Together Let's Stop This Epidemic of Hatred
We, the ALLICE Kumares and Kumpares, condemn all forms abuse, particularly those against the vulnerable. Race-motivated attacks are crimes against an entire population.
Hate crimes are malevolent – a most heinous form of abuse that often is born out of
ignorance.
We grieve with the families of the people killed in the March 18 massacre in Atlanta, Ga.
We mourn the deaths of Vicha Ratanapakdee of San Francisco and Pak Ho in Oakland,
who died from injuries sustained recently after being hurled savagely to the ground by
strangers while on their morning walk.
We empathize with the Noel Quintana who was slashed across the face on the subway
in February in New York; Xiao Zhen Xie who was punched in the face while waiting to
cross a street March 17 in San Francisco, and the Orosa family harassed for their
ethnicity by a tech CEO while celebrating last year in a Carmel restaurant. They and
almost 4,000 people recorded by Asian American advocacy organizations in this last
year alone are the lucky ones who have survived mounting hatred for Asians but will be
scarred forever in every way by their experience.
Anti-Asian sentiment is not new and in fact historically documented. The Chinese
Exclusion Act of 1882 signed by President Chester Arthur and the internment of
Japanese Americans in 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt are just two of the
shameful acts of racism perpetrated by the United States.
We who know Filipino American history will always remember Fermin Tobera, who was
shot to death while asleep in his bunk during raid against Filipino farm workers in the
infamous 1930 Watsonville race riots. We cannot forget USPS worker Joseph Ileto,
who in 1999 was on his way to deliver mail in Southern California when an avowed
white supremacist stopped and shot him dead point blank.
Our physical features distinguish us from fellow Americans whose ancestry is traced to
Europe. And last year the previous president began branding Covid19 with obvious
Chinese references, essentially placing a bull's eye on our backs, for which he and his
followers show no regret to this day.
We Filipinos are proud of who we are and Asian is also what we are. We stand with all
communities targeted because of our race.
We Asians are Americans, we have the right to a life free from fear of violence.
Our community is our responsibility. Let’s educate ourselves to understand that we
have more in common than not.
We demand a stop to the use of racist language in reference to the pandemic,
especially by people in power.
We demand accountability from authorities who should recognize and prosecute hate
crimes to deter these from recurring.
If we are to win over race hatred, we must speak up and report incidences and
encourage others to do the same. We cannot minimize the attacks and think we are
safe: We are all vulnerable by virtue of our race.
If we see it, let's call it out.
Let’s protect each other instead of building walls around each other. Let’s stop this
epidemic of hatred and abuse that is racism.
We commend Mayor Juslyn Manalo and the City of Daly City for hosting the March 20
gathering for solidarity for which we laud Filipino Mental Health Initiative, the Filipino
American Democratic Club of San Mateo County, the Asian Pacific Islander American
Public Affairs and the Pilipino Bayanihan Resource Center for co-sponsoring with us.