The Pan African Congress, North America strongly condemns the spate of racist violence and targeted killings perpetrated against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) across the United States of America. As members of the Global Pan African Movement, we are dedicated to the struggle against white supremacy and racism, injustice, oppression, and violence. We join forces with anti-racist and anti-hate groups in the USA and beyond and stand in solidarity with members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities who have been subjected to hate and racial violence.
We emphasize that the targeted killings of Asian Americans in the city of Atlanta and in Cherokee Country both in Georgia on March 16, 2021 did not happen in a vacuum. White supremacist ideology, hate, racial injustice and violence against non-white groups is not new in the USA. However, the recent incidents of violence were logical outcomes of the racist rhetoric and pattern of white supremacist behavior that was elevated from the fringes to the mainstream of American society by the Trump administration.
The Trump administration’s use of government institutions and the highest office in the land to vilify and scapegoat immigrants and non-white groups, including Asian-Americans, helped to empower and goad white supremacist from every corner of the country. Indeed, following Trump’s blame of China/Asia for the Coronavirus outbreak, it has been reported by the anti-hate group Stop AAPI Hate that during the COVID-19 pandemic cases of hate against people in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities increased significantly.
As Pan Africanists, we strive to uphold the African philosophy and humanist principle of Ubuntu which posits that our collective humanity is inextricably linked. Therefore, hate and dehumanization perpetrated against our fellow human being is a stigma on our collective humanity. As we continue to fight racism and oppression against our own community, we stand in solidarity and call on all and sundry to lend their voices and take action to stop hate and racism against our brothers and sisters in the Asian Americans and Pacific Islander communities.
