{Note: We circulated our original statement for signatures the afternoon of March 16th. That evening, a white man murdered eight women, six of whom were Asian, in Atlanta-area spas. On March 18th, we edited the statement to reflect those incidents, and we added links to the statement by the Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies program at UCSD.}

The Executive Committee of the UC San Diego, Critical Gender Studies Program stands in solidarity with Asian peoples across the United States and beyond as we condemn the recent incidents of anti-Asian violence that have happened nationally and in California. We understand these events to be enabled by racist rhetoric tying the circulation of the novel coronavirus to ethno-racial or geographic categories, spurred on by the previous presidential administration and echoed by other public figures across the country. We write to express our care and love for our students, for our staff, for all members of our CGS community in the face of these spectacles of anti-Asian and white supremacist culture.

We also acknowledge that these recent violent incidents, while particularly American, are also part of larger, transnational forms of white supremacy, colonialism, and denigration of Asian peoples. In particular, we understand the shootings in Atlanta to be tied to the stigmatization and criminalization of sex work, which is itself set in transnational colonial contexts. We also stand against the call for greater use of punitive hate-crime legislation in response to these acts of violence; we understand the current criminal legal system as an institution perpetuating racial and sexual violence and tied to forms of violent white masculinity that are part of the context of the shootings in Atlanta. Instead, we stand with organizations working for anti-carceral, transformative approaches to addressing and preventing violence and harm.

We know that these particularly visible manifestations of anti-Asian violence are also replicated in the day-to-day lives of Asian members of our community on and off our campus. These forms of violence are built upon a deep historical devaluation of Asian people in this country and in forms that circulate globally; they also compound with strategies that seek to divide Asian, Black, Indigenous, and people of color from each other in the service of maintaining white supremacy. We reject any narratives that leverage the recent anti-Asian violence to pit Black and Asian peoples against each other; we understand that our work to address anti-Asian racism is inextricably linked to fighting anti-Black racism in our workplaces and communities.

We recommit ourselves to continuing to challenge our program and this university to step up to the fight against anti-Asian violence and structures of white supremacy generally, and to work in solidarity with others committed to this shared cause. We underline our support for the new Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies Program at UC San Diego, and add our voices to their call for a conversation at UCSD to develop concrete measures to address anti-Asian violence in all forms:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQsOEUYbu60dhTl3Ty4NoqJ9vgtlv11pye3diqi-dvhwMWIUaGM9naxJ4Rpzekmd1Z2fmGor3ZXb6lT/pub

The health and wellbeing of all of our students -- and particularly our Asian students, Black students, Indigenous students, students of color, queer and trans students -- remains our most important commitment. Students and members of our community, we stand with you. We encourage you to reach out to us for support as you need it, and encourage all of us to continue caring for each other collectively in the face of continuing white supremacist violence.

In strength, solidarity, and love,

Joseph Hankins
Interim Director of Critical Gender Studies
Associate Professor of Anthropology

Sarah Hankins
Associate Director of Critical Gender Studies
Assistant Professor of Music

Roy Pérez
Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies and Critical Gender Studies

Saiba Varma
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Wendy Matsumura
Associate Professor of History

Sara Clarke Kaplan
Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies and Critical Gender Studies

Hanna Garth
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Maribel Gomez
Assistant Director for Education, LGBT Resource Center

