Statement of Solidarity Against Anti-Asian Violence

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Statement of Solidarity Against Anti-Asian Violence

We are stunned by the anti-Asian mass shootings in Atlanta and Acworth on March 16, 2021. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families who have suffered from this senseless act. Eight innocent lives were brutally taken away by a gunman, six of them women of Asian descent. The names of the victims have been removed until we have full consent from the families to add them. This is not an isolated incident and comes out of the current-day repetition of long-standing racist sentiments targeting various minority communities fueled by political rhetoric. Since March 2020, the former U.S. president and his allies have relentlessly scapegoated people of Asian descent especially Chinese and Chinese Americans under the pandemic, triggering a staggering spike in reported incidents. This current trend shows how racism and xenophobia have been used to justify racist sentiments and actions against people of Asian descent. Such aggressions are not new and are embedded in a long history of racial violence targeting Asians, Asian-Americans and other vulnerable minorities in the United States.

We issue this statement in solidarity with the firm belief that any form of racial discrimination, hatred, bigotry, and violence against any community is an attack on all of us. We stand together to call for solidarity and support across our various communities. We urge everyone to call out racism and violence when you see it in any community, reach out to one another in support and care. In our divided climate, communities are often pitted against one another. We urge everyone to reject any calculus that assumes a hierarchy of human value by race.

We strongly condemn racism and hate toward all people, and we stand in solidarity with those who are being viciously targeted today. We advocate for a critical understanding of how ideas about race and racial difference take shape over time with the larger goal of exposing and dismantling such racist beliefs and attacks against various minoritized groups. As a community of educators, we pledge to continue to teach the histories and legacies of race and racism and speak out against them.

Duke’s Office for Institutional Equity is one local resource for assistance and reporting for those who have experienced discrimination or harassment based upon race, national origin or other protected categories of identity, at 919-684-8222, or oie-help@duke.edu. STOP AAPI HATE and Asian Americans Advancing Justice are national reporting sites. Other resources are available at our partner organization NCAAT. AADS will continue to update our Duke site and our WordPress program site with local and national resources for addressing these concerns. Please share these and other available resources to help those who have been the target of inflammatory racist rhetoric and violence.


In Solidarity,

Nayoung Aimee Kwon (Director, Asian American & Diaspora Studies, Duke)

Mona Hassan (Convener, Islamic Studies Doctoral Program, Duke)

Laura S. Lieber (Director, Center for Jewish Studies, Duke)

Robin Kirk, co-director, Duke Human Rights Center @ the Franklin Humanities Institute

Erika Weinthal, co-director, Duke Human Rights Center @ the Franklin Humanities Institute

Aarthi Vadde, Associate Professor of English, Duke

Joshua Salaam (Director, Center for Muslim Life, Duke) 

Prasenjit Duara (Director, Global Asia Initiative)

Ellen McLarney (Director, Duke Middle East Studies Center; Interim Director, Duke Islamic Studies Center)

Ryan Ku (Postdoctoral Associate, Program in Asian American and Diaspora Studies and Department of English, Duke)

Charmaine DM Royal (Director, Duke Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation)

Giovanni Zanalda (Director, Duke Center for International and Global Studies)

Claudia Milian (Director, Program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South)

Naomi Nelson (Director, Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Ji-Yeon Jo, Director, Carolina Asia Center, UNC-Chapel Hill

Quinton Smith (Interim Director, Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture)

Linda Capers (Director, Center for Multicultural Affairs)

Caroline Robinson (Assistant Teaching Professor of Arabic, UNC Chapel Hill.) 

Esther Kim Lee (Professor, Theater Studies, Duke University)

Li-Chen Chin (Assistant Vice President, Intercultural Programs)

Shruti Desai (Associate Vice President of Student Affairs for Campus Life)

J’nai Adams (Associate Director, Center for Multicultural Affairs)

Dwayne Dixon (Teaching Assistant Professor, Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, UNC-CH)

Elmer Orellana (Assistant Director, Center for Multicultural Affairs) 

Pamela Lothspeich (Associate Professor, Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, UNC-CH)

Joyce Gordon (Director,  Jewish Life at Duke)

Morgan Pitelka (Chair, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill)

Luoyi Cai (Teaching Assistant Professor, Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, UNC-CH)

