 April 30, 2020Please find this heartfelt letter from our Asian, Desi and Pacific Islander (ADPI) Strategies’ Group, which decries the xenophobia and racism against members of the Asian community as most recently revealed through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. We encourage you to read this cogent and timely letter, act upon its call for action and share it enthusiastically with others in your network. For more information about the letter, please reach out to Jeanne Hall, an UO faculty member based in the College of Education. You can find additional information about these issues on the LACE pages. Thank you very much, as always, for all that you are doing to show love and support for members of our ADPI community, and also for supporting and advancing UO’s mission of inclusive excellence. All the best, Dr, Yvette Alex Assensoh- Denouncement of Anti-Asian Discrimination & COVID-19 We, the University of Oregon Asian Desi Pacific Islander Strategies Group (ADPI SG), recognize that the University of Oregon is located on Kalapuya Ilihi, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Today, descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians of Oregon, and they continue to make important contributions in their communities, at UO, and across the land we now refer to as Oregon. We write this statement in solidarity with our students and community members of Asian, Desi, and Pacific Islander backgrounds as the COVID-19 pandemic reveals the xenophobia and racism that is still pervasive throughout our communities and society. The University of Oregon Asian Desi Pacific Islander Strategies Group and allies denounce these increasing acts of discrimination and violence targeted against Asian and Asian American communities locally and nationally. We recognize that these incidents, implicit and explicit, take place both online and in-person. With shelter-in-place orders across the nation, a significant number of in-person incidents take place in essential stores and on public walkways. Together, we call upon our greater community to stop the use of harmful language, including labels such as the “Chinese Virus” or the “Wuhan Virus,” when this global pandemic affects all of humanity. These labels and other microaggressions, along with blatant violence and actions of hate, do not stop or slow down this pandemic. They only contribute to the anti-Asian and anti-Asian American stigma. More than ever, we call upon the University of Oregon and greater community to be vigilant against acts of discrimination and to be united in calling out incidents directed, not only to ADPI persons, but also towards other marginalized communities, such as Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and LGBTQIA communities. We offer these suggestions for action: –Correct any person who mislabels the virus and pandemic and ask them to use the term COVID-19 or coronavirus. -Educate those in our networks about the historical and structural factors of racism and xenophobia and its interconnectedness of current anti-Asian racism with historical and current oppression in other marginalized communities. -Report incidents of hate and bias. For UO students, faculty, and staffCommunity members in Eugene may report to the Hate & Bias Report -Recognize that experiencing anti-Asian xenophobia and racism can negatively affect the recipient’s physical and mental health. Don’t minimize the effects or make it a joke. -Resist attempts to divide Asian American communities from other communities who face racism and discrimination. We come together in fighting these viral and racial threats by building solidarity together and working towards a more compassionate and inclusive community. In solidarity, ADPI (Asian Desi Pacific Islander) Strategies GroupUO Division of Equity & InclusionBlack Strategies Group Native American Strategies Group, Latinx Strategies Group Sexual Orientation Gender Identity and Expression (SOAGIE) Strategies GroupDivision of Equity and Inclusion | https://inclusion.uoregon.edu/deicomm@uoregon.edu |
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