On Tuesday, March 16th, a domestic terrorist in Cherokee County, Georgia attacked three massage parlors. This terrorist murdered eight people, six of whom were of Asian descent and seven of whom identified as women. This is only the most recent incident in a trend of rising violence and hate towards Asian people in America. In 2020, violence against Asian Americans spiked 150%. 3,800 racially fueled attacks have been perpetrated on people of Asian descent since the start of 2020, most often directed at women and the elderly.
We mourn for the victims and families of yesterday’s shooting and the other families who have lost loved ones and suffered due to Anti-Asian hate crimes in recent months.
The recent uptick in violence and hate towards Asian Americans is no accident. Some of our political heads of state and media organizations intentionally chose to use a racialized framing for the virus which has kept Americans indoors and cost many their jobs and livelihoods, calling it the “China Virus” and “Kung Flu”. When hate is used as a tool for furthering political goals, it is real people who pay the price.
Racial violence does not exist inside a vacuum. America has a long and storied history of Anti-Asian sentiment and policy.
These Anti-Asian attacks fit the definition of racism that many still hold; blatant racism that attacks with fists and words in broad daylight and catches headlines. While we loudly condemn these outright acts of violence, there is a much less visible, insidious racism that bakes barriers into our policies and justice system, oppressing people of color in America of all ethnicities.
While the national conversation may seem to flit from one headline to another, presenting different types of racial violence and discrimination as separate, disconnected scenarios, they are just different symptoms of the same cancer. And the antidote is the same for all.
That antidote is Anti-Racism; an active and continuous effort to identify, root out, and correct racist policy and practice in our county, our communities, and ourselves.
Packback, as both a company and a team of individuals, stands in passionate opposition to Anti-Asian violence and hate. We remain committed to Anti-Racism; working to identify and uproot racist policy and procedure in our own organization, our community, and our industry, and cultivate open and critical dialog on race and systems of power.
Jessica Tenuta
Co-founder and Chief Product Officer
Packback
Resources
- Support AAPI: https://stopaapihate.org/reportsreleases/
- Support NAPAWF, an organization working to build a movement for social, political, and structural change for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and girls: https://www.napawf.org/our-work
- Support Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), an organization fighting for the AAPI community and their rights through education, litigation, and public policy advocacy. https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/get-involved
- Learn more about the recent rise in Anti-Asian sentiment and attacks: