Our Statement on Anti-Asian Violence and Racism

By UMS

As the University of Michigan begins its community-wide celebration of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, UMS stands in solidarity with the AAPI community.

For all grieving the racist, misogynistic murders targeting Asian women in Atlanta, we offer our deepest sympathies.

Across the world, there has been a dramatic increase in anti-Asian racism, violence, and misogyny since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the US, alone, nearly 3,800 hate incidents have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate, and Asian women were 2.3 times more likely to experience these incidents. UMS condemns the racist policies and rhetoric of the last year that have repeatedly harmed and denied the worth and dignity of AAPI people.

However, this hate is not new. Asian Americans have experienced racism as long as they have been in this nation, and UMS acknowledges the racist role Western European performing art forms and media have played in upholding white supremacy and the appropriation, exploitation, and objectification of Asian culture.

In our mission to become an anti-racist organization, we commit to deepening our understanding of this history in order to inform the work we do today.

We encourage you to explore the resources compiled by the University of Michigan’s AAPI Task Force, which was created to better document and track incidents of AAPI hate, understand the impacts of these incidents on U-M’s AAPI community, and build community and offer support.

#StopAsianHate #StopAAPIHate #umagainstaapihate