EBRC Statement of Solidarity with Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders
Over the past year, we have seen an alarming surge of racism and violence against Asians and Asian Americans. EBRC joins the voices across the United States condemning the vile, racist acts in Georgia that took the lives of Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, and Daoyou Feng. These individuals, six of whom were women, were the targets of the misogyny and racial hatred that we must confront head-on.
The escalation of acts against Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders is the latest in a disturbing series of events we’ve seen over the past months. As we all have fewer personal interactions than we did a year ago, it is evermore important to commit to intervene in the face of bigotry and xenophobia. We stand with our Asian and Asian American family members, friends, and colleagues. Acts of violence targeted against any group weaken us as a community, weaken us as a nation, and weaken the world as a whole.
As EBRC speaks out to condemn these acts, we restate that diversity, inclusion, equality, and justice are among our core values. We seek to solve national and global challenges through engineering biology; that will only be possible by celebrating and protecting the diversity of our community that enables globally engaged research. Last summer, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, EBRC launched an effort to take action to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in our field. Today, we commit to redouble our efforts and bring necessary anti-racism and anti-discrimination tools to our community to combat these injustices directly.
