In Support of the AAPI Community

To our Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) students, mentors, community members, and allies:

 

Hey Mentor is heartbroken and outraged to see the alarming pattern of increased hate and violence targeting the AAPI community in the United States. Our current global health crisis continues to shed light on how systemic racism is impacting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in fundamentally destructive ways.

 

On March 16th, a gunman in Atlanta, Georgia took the lives of eight individuals, including six Asian women. These people each had names, stories, and dreams; they are not just numbers and statistics. We offer our prayers and deepest condolences to all affected by this tragedy. 

 

However, we cannot say that this event comes as a complete surprise. Amidst the pandemic, Stop AAPI Hate has reported 3,975 hate incidents against Asian Americans. Since America’s beginnings, Asian Americans have been labeled as “perpetual foreigners” and subject to discrimination, racism, and xenophobia. The scapegoating of the AAPI community as responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic is just another example of the harmful rhetoric that has been weaponized and normalized. Hey Mentor acknowledges the deep and often painful histories of the AAPI community—and strives to amplify a diverse collection of narratives, not a monolithic, generalized experience.

 

To our AAPI students and mentors—we see you, we hear you, and we stand with you. Hey Mentor, since its inception, has been proud to be led by executive leadership that identify as Asian-American. Furthermore, it has always been our distinct privilege to serve students who share similar backgrounds as ourselves, finding common ground in our cultures, traditions, and upbringings. Many of you write about your struggles and journeys to self-acceptance of your identities as AAPI, and we are grateful that you choose to share your stories with us. We take immense pride in being a part of each of your futures, and the trails you will blaze to get there.

 

Hey Mentor stands in solidarity with our AAPI students, the AAPI community, and the greater population of those who identify as BIPOC. This past spring, we stood in solidarity and continue to, with our Black community and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Now, almost a year later, we stand in solidarity with our AAPI community given the recent racism and violence against Asian-Americans. We must be steadfast in our commitment to racial equity and acknowledge the shared collective trauma that is currently happening and has occurred historically. Anti-Asian hate is not mutually exclusive to other forms of discrimination in the United States; as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Every intersection of the greater BIPOC community must work together, amplifying each other and standing in unity, as we work towards collective healing, action, and liberation.

 

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In Solidarity, 

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The Leadership Team,

Hey Mentor,

Kim Anh Tran, Executive Director