The killings in Atlanta

Standing Against Xenophopia

Dear Colleagues,

Once again, our nation mourns a mass shooting, with eight people dead in Atlanta, six of whom were women of Asian descent. My thoughts and condolences to everyone who lost someone in that horrific act of hatred.

I was saddened and infuriated to see this latest example of senseless violence, all too commonly aimed at women and increasingly targeted toward Asian Americans. In 2020, anti-Asian American hate crimes increased nearly 150% in the country’s most populous cities.

It is not hard to understand why, with incendiary rhetoric that blamed China for the coronavirus. The non-profit Stop AAPI Hate, formed to track incidents of hate against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since the rise of the pandemic, documented nearly 3,800 incidents between March 2020 and February 2021. Of those, 68% were against women.

I am proud of the work our Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center has done to address this problem. Early in the pandemic, they released a set of online resources, from oral histories to video curricula for teachers, called Standing Against Xenophobia. The material explores contemporary and historic discrimination against the AAPI community and other groups that has risen during times of national crisis.

History is replete with examples of heritage being used as an excuse to scapegoat and dehumanize people. I have been heartened to see how the Washington, D.C., area has stood in defiance of that inclination during this moment. Of all major American cities, only the nation’s capital saw a decline in hate crimes against Asian Americans. In the wake of the Atlanta shooting, a group rallied in D.C.’s Chinatown to show its support of the Asian American community. And in April, a group of area chefs will donate the proceeds of take-out meals to Stop AAPI Hate.

At the Smithsonian, we condemn those who use xenophobia, misogyny, and violence to attack other Americans. Through our scholarship, programming, and exhibitions, we will continue working as an Institution to bridge communities and foster understanding and respect. Only by learning to live together as one nation will we maximize our potential and live up to our highest ideals.

Lonnie G. Bunch III
Secretary

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