Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice (CCNC-SJ) and Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (CSALC) issued a statement to denounce 'the racist and misogynist massacre against Asian American women' in the mass shootings in Atlanta, Georgia:
“We are appalled and disheartened by the massacre in Atlanta. Our hearts go out to the victims and the Asian American communities. Asian Canadian women have also been specifically targeted by unrelenting racist and misogynist attacks during the pandemic across Canada. This horrific massacre in Atlanta is not at all outside the realm of possibilities in Canada, as Asian Canadian women have been subjected to the same sexualization and objectification in popular culture,” said Amy Go, President, Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice. “The lack of courage and empathy of our political leaders to denounce and to take action to combat racism and misogyny turns us into sitting ducks waiting for the next hunt,” added Amy Go.
We stand in solidarity with Asian American and Asian Canadian women who are experiencing gender-based violence and other threats to their lives and well-being on a daily basis because of their race or other vulnerable status,” said Avvy Go, Clinic Director, CSALC. “Before we blame these senseless deaths on the gun culture in the U.S., let’s not forget that many racialized women in Canada, especially those with precarious immigration status, are victims of a legal and political system that undervalues their worth, denies them equal protection and perpetuates violence by keeping them trapped in vulnerable positions,” said Avvy Go.
The real tragedy of the Atlanta shootings is that no one should be surprised by what happened. Anti-Asian racism has been burning like wildfire across North America over the past year. Violence is a sad but expected outcome when Asians or other racialized people are dehumanized or treated as the “other” or as perpetual foreigners. This risk expands with each intersection of racism with other forms of discrimination, such as misogyny, as in this tragedy in Atlanta. There has been no substantive response from our political leaders to address these issues.
CCNC-SJ and CSALC call on all Canadians to reach out to political leaders at all levels to denounce racist attacks against Asian Canadians, and to put in place concrete actions with real resource commitments to stop racism of all forms in Canada. ” |