Executive Leadership Team Response Against Anti-Asian Violence and Hate

SCC Community,

On March 16^th, a violent and devastating tragedy occurred in Georgia that took the lives of eight innocent Americans, including six Asian American women. We are heartbroken by these murders, and it is with a mix of grief, sadness and outrage that we respond to the recent violence and loss of life.

As we collectively grieve, we must also confront this tragedy by addressing the needs of our students, faculty, and staff most directly affected by the recent events. Moreover, we stand strong and firm in rejecting the growing anti-Asian violence and all forms of hate and hate speech around the country.

Incidents of hate directed toward our Asian and Asian American neighbors are unfortunately not new, but have increased in the past year. The organization, Stop AAPI Hate (stopaapihate.org), reports that there were 3,795 hate incidents against our AAPI community from 3/19/2020 – 2/28/2021. Verbal harassment (68.1%) and shunning (20.5%) (i.e., the deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans) make up the two largest proportions of the total incidents reported. Physical assault (11.1%) made up the third largest category of the total incidents. The report also included national trend data which indicated that women reported incidents of hate 2.3 times more than men. Other trends include:

Youths (0 – 17-years-old) report 12.6% of incidents and seniors (60-years-old and older) report 6.2% of the total incidents.
Chinese are the largest ethnic group (42.2%) that report experiencing hate, followed by Koreans (14.8%), Vietnamese (8.5%), and Filipinos (7.9%).
Incident reports come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Businesses are the primary site of discrimination (35.4%), followed by public streets (25.3%), and public parks (9.8%). Online incidents account for 10.8% of the total incidents.

We all benefit when members of our community feel safe and lead productive lives. In our roles at Solano, each of us can act to encourage a better future for those around us. Thank you all for caring and acting to increase the feeling of respect, hope, and optimism felt by our students.

What you can do to stop anti-Asian and xenophobia harassment:

Check in on an Asian friend or neighbor (send them a text now to say you’re thinking about them) and engage in dialogue with family and friends.
Attend a bystander intervention training for what to do when you see violence.
Use your voice to be an ally.
Educate yourself about what is going on in your community.
Reflect upon questions such as:
- What are your beliefs about other communities of color?
- What do you know about the histories of different ethnic populations?
- Do you include people of color in your understanding of race relations in the US?