March 19, 2021
On Tuesday night, a 21-year-old white man murdered eight people at three spas in Atlanta. We know six of their names: Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Julie Park, and Hyeon Jeong Park. Six of the victims were Asian or Asian American, and all but one of the victims were women.
According to Stop AAPI Hate, anti-Asian violence has grown at an alarming rate over the last year, and as AAPI activists and popular media have pointed out, this anti-Asian xenophobia and racism is deeply rooted in US history. Violence against Asian people and Pacific Islanders is an almost-daily occurrence; just Wednesday, a white man assaulted two elderly Asian people in San Francisco. The oppression AAPI people face is multi-faceted, and it does not go unnoticed that class, immigration status, gender, and white supremacy played a part in these events. We are in solidarity with the Asian and Asian American communities in Atlanta, in California, and across the US.
SRU takes extremely seriously any threats to the safety of Asian and Asian American SRs. Anyone experiencing or witnessing discrimination or harassment, or anybody with any other safety concerns should contact info@studentresearchersunited.
There can be no higher education nor any meaningful scientific research without respect for people of all races and nationalities. Violence against Asians and Asian Americans is a direct attack on our work as researchers and scholars. 18% of domestic UC graduate students identify as being of Asian/Pacific Island descent, and over 75% of UC’s 15,000+ international graduate students come from Asian nations. Student Researchers United stands in absolute condemnation of this wave of violence and we reiterate our commitment to building a safe and inclusive UC for everybody.
Sincerely,
Dipti Jasrasaria, Chemistry, UC Berkeley
Jamie Ho, Molecular & Cellular Biology, UC Davis
Youjin Kim, Urban Planning, UC Irvine
Eric Jinsuk Lee, Chemistry & Biochemistry, UC Los Angeles
Anh Diep, Quantitative Systems Biology, UC Merced
Somchate Wasantwisut, Chemical & Environmental Engineering, UC Riverside
Donghyung Lee, Biological Sciences, UC San Diego
Jesse Liu, Bioengineering, UC San Francisco
Jamiree Harrison, Mechanical Engineering, UC Santa Barbara
Peng Zhou, Electrical & Computer Engineering, UC Santa Cruz