Lisa Giragosian

Lena Wegner (Assistant Director for External Relations, Jewish Life at Duke)

Paige Vinson (Assistant Director, International House, Duke)

Nick Antonicci (Director, Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity)

Angel Collie (Assistant Director, Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity)

Christina Chia (Associate Director, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University)

Elana Friedman (Campus Rabbi, Jewish Life at Duke)

I Jonathan Kief (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, UNC-CH)

Ana Vinea (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, UNC-CH)

Krystal George (Interim Director, Women’s Center)

Tuania Wright (Women’s Center)

Sheila Broderick, (Duke University Women’s Center Office of Gender Violence Intervention)

Anne-Maria Makhulu (Associate Professor, Dept of Cultural Anthropology and African & African American Studies, Duke University)

Frances S. Hasso (Associate Professor, Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, History, and Sociology, Duke University)

Christine Folch (Assistant Professor, Dept of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University)

Ralph Litzinger (Associate Professor, Dept of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University)

Orin Starn (Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology)

Louise Meintjes (Chair, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Professor of Music and Cultural Anthropology)

Anne Allison (Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University)

Charlie Piot (Professor, Departments of Cultural Anthropology and AAAS, Duke University)

Mengqi Wang (Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Social Science Division, Duke Kunshan University)

Diane Nelson (Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University)

Stephen Jaffe (Professor & Director of Graduate Studies, Dept. of  Music, Duke University)

Jonathan Bagg (Chair, Department of Music, Professor of the Practice)

Nellie Chu (Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Division of Social Sciences, Duke Kunshan University) 

Charlie D. Thompson, Jr  (Professor of the Practice of Cultural Anthropology and Documentary Studies)

Daniel Yi Xu (Professor, Department of Economics, Duke University)

Yan Liu (Assistant Professor of the Practice, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)

Omid Safi (Professor, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)

Zairong Xiang (Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, Associate Director of Art, DUke Kunshan University) 

Eli Sperling (Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Center for Jewish Studies, Duke University)

Edmund J. Malesky (Director of Duke Center for International Development, Professor of Political Science, Duke University)

Harris Solomon (Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Global Health, Duke University)

Don Taylor (Director, Social Science Research Institute, Duke University)

Shai Ginsburg (Chair, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)

Yun Emily Wang (Assistant Professor, Department of Music, Duke University)

Anna Sun (Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Duke University)

Sarah Town (Lecturing Fellow, Thompson Writing Program, Duke University)

John Supko (Associate Professor, Department of Music, Duke University)

Erdağ Göknar (Associate Professor, Asian & Middle East Studies, Duke University)

Emily Stewart (Assistant Director, Duke Human Rights Center @ the Franklin Humanities Institute) 

Leslie Maxwell (Lecturing Fellow, Thompson Writing Program, Duke University)

Dongsoo Bang (Teaching Associate Professor, Dept. of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, UNC-CH)

Kerry Ossi-Lupo (Lecturing Fellow, Thompson Writing Program, Duke University)

Susan Thananopavarn (Lecturing Fellow, Thompson Writing Program, Duke University)

Melissa Neeley (John Hope Franklin Center, Duke University)

Mohsen Kadivar (Research Professor, Department of Religious studies, Duke University)

Ciara Healy (librarian for Psychology & Neuroscience, mathematics and Physics)

QuiAnne’ Holmes (Student Development Coordinator for Overall Wellness at DuWell, Duke University)

Mary Fulkerson (Duke Divinity School, Professor emerita of Theology)

Hae-Young Kim (Professor of the Practice, Dept of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University) 

Mbaye Lo | Asian and Middle Eastern Studies & International Comparative Studies, Duke University.

