Dear colleagues,
Like so many of you, I have been horrified and angry to hear increasing reports of violence against members of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, including the most recent murders in Georgia of eight people, six of whom were Asian American women.
Our department unequivocally condemns anti-Asian racism, and denounces these acts of violence and the ongoing racism and misogyny behind them. We recognize the anxiety and fear that these acts cause in the personal and professional lives of our AAPI colleagues; a situation that has become even clearer to me in recent days in heartbreaking discussions with a number of you.
Such harassment, intimidation, and violence, directed against our AAPI colleagues, deeply affects us all as a collective community. We stand in solidarity with all AAPI faculty, staff, postdocs, and students, and we are committed to ensuring that our department is one where everyone may strive to learn, to contribute to the search for new knowledge, and to make the most of their talents.
I would like to remind you that if you would like to speak to anyone within the department about these issues, you are welcome at any time to contact me, our Graduate Chair (Prof. Josh Klein), our Undergraduate Chair (Prof. Masao Sako), our Diversity Coordinator (Prof. Evelyn Thomson), or any other member of the faculty. We all stand with you, and are ready to help in any way we can.
Mark Trodden
Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy
List of resources from particle physics US LHC Users Association [thanks to Bo Jayatilaka and Toyoko Orimoto]
How to Be An Ally:
History:
- STOP AAPI HATE
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
- Asian American and Pacific Islander
- AAPI Progressive Action
- Anti-Asian Attacks Rise During Pandemic. Read NPR’s Stories On The Surge In Violence
- The Chinese Exclusion Act: A Special Presentation of American Experience
Anti-Racism:
- Resources for Allyship and Fighting Anti-Asian Discrimination
- COVID-19-RELATED ANTI-BIAS EDUCATION RESOURCE GUIDE
- Combatting Anti-Asian Racism | Harvard Graduate School of Education
- Teaching About Anti-Asian Racism and Xenophobia