Carolina Asia Center Statement

The Carolina Asia Center strongly condemns all forms of racial discrimination, hatred, bigotry, and violence. We are gravely concerned about the recent spikes in anti-Asian violence and hate crimes for the past year, particularly the tragic incident that happened in Georgia on March 16, 2021. We express our sincere condolences to the victims’ families and friends and extend our support for them. The Carolina Asia Center urges all our fellow Americans to resist against the forces that try to repeat the historical legacy of scapegoating Asian Americans for social, economic, political and even public health crises. As an organization committed to promote exchanges between the U.S. and Asia and to improve education and research on Asia and the Asian diaspora, we reiterate our commitment to supporting and upholding dignity for all Asian and Asian American students, faculty, staff, and community members, and building unity with supporters of racial justice on UNC’s campus and beyond.

Here are some resources that may be useful:

If you or someone you know is in danger, please call the police (emergencies: 911; Chapel Hill police: 919-968-2760; UNC Campus police: 919-962-8100). The UNC Asian American Center has identified resources on this page that can provide mental health support at this difficult time or help with reporting hate crimes or acts of discrimination.

To educate yourself about anti-Asian bias and how it has manifested over recent centuries and re-emerged in the past year, and to think about strategies of solidarity, you can follow the programming of the Carolina Asia Center and Asian American Center at UNC. In particular, it might be useful to re-visit our March 2020 seminar on “Yellow Peril and Anti-Asian Prejudice in the Shadow of Coronavirus” (see the video at this link), or to join our upcoming event in the series “Anti-Blackness and Alliance” on March 31.

Many other individuals and units of UNC have also spoken out about recent anti-Asian violence. The CAC is particularly thankful that the Chancellor sent out a message in March, and we stand in solidarity with the sentiments expressed by the Asian American Center and the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.