BLM! An Open Letter from Asian Pacific Islander American Education Leaders.

Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Dreasjon “Sean” Reed, David McAtee, Tony McDade, and so many others. We say their names. We stand in solidarity. We demand justice. We honor the members of the Black community who have been robbed of life, as well as the living who are fighting to breathe today.

We stand united as a group of Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA*) education leaders committed to learning and working in solidarity with other marginalized groups and anti-racist communities. We must fight against white supremacy and disrupt acts of racism — in public education and indeed in our own communities.

Black communities are exhausted, heartbroken, and outraged from police brutality, the disproportionate harm of COVID-19, and 400 years of institutionalized racism that systemically plays out in every facet of our society. We believe that now and moving forward, we need to center Black voices, and none of us can be silent or complicit. We will act against anti-Blackness everywhere as part of the collective struggle for life and liberation. We commit to rising up in solidarity with Black people towards justice in our country — even when, and especially when, it is uncomfortable. Black lives matter.

As a community of APIA educators, it is essential for us to acknowledge that while education can create a path to liberation, it has also been used as a tool of oppression to create a wedge between the APIA and other marginalized communities — by white society and by and within our own diverse community.

For far too long, we have internalized the trauma of our long histories of being subjected to white supremacy (both in the United States and through the colonialist past in Asia and the Pacific Islands). Further, we have benefitted from the gains won by the Black community and others who have come before us. Healing can occur when we stand in solidarity with other communities of color, and especially the Black community, whose oppression in the United States of America, alongside the treatment of Indigenous communities, is our original sin as a nation. As Americans, we all continue to suffer from this legacy today.

To address this, we will guide and support young people in our classrooms and homes to be brave and resilient champions for equity and justice, working across lines of difference. We will say to our children, be proud of our Asian and Pacific Islander history and heritage. Our ancestors leave a legacy for us to build upon. Learn our stories and history, see our collective struggles and solidarity with other communities of color. Learn about Yuri Kochiyama, who joined Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity and held him as he died. Learn of Larry Itliong, who partnered with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to organize the California grape strike. Continue the work to stand up for what is right and just.

We all have a shared responsibility to build a racially just America. We will continue to raise our own awareness of ways in which we have perpetuated anti-Blackness; we will act courageously within the APIA community as anti-racists; and most of all, we will stand in solidarity with our Black friends and colleagues and listen, using our voices and our power to advance the cause of justice.

To the elders who have fought these battles before us in building the civil rights and Asian American movements, we thank you and we honor you. We commit to building on your legacy of standing hand in hand with other communities of color and advancing the path you have blazed.

As education leaders, we must work together to ensure that schools are places of safety, inclusion, joy, excellence, and learning for our Black and other marginalized students. Our goal is to leverage our power and privilege as leaders to dismantle white supremacy culture and disrupt systemic racism in our own communities and in public education. We hold the responsibility to confront and combat racism and anti-Blackness in all facets of our personal and professional lives.

As Grace Lee Boggs stated, “You cannot change any society unless you take responsibility for it, unless you see yourself as belonging to it and responsible for changing it.”

We take responsibility. We claim our belonging. We are committed to driving change. And we invite you to join us.

May true and lasting justice prevail.

In Solidarity,

Sehba Ali • Mala Batra • Komal Bhasin • Sujata Bhatt • Leilani Carbonell • Eric Chan • Tommy Chang • Joseph Chang • Derrick Chau • Linda Chen • Tiffany Cheng Nyaggah • April Chou • Priya Chordia • Leona Christy • Wayee Chu • Cliff W. Chuang • Indira Dammu • Alvin David • Christina DeJesus • Christine DeLeon • Kriste Dragon • Krupa Desai • Chong-Hao Fu • Riyaz Gayasaddin • Sandra Jin • Donald Kamentz • Hanseul Kang • Indrina Dalal Kanth • Marie Kawase Huxley • Kimi Kean • Peter T. Keo • Melissa M. Kim • Chi Kim • Emily A. Kim • Phil Kim • Albert Kim • Miho Kubagawa • Kai Kung • Tung Le • Deborah Lee • Vivian Lee • Gloria Lee • Nancy Lue • Sonya Mehta • Serena Moy • Andrew Murphy • Thuan Nguyen • Sue Park • Sonia C. Park • Roy Quinto • Suraj Patel • Ron Rapatalo • Jana L Reed • Jon Rybka • Shruti Sehra • Oliver Sicat • Shalinee Sharma • Aneesh Sohoni • Rhonnel Sotelo • John Sun • Jessica J Tang • Kimberly Tang • Hae-Sin Thomas • Doua Thor • Heather Tow-Yick • Doannie Tran • Gia Truong • Hoa Truong • Sangeeta Tyagi • Vallay Moua Varro • Tommy Welch • Rhea Wong • Melissa Wu