March 17, 2021

A Message of Support Regarding Recent Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

Dear Santa Barbara City College Students,

Last night, we saw a horrific targeted mass shooting in Atlanta, Georgia, in which 8 people, six of whom were Asian American women, were murdered. 

Santa Barbara City College vehemently condemns this attack along with the growing and increasingly hateful anti-Asian rhetoric and violence that we have witnessed in the United States. The Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center released a report covering the past year. The report documents how in the last year alone over 3,800 incidents of anti-Asian racism have been reported, with a spike of almost 150% in anti-Asian hate crimes in major US cities, including 122 hate crimes reported to date (Fact Sheet, Anti-Asian Hate).

Anti-Asian bias and violence is not a new phenomena in the United States. Examples of anti-Asian bias and violence can be found as far back as the first arrival of Chinese immigrants over 150 years ago. These histories include the Chinese Exclusion Act, anti-miscegenation laws prohibiting the marriage of white and Asian individuals, the violent anti-Chinese pogroms of California, Yellow Peril,  the forced relocation and imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the violent, race-based murders of individuals such as Vincent Chin. Without question, events such as these are rooted in xenophobic and racist ideologies that have no place in our community.

SBCC’s Student Health and Wellness is offering a process and support space for Asian, Asian-American and Pacific Islander students, faculty, and staff. Please join us from 10-11:30 tomorrow to process this unspeakable tragedy. A flyer is attached to this email.

We stand with our students, staff, and faculty of Asian descent and will not tolerate xenophobia, racism, or misogyny of any kind. Times like these require us to intentionally expand our circle of concern and compassion. As a community, we can take action.

Here are some ways that we all can actively support the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander community:

  • Encourage those who experience or witness acts of hate towards the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities to report an incident at the Stop AAPI Hate website

  • File an discrimintation/hate crimes complaint or concern with SBCC’s Report a Concern .

  • Learn ways to intervene effectively as a bystander to stop anti-AAPI xenophobia and harassment. A free training is available through Asian Americans Advancing Justice

  • Be informed about what is happening and why.

  • Be civically engaged in your local community.

  • Support organizations advocating for justice and an end to racism, like Stop AAPI Hate. 

  • Support Ethnic Studies in our local school districts and educational institutions. Learning about the  “perpetual foreigner” stereotype that frames Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as outsiders to this nation can help us to understand the Orientalist framing, which allows for Asians to be excluded, detained, deported, and attacked because they supposedly “don’t belong here.” Ethnic Studies helps teach students the sources of this racism and promotes racial empathy and solidarity. Consider enrolling in an Ethnic Studies course here at SBCC.

  • Support local Asian-owned businesses

These suggested actions are from Stop AAPI Hate. Learn more at https://stopaapihate.org/

As members of our college and local and national community, it’s on all of us to learn more about our histories and to intercede in racism in all its manifestations.

On behalf of Educational Programs,

Pamela Ralston