Lavender Rights Project AAPI Solidarity Statement

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Lavender Rights Project unequivocally condemns the violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. The recent tragedy in Atlanta surrounding the white supremacist shooting that killed eight victims, six of them Asian women has lit a beacon and an emergency call to action across multi-marginalized communities nationwide. Such anti-Asian sentiment has been prevalent in our own community of Tacoma, WA, following the recent release of video footage featuring the assault of an Asian American couple. This occurs in the context of increased anti-Asian bigotry and harassment stemming from deeply ingrained roots of racism and xenophobia that run rampant in this country. 

We honor the labor of immigrant and migrant Asian women, trans and gender diverse communities whose work is often erased, devalued and stigmatized in our societies. We honor massage parlor workers, sex workers, the working class, and our undocumented community-- we are in solidarity with you, your grief, your rage, and your healing.   

We remember your lives and mourn your deaths: 

Yong Ae Yue

Suncha Kim

Soon Chung Park

Hyun Jung Grant (maiden name Kim)

Daoyou Feng

Xiaojie Tan

Delaina Ashley Yaun

Paul Andre Michels

Asian Americans have consistently faced the paradox of being both a model minority and a foreigner, narratives which are used as a scapegoat to work in the favor of white supremacy. This is particularly true for Asian american women and trans individuals who have to deal with hypersexulaization, objectication and racism. We will no longer be compliant to the western gaze, and will detach ourselves from the model minority myth, which has been promoted through the reins of white supremacy and worked to drive a wedge between AAPI and other BIPOC communities. Instead, in these moments we need to draw inspiration from historical moments of Black and Asian unity by emphasizing and upholding solidarity that centers  liberation for all. It is through this unity and through the recognition of systems of power steeped in white supremacy and capitalism, that we can work together to dismantle them. 
We want to acknowledge that white supremacy is foundational as a force of violence, polarization, and chaos in these attacks and that it perpetuates them under the oversimplified issue of gun violence and a growing movement of gun control and reform that is exceedingly white-led, and immensely lacking in nuance as it applies to those actually committing violence, and the communities and groups most affected by it.

We do not rely on the presence of police or carceral systems as solutions to this violence. Instead we must invest in sustainable practices that get at the root of causes of anti-Asian hate, which are tied into colonial and white supremacist violence. After years of protests and demands against police brutality, we have to continue to re-negotiate what it means to keep our community safe. This means speaking up for one another and standing in multiracial solidarity to combat systemic racism and xenophobia. This also means engaging focus, and organizing  by-and-for community led security initiatives that are entirely independent from those aforementioned systems to actually protect and serve our own without an undercurrent agenda of profit or power, and that cultivates a broader presence of security culture in those communities over time. The future of safety for multi-marginalized communities depends entirely on the existence of autonomy, self governance, and access to self defense strategies, defensive items, and any other life saving resources for those peoples to protect themselves and one another.

We must stand up against hate in all forms and convey our words into actions. For more information on how you can dismantle, combat and challenge oppression in the AAPI community, please look at the resources below. 

Resources: 

Calls to Action:

Vigil: 

Support: 

organizing transnationally  (NYC)

Donate:

Resource Kits & Statements:

Thank you to the following contributors,

Lavender Rights Project Staff Members

Ganesha Gold Buffalo-WABTTF Member

Catherine O’Carroll- Legal Assistant

Lourdez Velasco

TWOCSN Core Member & API Chaya Queer Network Program Organizer 


Lavender Rights Project