the United States

MALDEF

Matthew Shepard Foundation

Montgomery County (MD) Civil Rights Coalition

Movement Advancement Project

MPower Change

Muslim Advocates

Muslim Public Affairs Council

Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council

NAACP

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc

NALEO Educational Fund

National Asian Pacific American Families Against Substance Abuse

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum

National Association of Social Workers

National Bar Association

National Center for Law and Economic Justice

National Center for Lesbian Rights

National Center for Transgender Equality

National Council of Asian Pacific Americans

National Council on Independent living

National Council of Jewish Women

National Disability Rights Network

National Education Association

National Employment Law Project

National Fair Housing Alliance

National Health Law Program

National Immigration Law Center

National LGBTQ Task Force

National Nurse-Led Care Consortium

National Organization for Women

National Partnership for Women & Families

National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable

National Women’s Law Center

Not in Our Town

OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates

People for the American Way

PFLAG National

Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Portland United Against Hate

Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness

Public Citizen

Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment

Robert G Gish Consultants LLC

San Francisco Hepatitis C Task Force

SHK Global Health

Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund

The Sikh Coalition

South Asian Network

SPLC Action Fund

SPM R&C

UnidosUS

Union for Reform Judaism

United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries

United Mine Workers of America

United We Dream

Voices for Progress

Yemeni American Merchants association

YWCA USA

 

 

[1] See ADL, https://www.adl.org/blog/coronavirus-crisis-elevates-antisemitic-racist-tropes; SPLC, https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/03/26/white-supremacists-see-coronavirus-opportunity

[2] See Asian Americans Advancing Justice, https://www.standagainsthatred.org/; OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, https://www.ocanational.org/aapi-hate-incident-form

[3] Chinese for Affirmative Action, https://caasf.org/ and the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), http://www.asianpacificpolicyandplanningcouncil.org/list-of-members/