We hate that once again we are waking up to the reality of hatred and bigotry rearing its ugly head in our society, hurting innocent Americans who deserve to live in a peaceful, just, tolerant world. This week, shootings at three Atlanta-area spa parlors killed six innocent Asian Americans and two other victims – all but one were women. This incident is among the 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents that have been reported since the start of this pandemic a year ago, a 150% increase reflected in all major cities across America.
GatherDC wholeheartedly condemns all forms of hatred, violence, and discrimination towards Asian-Americans. We stand in solidarity with our Asian-American Jewish friends, and all AAPI and BIPOC people. We recognize that condemnation of this bigotry is not enough. It is up to each of us, as a collective and as individuals, to work towards long-term solutions for a more compassionate society. At GatherDC, we have been working with an external consultant over the last 6+ months to more intentionally and effectively integrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice into every facet of our work. As a staff and as a community – we must do whatever we can to dismantle systemic oppression against Asian-Americans that has always been a function of our society, but put on full display and rising dangerously over this past year.
As Jews, we believe deeply in living with loving kindness (chesed), repairing the world (tikkun olam), and, seeing sacredness in every human being (tzelem elohim) and we refuse to standby quietly as we watch our AAPI and BIPOC friends live in fear, trauma, and pain.
To everyone who is suffering – we see you. We hear you. We stand with you. We offer you our sincere promise to do better, to work harder so you can feel the safety, inclusion, and love you deserve everywhere you go.
We hope everyone in our community will join us as we work towards healing and education for a more tolerant future.
We encourage you to take a look at these resources. We will be updating this list in the days and weeks to come, and commit to continuing to share out ways we can educate ourselves and become better allies going forward. If you know of a resource that should be added to this list, email us.
Have a resource to add? Email us!
