Asian American Arts Workers Denounce White Supremacy in Open Letter
"We are exhausted, scared, grieving, and angry, and yet we persevere.” After the surge in violence against people in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, over 800 art workers have signed an open letter denouncing white supremacy. Signatories include Department of Art faculty members Anna Sew Hoy and Vishal Jugdeo.
"Violence against people of Asian descent has soared since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recent wave of brutal hate crimes in the US has devastated the Asian American community. Last month, a white gunman murdered eight people, six of them Asian women, in a shooting rampage across Atlanta-area massage parlors. A few weeks later, a 65-year-old Asian woman was stomped on and beaten outside a New York City building lobby after the perpetrator hurled anti-Asian insults.
A protester holding a sign at a rally against anti-Asian violence in Washington, DC, last month. (photo by Elvert Barnes via Flickr) In a poignant display of solidarity with the many victims of anti-Asian and racist assaults, more than 800 people have signed an open letter titled “Asian American Arts Workers Against White Supremacy.” It was penned by StopDiscriminAsian (SDA), a group of Asian diasporic artists and arts workers formed last year to combat the surge in prejudice and attacks.
The statement’s growing list of signatories includes artist Anicka Yi, a member of SDA; curators Laura Raicovich, Helen Molesworth, and Christopher Y. Lew; and artists Anna Sew Hoy and Mai-Thu Perret.
“We are art workers, we are educators, we are journalists, we are immigrants and the descendants of immigrants, we are parents and the children of elders like those who’ve been cruelly attacked in recent viral videos,” SDA writes. “We’ve all wondered if our next tense encounter in public will turn violent because someone doesn’t like our skin color or facial features. We are exhausted, scared, grieving, and angry, and yet we persevere.”"— Valentina Di Liscia, Apr. 7, 2021
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the Hyperallergic website.
Read more about Anna Sew Hoy and Vishal Jugdeo.
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