I write to express my sorrow at the horrific attack last week where eight people, including six women of Asian ancestry, were killed by a white man. It was an act of misogyny and anti-Asian racist violence. Sadly, since 2020, the Chinese Canadian National Council – For Social Justice (CCNC-SJ) has noted 957 incidents of anti-Asian racism in both Canada and the United States.
We need to recognize this as part of a long history of anti-Asian racism in Canada that began in the 1800s and continues until the present day. The pandemic has highlighted the longstanding inequities in our society— white supremacy, misogyny, and racism against Indigenous, Black, Asian and other racialized groups. As educators, we have a social responsibility to speak out against such injustices and to teach about systemic inequity and the work of social justice. Our community members working in schools may find ETFO’s Addressing Anti-Asian Racism: A Resource for Educators useful as they navigate this with their students.
The Faculty of Education condemns these acts of racism and gender-based violence and express our sympathy and support to the Asian community.
Rebecca Luce-Kapler,
Professor and Dean
Faculty of Education
The following resources and actions have been curated by Base Camp Faculty Assistants Yaara Docrat and Megan Tucker and further events are being planned by our graduate student community in the coming days.
Resources (outside of Queen’s University) to support the Asian community:
- Asian Mental Health Collective
- Mental Health Mukbang episodes:
- Dear Asian Girl podcast
- Dear Asian Youth community, literature, podcasts, and more
Things we can all do:
- Check-in with your Asian friends and peers, provide a safe and supportive space to vent.
- Be an ally, speak up and call-out microaggression, racist, and dehumanizing comments.
- Educate yourself about the stigmas and intersections of race, gender, migrant, and sex work.
- Read this article featuring Dr. Anita Jack-Davies warning about the dangers of labelling variants giving rise to anti-Asian and racist rhetoric during the pandemic.
- Attend Bystander Intervention to Stop Anti-Asian Harassment Training (it is free and many dates are available).
- Support working class Asian families by supporting their businesses.