The Language and Social Justice committee of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology (SLA) condemns all violent attacks and discrimination against Asian Americans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders. We stand in solidarity with the AAPI community and anti-racist activists who are now protesting in the wake of the Atlanta shootings on March 16th 2021, which killed eight people, including six Asian American women. These killings represent the most recent and visible attacks against the Asian American community, who have been increasingly targeted for physical violence and harassment in the past year.
As a group that aims to combat the ways in which language serves racial violence and white supremacy, we decry the racist rhetoric that blames Chinese people for the spread of Covid-19. It is no coincidence that physical attacks have grown in tandem with this sort of discursive violence. The shootings underscore that words have material consequences: people of color have paid for politicians’ racist language with their bodies.
The LSJ commits itself to speaking out against racist rhetoric and centering the experiences of marginalized communities towards a just and equitable society