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Labour Studies Program and SFU Morgan Centre stand in solidarity against anti-Asian racism
In the aftermath of the murders of eight women in Atlanta, GA on March 16, and in the spirit of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21, the Labour Studies Program and the SFU Morgan Centre for Labour Studies stand in solidarity with our colleagues, students, and community members in Vancouver and worldwide against anti-Asian racism, white supremacy, and misogyny.
The murders in Atlanta came amidst escalating attacks against people of Asian descent in BC communities and across Canada, and Asian women have been disproportionately targeted and impacted by racialized violence. This violence is fed by anti-migrant and anti-sex worker policies and discourses. Data gathered by the Chinese Canadian National Council's Toronto chapter described 1,150 instances of anti-Asian racism reported through two websites, COVIDRacism.ca and elimin8hate.org, between March 10, 2020, and February 28, 2021: 44 per cent of cases were reported in BC (40 per cent were reported in Ontario), and 60 per cent of the persons who reported racism identified as women (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/asian-racism-hate-canada-pandemic-1.5959788).
Project 1907 highlights that Canada reports higher levels of anti-Asian racism incidents per Asian capita than the United States, and that BC has the most reported incidents per Asian capita of any sub-national region in North America, followed by California, New York and Ontario (https://www.project1907.org/reportingcentre).
We also recognize the need for radical change at SFU to tackle systemic racism and its impacts on all who learn and work within our institution. As a Program we commit to collectively take action, including on ways of responding to anti-Asian racism (see Project 1907 Calls to Action) within and beyond SFU; Program-level policies and processes to support students, staff and instructors; and on our Statement of Solidarity with Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racist Protests in the United States and Canada.
Resources and links:
- Fight COVID-19 Racism: https://www.covidracism.ca/
- Elimin8hate: https://www.elimin8hate.org/
- Project 1907: https://www.project1907.org/resources