ICAP Fellows Association Statement on Violence Against the AAPI Community
Washington, DC — The ICAP Fellows Association community is filled with grief and anger as we mourn for the victims and their families after this week’s horrific shootings in Atlanta. These attacks come amidst a disturbing nationwide rise in violence, discrimination, and xenophobia directed against the AAPI community of which many of the victims are women and the elderly. We recognize the immense emotional trauma that recurring, unpredictable violence has created for the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community (AAPI) members of our community.
Throughout the pandemic, there has been an increase in xenophobia, anti-Asian racism, discrimination, and hateful rhetoric used to falsely cast blame on the AAPI community for causing the pandemic; or worse, for deliberately spreading the virus. Incendiary rhetoric by public figures has fueled violence against the AAPI community. According to figures recently released by @StopAAPIHate, there have been more than 3,795 reports of hate incidents against Asian Americans from March 19, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021. A July 2020 Pew Research Center survey reports that 3 in 10 Asian Americans (31%) report having experienced racial slurs or racist jokes since the beginning of the pandemic.
The ICAP Fellows Association stands in solidarity with the AAPI community in striving to foster allyship with the African American, Latinx, and all communities to send an unequivocal message that a hate crime anywhere is felt everywhere in the United States of America. We call on elected officials to end their use of incendiary language, take responsibility for the damage that this language has caused, and fulfill their obligations as elected officials to serve all Americans–remembering that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
Nima Patel Edwards
President, ICAP Fellows Association
Earl Carr
‘05 ICAP Fellow
Who We Are
The ICAP Fellows Association seeks to diversify U.S. leadership in international affairs in government, the nonprofit, and the private sector. As professionals in the foreign policy field, the ICAP Fellows Association supports our Fellows through mentorship, networking, resources and opportunities at international agencies and organizations in the U.S. and globally.
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