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BY: E-Board of APALSA | DATE: Mar 17, 2021

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Reference: E-Board of APALSA | apalsa@mail.law.cuny.edu | IG @cuny_apalsa

Published March 17, 2021

 

 

 

CUNY Asian Pacific American Law Student Association mourns the deaths of the massage parlor workers in Atlanta and offers our condolences to the families of the victims. We grieve, hardly recovered from the grief of violence perpetrated both by the imperialist State and white supremacists against our community. Only three weeks ago was Filipino Navy veteran, Angelo Quinto, murdered by the police kneeling on his neck. Only days ago were 33 Vietnamese refugees in Texas deported, despite Biden’s so-called 100-day moratorium on deportations. Here in New York, we’ve seen, heard, and felt our Asian elders and community members attacked on the streets, on the subway, in their workplaces.

As Asians and Asian-Americans, we are too familiar with this violence. We know that our families are here because they were displaced due to imperialist wars tearing our nations apart and neoliberal greed stealing our nations’ resources, opportunities, and abilities to thrive. As we condemn the mass deportations of Vietnamese refugees, we must remember what they fled from. It is no coincidence that this week is the 53rd anniversary of the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War—hundreds of Vietnamese civilians were slaughtered, entire villages pillaged, and uncountable women raped.

As we condemn the murder of Asian women—in Atlanta and elsewhere—we must also remember its violent origins in American imperialism’s twisted fetishization, commodification, and exploitation of Asian women. In the Philippines, U.S. colonialism sparked the sex entertainment industry and sex trafficking. Today, access to young Filipina sex workers is written in stone through the Visiting Forces Agreements, currently being renewed between the United States and the Philippines.

We have seen this hate and violence against Asian people foster under the COVID pandemic. We want to especially highlight an unspoken form of violence perpetrated against our communities under COVID—the everyday failings of the public welfare system that leave many of the most vulnerable jobless, homeless, hungry and left to die. There’s also the super-exploitation of Asian healthcare workers on the frontlines, bearing the worst of the pandemic. For example, Filipino nurses only make up 4% of nurses in America but 31.5% of nurse deaths from COVID.

CUNY APALSA stands against all forms of hate and violence against communities of color. Steadfast in our grief and anger, we look to the ongoing efforts of our communities to not just end anti-Asian violence but dismantle the entire imperialist system that seeks destruction on all oppressed peoples in the U.S. and abroad. Below is a list of Asian and Asian-American community organizations based in New York. We encourage APALSA members and the CUNY Law community to get involved directly or in solidarity.

In response to escalated racist violence against Asian people in the United States, we would like to hold healing space on 3/19 for the members of our community.

We will release a complete statement with resources after listening to our student community’s concerns. Until then, please see resources by the Asian American Feminist Collective.

Find your community: Connect with AAPI community organizations in New York