To our Asian family: We love you. We are with you, and we will fight alongside you for a country where all of us are safe.
We are horrified by the violence against Asian women in Atlanta and against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the country. We condemn the anti-Asian rhetoric used by politicians to spread fear instead of investing in community care during a pandemic. We mourn for the Asian elders, Asian sex workers, Asian massage workers, and Asian domestic workers who are repeatedly harmed by anti-Asian bigotry and systems of white supremacy. We demand freedom and safety for Asian immigrants and asylum seekers, who continue to be detained and deported.
Our multiracial Jewish community rises with our Asian family, including AAPI Jews. We know that freedom and safety for any of us depends on the freedom and safety of all of us.
Our hearts are broken by the horrific targeting of Asian American women and for all eight people who were murdered at spas in Georgia. Every person, no matter what we look like or where we come from, deserves to live with freedom, safety, and belonging.
Across the country, AAPI Americans are being scapegoated, harassed, and assaulted — a recent report from Stop AAPI Hate documented 3,795 anti-Asian racist incidents in the past year alone, 68% of which were reported by Asian women.
This is a national crisis. All Americans must show up in solidarity to defeat this toxic combination of anti-Asian bigotry and misogyny.
For a year, some politicians have chosen to point fingers and spread fear instead of taking action to keep everyone safe from the pandemic. Last September, 164 Republicans in Congress voted against a resolution condemning racism against Asian Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic — Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy even called it a waste of time. Their words and rhetoric are once again echoing in gunshots, as they have in Pittsburgh, El Paso, and most recently in the halls of the Capitol building, and they must be held accountable.
As Jews, we are organizing alongside everyone targeted by white nationalism to repair the damage of the last 4 years and address 400 years of institutional racism. Together we will build a multiracial democracy that fulfills the promise of freedom and safety for all of us, no exceptions. Join us.