Today, the Wellesley Centers for Women stands in solidarity with all members of the Asian American community, including those who are our colleagues, supporters, family, friends, and neighbors, as we mourn the loss of lives during yesterday’s heart-rending events. The senseless killings of eight people in Atlanta — six of whom were women of Asian descent — is a heinous crime that has only further shaken the Asian American community, already reeling from escalating anti-Asian prejudice and violence in recent days and months.

These acts clearly reflect hate – both racial and misogynistic – directed at a group of people already intersectionally vulnerable by virtue of overlapping structural inequalities still deeply embedded in U.S. society. We need to reshape our systems in ways that support and uplift those who are discriminated against and overlooked. Too often, hidden and marginalized populations fear the consequences of reporting prejudicial and misogynistic harassment to authorities. The only antidote to such hate is love-fueled justice. Let all who agree arise and work together in this spirit to build a world in which all Asian Americans and people of Asian descent are safe, equal, and free.

March 17, 2021