Justin Sharpe (Duke Student Wellness Center, Duke University)

Mark Olson, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Duke University

Changxin Wan (Program of Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, Duke University)

Yunchuan Chen (Assistant Professor of the Practice, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)

Luciana Parisi (Professor, Literature, Duke University)

Rene Caputo (ESL Specialist, Thompson Writing Program, Duke University)

Pedro Lasch (FHI Social Practice Lab Director, Research Professor AAHVS, Duke University)

Giovanna Merli (Director, Duke Population Research Institute)

Paul Jaskot (Professor, AAHVS, Duke University)

Haleema Welji (Lecturing Fellow, Thompson Writing Program, Duke University)

Nancy Kalow (Lecturing Fellow, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University)

Amir Rezvani, PH.D. (Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences)

Raquel Salvatella de Prada (Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Duke University)

Ranjana Khanna (Director, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute; Professor, English, Literature, GSF)

Adam Rosenblatt (Associate Professor of the Practice, International Comparative Studies)

Richard M. Jaffe (Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute)

Wesley Hogan (Director, Center for Documentary Studies; Research Professor, Franklin Humanities Institute + History)

Karin Shapiro (Associate Professor of the Practice, African & African American Studies)

Priscilla Wald (Professor of English and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies)

Simon Partner (Professor of History)

Carolyn Kun-Shan Lee (Professor of the Practice, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)

Sarah Deutsch (Professor of History)

Lindsey Miller Furiness (Duke Civic Engagement, Office of Durham and Community Affairs)

William Carroll (Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)

Abdeslam Maghraoui (Associate Professor of Practice, Political Science Department)

Nancy MacLeab (Professor of History and Public Policy)

Tsitsi Jaji (Associate Professor of English and African & African American Studies)

John Jeffries Martin (Professor of History, Duke University)

Sumathi Ramaswamy (Professor of History, Duke University)

Saskia Cornes (Program Director, Duke Campus Farm and Assistant Professor of the Practice at the Franklin Humanities Institute)

Sarah Baker (Assistant Professor of the Practice, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)

Catherine Admay (Senior Lecturer, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University)

Charlotte Sussman (Professor, Department of English, Duke University)

Ashley Poole (Assistant Director of Clinical Education, Doctor of Physical Therapy Division, Duke University)

Michelle Webb (Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Duke University)

Jessica Namakkal (Assistant Professor of the Practice, ICS, Duke University)

Thomas Robisheaux (Professor of History, Duke University) 

James Chappel (Assistant Professor of History, Duke University)

Jarvis C. McInnis (Assistant Professor of English, Duke University)

Renate Kwon (Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, Duke University)

Maha Houssami (Arabic Lecturer, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University) 

Eunyoung Kim (Korean Lecturer, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)

Cecilia Marquez (Assistant Professor of History, Duke University)

Augustus E. Wendell (Assistant Professor of the Practice, Art, Art History and Visual Studies, Duke University)

Mesha Maren (Assistant Professor of the Practice, Department of English, Duke University)

Shelley Stonecipher (Associate Director, DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy)

Annise Weaver (Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Duke University-Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences) 

Evan Hepler-Smith (Assistant Professor of History, Duke University)

Naoko Kurokawa(Senior Lecturer, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University)

Kusum Knapczyk (Hindi Lecturer, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University) 

Ling Jin (International House, Duke University)

Nicholas Stoia (Assistant Professor of Music)

Susan Gallagher (Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, Duke University School of Medicine)

Amy McDonald (Assistant University Archivist, Duke University Archives)

Hai (Helen) Li (Clare Boothe Luce Professor, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University)

Rob Mitchell (Professor and Chair, Department of English)

Sangwoo Kim (Senior Director of the Methodist House of Studies; Co-director of the Asian  House of Studies, Duke Divinity School)

Jung Choi (Senior Director of the Wesleyan Formation Initiatives; Co-Director of the Asian House of Studies, Duke Divinity School)

Laceye Warner, Associate Dean for Wesleyan Engagement, Duke Divinity School

Marianna Torgovnick, Professor of English, Duke University

Nancy Armstrong (Gilbert, Lewis and Edward Lehrman Professor of Trinity College)

Lynn Labuda (Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences)

Jennifer Lawson (Clinical Associate, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty Associate of the Trent   Center for Bioethics, Humanities and History of Medicine, Associate, Duke Initiative for Science and Society)

Sneha Mantri (Assistant Professor of Neurology, Director of Medical Humanities)

Kevin Johnson (Accounting Specialist/Grant Administrator, DUCIGS)

Jillian Sinelli-Murphy (Duke Master in Interdisciplinary Data Science program)

William Pan (Associate Professor of Global Environmental Health, Nicholas School of Environment & Duke Global Health Institute)

Landy Elliott (Assistant Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education - Strategy and Communications)

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