Fighting anti-AAAPI racism

We apologize for the miscommunication. Today’s event mentioned in Lafayette Today is for a small group of invited guests only.  Efforts and advocacy for the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities will continue. We thank you for your continued efforts to combat racism.

Sincerely,
DEI Council

The faculty members of the Chinese Program, Han Luo, Yingying Huang, and Shuang Wu, have released this statement: We are saddened and deeply concerned over the recently reported violent incidents against members of the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities. As teachers of Chinese language and culture, we recognize our responsibility to connect multilingual and multicultural groups, to reach out to students, faculty, and staff to offer assistance, and to stand in solidarity with other communities against all forms of racial and gender discrimination, xenophobia, and violence. We are here to offer support and will continue to promote diversity, inclusiveness, and a safe environment for all.

Yingying wrote this poem:

My Name
Look at my Asian face,
And know I am not a virus;
I am not a disease;
I am not a threat;
I am not your enemy;
I am not the things hate calls me.
I am Chinese.
My nationality is one among a myriad of names
that define me—
A woman, a wife, a mother,
A scholar and educator,
A believer in God.
A devotee of human love,
A disciple of justice for all colors and faiths,
An opposer to bias of all kinds,
A protester against violence as the solution to problems,
A debunker of the myth of model races,
An enthusiast for books and music,
A lover of plants,
A person, your neighbor,
Who fears the fear of a divisive world,
Who feels the pain of a bullet shot through my body,
Who bleeds when injured, weeps when hurt,
Who dies.
Look at me and know,
Yellow is not a peril;
It is my last name.