Our hearts are breaking at the murder of six Asian American women and all eight people killed at massage parlors in Georgia on Tuesday night.

Just hours before the attack, the organization Stop AAPI Hate released a report documenting 3,795 incidents of anti-Asian racism in the past year as politicians and others have spread bigotry in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our Jewish community knows too well what it’s like to mourn because of white nationalist violence. Bend the Arc and our leaders in Georgia are sharing a solidarity letter to say to our AAPI family: we are with you, and we will fight alongside you for a country where all of us are safe.

Sign the Jewish-AAPI solidarity letter from our community to all those mourning, scared, and organizing a powerful national response. We’ll share it with AAPI leaders in the coming days so they know they can count on us for whatever comes next.

As Jews, we know that our safety is in solidarity — our multiracial Jewish community rises with our Asian family, including AAPI Jews, and all who are targeted by white nationalism to mourn and to build a new future together where all of us are safe.

Because we know removing Trump from the White House didn’t solve centuries of white supremacy, nor did it prevent the hate crimes that took place on Tuesday.

This is a national crisis fomented by politicians who choose to point fingers and spout racist rhetoric instead of taking action to keep us safe during the pandemic. Just months ago, 164 Republicans in the House voted against a resolution condemning anti-Asian rhetoric, with Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy calling it a waste of their time. Their words are once again creating violence, as they have in Pittsburgh, El Paso, and most recently in the halls of the Capitol building. They must be held accountable.

We are fighting back with our vision, our values, and our organizing. The letter describes our commitment to building a country that fulfills the promise of freedom and safety for all of us, no exceptions. We do that by repairing the damage of the last 4 years, addressing 400 years of institutional racism, and building toward a multiracial democracy.

Add your name: Sign the letter of solidarity from the Jewish community to our AAPI family.

As Jew of Color community builder and Bend the Arc leader Bekkah Scharf wrote last month in Lilith magazine — well before the shootings in Atlanta:

From all of us at Bend the Arc: thank you for being part of this movement, for showing up again and again, and deepening our practice of solidarity every day. Add your name.

In mourning and in solidarity,

The Bend the Arc team

P.S. Here are additional resources and ways you can show up, take action, and build community safety with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities:

Note: We have updated this post to reflect the accurate title for the above episode from LUNAR: The Jewish-Asian Film Project. The episode is titled "From Division to Solidarity" — an intentional choice that reflects the connections between antisemitism, anti-Asian racism, and the model minority myth. This edit was made to reflect the accurate title of the episode and original intent of the creators. We apologize for the error and are grateful for the visionary and powerful work of LUNAR: The Jewish-Asian Film Project.

Sources:

• Stop AAPI Hate — National Report of anti-Asian incidents
• NBC News — There were 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents, mostly against women, in past year
• Reuters - Kevin McCarthy said it was a waste of time for the House to condemn anti-Asian rhetoric
• The Guardian - Donald Trump calls Covid-19 'kung flu' at Tulsa rally
• The Guardian - Republicans face backlash over racist labeling of coronavirus