Dear campus community,
Once again we come together as a campus community to offer condolences for those in pain and fear after yet another tragic set of circumstances in our country. Once again, we respond with horror and dismay at this attack – this time the murder of eight people in the Atlanta area, six of whom are Asian American women. And once again, we reach out to acknowledge a dreadful act against people who did nothing to deserve the wrath of prejudice and hate. When will this end?
This tragedy occurs as reports of increasing acts of hate and harassment inflicted on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States are on the rise[1]. Physical aggression, name-calling, shunning and avoidance have become more prevalent with the onset of the pandemic. And here we are in the midst of this crisis, piecing together the details and motivations of another senseless act. The Atlanta shootings, whether spurred by race, gender or some other motivation sends a chill through our nation’s Asian American communities, leading all of us to question, who’s next? Will we ever feel safe and secure again in our cities, neighborhoods, and homes?
In the case of this week’s shootings, the confessed perpetrator is a troubled individual who is the age of many of our students. An age when individuals can have the opportunity to form opinions based on critical thinking and exposure to diversity of ideas and perspectives – not lashing out at people who happen to share a certain race or gender or cause. This tragic act and its circumstances should remind us all that as members of a higher education institution that prides itself on using the power of knowledge to change our lives and our world for the better, we have a responsibility to not only educate ourselves about the historical and on-going issues of racism and prejudice, but also to act to change this lived reality of people both known and unknown to us.
We also must come together as a campus community to articulate that such acts are intolerable and that as a community we must embrace our diversity rather than subscribe to casting blame, scapegoating or making assumptions about the targeted groups. With each one of these tragic events, we must strengthen our resolve, not to ask, “who’s next?,” but rather, “how can I make a positive difference?”
We can begin by acknowledging our human connections, and fully appreciate that when one of us hurts, we all hurt. As Dr. Martin Luther King wrote in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” Take this moment and truly see each other and the value that we all bring to our community though our differences. Nurture the great work that we do to have a positive impact on the lives of the people around us and the futures of our students.
[1] Stop AAPI Hate: New Data on Anti-Asian Hate Incidents Against Elderly and Total National Incidents in 2020.
Warm regards,
Robbyn R. Wacker
President
St. Cloud State University