On March 16th, eight people were killed in shootings at 3 Atlanta metro area spas. Six of those killed were Asian women. This is just the most recent in an increasing string of violent anti-Asian attacks. In the past year, and especially the past few months, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have experienced terrifyingly high rates of racist violence, many purportedly influenced by xenophobia tied to COVID-19.
Just this week, national advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate released a report compiling nearly 4,000 hate incident reports in one year from across the United States. The statistics place in sharp relief the scale of structural racism and anti-Asian sentiment in the United States, and how this racism combined with the pandemic creates a uniquely dangerous environment. Day One condemns racism in all of its forms. We are an anti-violence organization, and we cannot end domestic violence until we dismantle racism and white supremacy. To all of our AAPI clients, community members, and supporters: we stand in solidarity with you.
It’s no coincidence that Asian women were the ones targeted in the most recent attack. As many as 55% of Asian women report experiencing intimate physical and/or sexual violence during their lifetimes. Cultural expressions of violence may differ among AAPI individuals, including ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors, that draw a survivor in and out of an abusive relationship or the occurrence of multiple abusers within one household or family. These forms of violence may go unnoticed by friends, other family members, and even advocacy organizations that are not rooted in cultural contexts. AAPI survivors of domestic violence must also contend with the everyday violence of racism, social inequity, and marginalization. Individuals working in majority female, Asian workplaces, such as the spas that were targeted in Atlanta, experience this kind of harassment on a daily basis.
Day One is committed to dismantling the impacts of white supremacy in our community. We stand with POC, queer, trans, and disability advocates in this fight. We turn to and uplift the expertise of organizers in the AAPI community who have been doing this work for so long. #StopAAPIHate
Below, we are listing a few New York City organizations that are AAPI-led and work to stop domestic violence and hate in AAPI communities.
Asian-American Feminist Collective
In addition, Twitter user @Sasponella is actively compiling a list of Asian community resources, artists, and activists at this link. Please take a moment to read through, follow, and donate if you are able.