June 2020

As Asian American, Pacific Islander and Desi American (AAPIDA) educators, scholars, and students, we express our solidarity with those fighting to end state violence against African Americans and other racialized and indigenous communities. We also commit ourselves to this struggle as we understand that state violence has a long history tracing back to the time of enslaved peoples and settler colonialism on these occupied lands.

We convey our deepest condolences to the Floyd family and all their relations. We grieve with them because we know that George Floyd is not alone. For decades, police killings of Black persons have been unrelenting, despite demands for legal, institutional and legislative changes to ensure that Black lives matter.

There is a history of Black-Asian and Third World solidarity during the turbulent sixties, when members of AAPIDA communities locked arms in the movement for a better world free of racial inequality and exploitation. We recognize the decades of struggle against violence and for freedom by African Americans that has protected and expanded civil rights for all of us. We also know that racial solidarity work is not easy, as we continue to combat anti-blackness to this day. Even within AAPIDA communities, there are divides to overcome. But this moment in history requires us to come together against injustice.

We believe that the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers is a gross violation of basic human rights to life and dignity. All four officers, including the three bystanders that include an Asian American officer, must be held culpable. A full investigation into the institutional culture, history of police complaints, and policies that have allowed misconduct to go unpunished should be pursued. This process needs to be transparent and transformative. We must stand with the Floyd family and the efforts to change the fundamental role of police in Black and Brown communities as an occupying force and the systemic inequities within our society that devalue human lives.

We hope that fellow members of our diverse Asian American, Pacific Islander and Desi American communities will join in the growing movements to uphold civil rights and civil liberties, including support for justice in the case of George Floyd. This includes fighting anti-Blackness within our own communities. We ask those who recognized the pain he suffered to reach across the racial divide so that yet another life is not lost in vain. As the pandemic will lead to severe cuts in government programs, we know public accountability, democracy, and community empowerment is even more vital. We need to work together to move forward an agenda for change across the country.

With heavy hearts and an endless belief in justice, we hold hope in unity.