As You Sow grieves with those impacted by the recent string of murders in Northern Georgia that have left eight people dead, six of whom were Asian women. This comes at a time of increasing and senseless violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), who have experienced a nearly 150% surge in hate crimes over the last year, with nearly 3,800 reported incidents of harassment and assaults since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. These hateful acts have disproportionately targeted AAPI women, the elderly, and AAPI immigrants, many of whom come from overlooked, low-income or working-class communities of color, which are disproportionately impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

We at As You Sow recognize that these murders, violent assaults, and other hateful actions that denigrate the humanity of our community members, are symptomatic of systemic racism. The relentless scapegoating of the AAPI community for the global pandemic and the murders of these six women are examples of the intersections between racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and classism. We see this in the normalization of violence against women, women of color, immigrants, and the poor; and we decry how the casual hypersexualization of AAPI women not only makes them the targets of violence, but also in how they, as other women, are often blamed for their own victimization.

Last year, As You Sow made a statement against police brutality and the death of George Floyd. At the time we did not specifically name Breonna Taylor, a Black woman and a bystander who was killed in a reckless police raid. Here, we acknowledge how violence against women and especially women of color is often forgotten. Going forward we will name this violence.

We stand united in solidarity with other individuals and groups actively working against systemic racism, misogyny, and all other forms of white supremacy. Now more than ever, we must fight for change.

On behalf of myself and the staff and board of As You Sow,

Andrew Behar

CEO,

As You Sow

#stopasianhate

Engage with community effort:

· https://www.stopasianhate.info/

· https://www.standagainsthatred.org/resources

· https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/

· https://www.naapimha.org/

Educate yourself on bystander intervention:

· https://www.ihollaback.org/bystanderintervention/