A Statement on Anti-Asian Violence

As a proud member of the community of educators, teachers and researchers who serve culturally and linguistically diverse and often marginalized communities, I would like to invite you to join me in condemning the Atlantic Shooting that took the lives of 8 people including six Asian American women. Despite the suspect’s denial of racial motivations, it would be irresponsible of us to see the crime as the arbitrary, irrational behavior of a single person. Instead, we must seek to understand this tragic event as the way it was intertwined in the human landscapes and relationships of people and communities of this country. To do anything otherwise would be to give undeserved credit to violence and exonerate ourselves from the collective culpability of understanding the underlying causes of racism on a cross-cultural bias against minoritized communities.
 
In fact, we must go deeper and try to understand what has brought us to this very juncture of history. Indeed, it would be impossible to separate the American legacy of anti-Asian violence from the way immigration, sexism, and racism were played out in the rise of global capitalism and perpetuated by the class structure of capitalist society. The immigrant workers’ struggles and the widespread exploitation, oppression and hostility are absolutely central to the maintenance and control of labor mobility and economic reproduction that turned the United States into a superpower at the turn of the century. A quick look at American history shows us how various groups of labor were folded into the trajectory of the United States to satisfy the insatiable desire and drive of capitalist expansionism. It is to the incorporation of immigrants into a dynamic labor force that American as a society owes its culturally and intellectually vibrant lifestyle: the ethnically diverse cuisines and the melting pot of different cultures, the easy access and navigational mobility in sprawling cities with interconnected public transportation, the convenience, speed and comfort we enjoy in daily life, including the luxury of self-pampering in spas and beauty salons and ultimately, the perpetual search for the new frontiers of exotic carnival pleasure to feed the capitalist drive for innovation and creativity.

We can’t overlook how immigration, capitalism, exploitation and oppression are correlated. A system that builds its wealth and prosperity on the very logic of exploitation and appropriation also preys on those who are poor and downtrodden, often forced to work in dangerous and reckless workplaces and struggle to live on the survival level. We have witnessed how this exploitative nature of our affluent society was amplified and exacerbated during this global pandemic. When the COVID-19 burst the economic bubble, many Americans blamed immigrants for their woes. As restaurants and stores closed, people could no longer enjoy their usual “American” lifestyles. For those who could not find the outlets for their frustration, immigrants who were once tucked into the deep fabric of the society suddenly became the “visible” targets of their frustrated wonted energy. In the context of anti-racism and anti-sexism, recognizing this horrific act against Asian American women as part of the structural and interpersonal violence against marginalized, minoritized groups throughout the history of the United States provides us a basis of social solidarity to challenge and speak up against the system that reproduces and perpetuates patterns of inequality.

As an organization dedicated to extending educational opportunities for the population in marginalized communities and underserved areas, we must commit ourselves to developing critical language awareness among us and our students as a tool to develop critical thinking and seize this moment as an opportunity of intervening to understand the history and inter-relationships of communities so that we can take meaningful steps toward dismantling widespread racism, racist stereotypes, and negative racial attitudes.