Sal Nicolazzo
Assistant Professor of Literature

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1. Joje Reyes-Alonzo, Staff, CGS Program Coordinator & Academic Advisor
2. Youngoh Young, Graduate student
3. Amy Vatne Bintliff, Faculty/Instructor, Education Studies
4. Sriya Podila, Alumnx
5. Sally Guan, Undergraduate student
6. Asa Mendelsohn, Faculty/Instructor, Critical Gender Studies
7. Amy Cimini, Assistant Professor, Music
8. Amy Sara Carroll, Faculty/Instructor, Literature
9. Kianna Middleton, Faculty/Instructor, Ethnic Studies
10. BT Werner, Faculty/Instructor, SIO
11. Steven Beardsley, Graduate student, Literature
12. Janna Dickenson, Faculty/Instructor
13. Fabiola Carranza, Graduate student, Visual Arts-Art Practice
14. Cynthia Maria Truant, Emerita Faculty/Instructor, History
15. Christen Sasaki, Faculty/Instructor, Ethnic Studies
16. Adriana Echeverria, Graduate student, Ethnic Studies
17. Nicole Isagholian, Undergraduate student, Sociology
18. Ross Frank, Faculty/Instructor, Ethnic Studies
19. Simeon Man, Faculty/Instructor, History
20. Sarang Kim, Graduate student, Education Studies
21. Rachel Fox, Graduate student, Communication
22. Riley Taitingfong, Graduate student, Communication
23. Patrick Anderson, Faculty/Instructor, Communication, Ethnic Studies, & Critical Gender Studies
24. Caroline Collins, Postdoctoral Fellow and Alumnx, Communication
25. Lisa Cartwright, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
26. Veronica Uribe A., Graduate student, Communication
27. E.R. Cho, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
28. Joe Riley, Graduate student, Visual Arts
29. Nilo Goldfarb, Community member
30. Brie Iatarola, Faculty/Instructor, Communication & Environmental Studies
31. Memo Akten, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
32. Ricardo Dominguez, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts & CALIT2/QI
33. Amy Adler, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
34. Elana Zilberg, Faculty/Instructor, Communication
35. Grace Grothaus, Graduate student, Visual Arts
36. Jordan Crandall, Professor of Visual Arts
37. Danielle Dean, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
38. Alexander L. Fattal, Faculty/Instructor, Communication
39. Alexis Hudgins, Graduate student, Visual Arts
40. Janelle Iglesias, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
41. Boatema Boateng, Faculty/Instructor, Communication
42. Michael Trigilio, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
43. Wren Gardiner, Graduate student, Visual Arts
44. Kirstyn Hom, Graduate student, Visual Arts
45. Thomas Conner,  Graduate student, Communication & Science Studies
46. Hande Sever, Graduate student, Visual Arts
47. Marianna Hovhannisyan, Graduate student, Visual Arts
48. Kyong Park, Professor of Visual Arts
49. Monique van Genderen, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
50. Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
51. Grant Kester, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
52. Amy Alexander, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
53. Mika Castañeda, Graduate student, Visual Arts
54. Wren Gardiner, Graduate student, Visual Arts
55. Maia Nichols, Graduate student, Visual Arts
56. Erika Barbosa, Graduate student, Visual Arts
57. Anya Gallaccio, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
58. John C. Welchman, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts
59. Jalondra A. Davis, Staff, Ethnic Studies
60. Alena Williams, Faculty/Instructor, Visual Arts & CGS Affiliate
61. Luís Martin-Cabrera, Faculty/Instructor, Literature & Latin American Studies
62. Robert Frederick, Undergraduate student, Critical Gender Studies
63. Emily Roxworthy, Faculty/Instructor, Theatre & Dance
64. Leila Whitley, Faculty/Instructor, Critical Gender Studies
65. Alanna Aiko Moore, Ethnic Studies, Critical Gender Studies & Sociology Librarian, UC San Diego Library
66. Gus Hong Meuschke , Graduate student, Ethnic Studies
67. Keva X. Bui, Graduate student, Ethnic Studies
68. M. Leslie Santana, Faculty/Instructor, Music
69. Carol Arcos Herrera, Faculty/Instructor, Literature & Latin American Studies
70. Ruby Osoria, Graduate student, Education Studies
71. Cami Kittredge, Undergraduate student, Literature-Writing major
72. Cameron Wang, Undergraduate student, Earth Sciences - Scripps Institute of Oceanography
73. Hoang Tan Nguyen, Faculty/Instructor, Literature
74. Naomi Guzman, Undergraduate student, Psychology
75. Yi Liu, Graduate student, Visual Arts
76. Jesse Marchese, Graduate student, Theatre & Dance
77. Ningning, Graduate student, Literature
78. Kara Raphaeli, Faculty/Instructor, Critical Gender Studies
79. Yaprak Damla Yıldırım, Graduate student, Literature
80. Vanessa S. Na, Graduate Student, Education Studies
81. Amy Wang, Graduate student, Education Studies
82. Persephone Hooper Lewis, Graduate student, Education Studies
83. Monica Molgaard, Graduate student, Education Studies
84. Nicoletta Vangelisti, Graduate student, Communication
85. Tarang T, Graduate student, Education Studies
86. Lisa Matsukata, Graduate student, Education Studies
87. Jessica Graham, Faculty/Instructor, History
88. Eddie Castro, Undergraduate student, Communication & Critical Gender Studies
89. Reem Taşyakan, Graduate student, Literature
90. Nima Rassooli, Graduate student, Literature
91. Jessica Miguel, Graduate student, Education Studies
92. Catherine Evarkiou, Graduate student, Literature
93. Julia Moncur, Graduate student, Creative Writing
94. Jess Silbaugh-Cowdin, Graduate student, Literature
95. Wentao Ma, Graduate student, Literature
96. Katie Walkiewicz, Faculty/Instructor, Literature
97. Hyesong Lim, Graduate student, History
98. Trung T. Le, Graduate student, Literature
99. Alexis Meza, Graduate student, History
100. Becca Rae Rose, Graduate student, Literature
101. Zachary Hayes, Graduate student, Literature
102. Dingding Wang, Graduate student, Literature
103. Siloh Radovsky, Graduate student, MFA in Writing
104. Taylor Chapin, Graduate student, Visual Arts
105. Kaito Kikuchi, Graduate student, Biological Sciences
106. Leona Vo, Undergraduate student, Management Science
107. Charlene Le, Undergraduate student, Psychology
108. Melisa S.L. Casumbal-Salazar, Graduate student, Literature - Creative Writing