Statement on Rise of Hate Crimes & Violence Against AAPI Communities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Executive Director Ryan Alsayegh (ryan@secgenpac.org)
 
(Philadelphia, PA) — Second Generation stands in solidarity with our Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. We are horrified by the recent atrocity in Atlanta, in which eight people, including six Asian American women, were brutally murdered.

These acts of violence were racially motivated and demonstrate a larger problem in this country. We are currently experiencing an alarming surge in violence against Asian Americans, including over 3,800 incidents in the past year alone. 

This spike in violence is neither random nor isolated. It is the direct result of inflammatory rhetoric by the former president and his allies, who failed to address the challenges of a global pandemic, and tried to scapegoat our Asian American and immigrant communities instead. Hateful slurs and dehumanizing language always lead to violence. There is no place for such hostility in our country.

Second Generation condemns this hatred, bigotry and violence. As an organization committed to promoting the full political engagement of immigrant communities, we embrace our responsibility to speak out against racism and injustice. We are proud to stand in solidarity with our State Senator Nikil Saval, who called on his colleagues to take action against "the racism, the violence, and the exploitation of our nation’s Black and brown communities." We ask you to do the same.