Joint Statement on Anti-Asian Racism

We come together to condemn anti-Asian racism, recognizing that this week's murders in Georgia, along with persistent violence and intimidation directed at Asians and Asian Americans elsewhere, reflect legal, economic, and social exclusions, and U.S. militarism in Asia, which are older than our contemporary moment. We call for social justice, and not the reliance on policing and carceral remedies.

Because leadership matters, we demand that elected officials and others denounce representations of Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners, carriers of disease, sexualized subjects, or racial threats to national homogeneity and national security. Because education matters, we support colleagues who teach and conduct research on racism and anti-racism, especially those in Asian American Studies. And because support and solidarity matter, we stand with family, friends, students, colleagues, and community members most affected by anti-Asian racism.

The racist and misogynist violence of white supremacy has shaped our shared histories, and we know that the violence this week is connected to other violent acts perpetuated against Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities, and women of color and LGBTQ communities, over many years. Our communities will be organizing a teach-in on racial violence, as well as future events at Yale that gather students, scholars, community members, and others within and beyond our campus. Our linked histories mean that we must work collectively.

• Professor Sunil Amrith, Chair of the South Asian Studies Council
• Professor Jessica Brantley, Chair of the Department of English
• Professor Michael Denning, Chair of the American Studies Program
• Professor Roderick Ferguson, Chair of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program
• Professor Aaron Gerow, Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures
• Professor Jacqueline Goldsby, Chair of the African American Studies Department
• Professor Frank Griffel, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies
• Professor Erik Harms, Chair of the Council on Southeast Asian Studies
• Professor Matthew Frye Jacobson, Director of the Public Humanities Program
• Professor Grace Kao, Chair of the Department of Sociology
• Professor Alan Mikhail, Chair of the Department of History
• Professor Stephen Pitti, Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration
• Professor Alicia Schmidt Camacho, Chair of the Ethnicity, Race, and Migration Program
• Professor Jing Tsu, Chair of the Council on East Asian Studies
• Professor Anne Underhill, Chair of the Department of Anthropology