RFA calls for solidarity & clarity in response to ATL mass murder #StopAsianHate
Richmond For All condemns the murder of eight people, including six Asian women, in Atlanta last night. We strongly denounce the anti-Asian racism, misogyny, and discrimination against sex workers that led to this tragedy. We mourn with and are in solidarity with Asian communities and our sex worker siblings.
Unfortunately, these attacks are not an isolated incident. Rather, they are the logical conclusion of President Trump’s racist descriptions of the Covid-19 crisis, and the fueling of white nationalism. They are the conclusion of an unbroken thread of xenophobic forms of patriotism, exploitation of immigrant labor, and violence against women that has existed long before President Trump. In addition, these attacks are an outgrowth of excluding immigrant workers and sex workers from labor law protections, which resulted in a vulnerability the perpetrator took advantage of. Over the past year, hate crimes against Asian-Americans / Asian immigrants have increased dramatically, fueled by hateful rhetoric of the Republican Party and the patriarchal, neo-fascist movements that make up its base.
Richmond For All is rooted in a tradition of multi-racial, cross-gender organizing. We know that people from different backgrounds have in the past and can in the future build rainbow coalitions. As we mourn this latest act of violence, we recommit to educating ourselves about the historic roots of racism against Asian peoples, taking on directly anti-Asian racism, and misogyny, and building a principled multi-racial unity that can defeat white supremacy in all its forms.
Onwards together.
