Cosumnes River College Response Against Anti-Asian Violence and Hate

We are devastated and heartbroken from the horrific tragedy and deadly violence that killed eight people, including six Asian women in Georgia on March 16. Our heartfelt and deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones. We hold you in strength and light.

We strongly denounce the escalating and growing anti-Asian hate crimes and violence in California, across the country, and most recently in Georgia since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

The Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center released a report Tuesday stating 3,795 incidents were received from March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021. The types of incidents include verbal harassment (68.1%) and shunning (20.5%) (i.e., the deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans) which make up the two largest proportions of the total incidents reported. The third largest category of the total incidents comprise physical assault (11.1%). Nationally, women report hate incidents 2.3 times more than men.

It is not lost on us that this tragedy occurred during Women’s History Month. During a time when we honor the legacy and significant contributions of all women and the Women’s Movement in advancing justice and human rights.

We stand firmly in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities against hate in all of its forms, and violence against Asian women. We stand with our AAPI students, employees and community members to demand an end to anti-Asian discrimination, hate and violence.

Racism is a virus and impacts the entire CRC community. The discrimination hate and violence against Asian Americans are rooted in white supremacy, racism and misogyny. Anti-Asian violence and hate are compounded by a culture of dehumanization and long standing stereotypes as the perpetual foreigner, model minority, spreader of the virus, and exotic sexualized objects.

As an educational institution it is our role to educate, dispel stereotypes, and dismantle structural racism and inequities. As a college community we are committed to recognizing the interconnections of discrimination and racism of all oppressed and marginalized communities and work together toward creating a more just learning environment.

The CRC community reflects the local AAPI communities living and working in South Sacramento and Elk Grove. We proudly serve the highest percentage of Filipino and AAPI students enrolled in the Los Rios Community College District. We are honored to have the designation as an Asian American and Native American, Pacific Islander - Serving Institution (AANAPISI).

Today, we reaffirm our commitment to end structural racism and all forms of oppression at CRC. We reaffirm our commitment to continue to create a more welcoming, equitable, and inclusive environment for our Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students at CRC.

“We urgently need to bring to our communities the limitless capacity to love, serve, and create for and with each other.” - Grace Lee Boggs

We invite you to join us for a series of events to hold space and build community to stop AAPI hate and violence. Please see the list of upcoming events.

In Solidarity,

Dr. Edward C. Bush, President
Dr. Claire Oliveros, Vice President of Student Services
Mr. Tadael Emiru, Associate Vice President of Equity, Institutional Effectiveness and Innovation
Dr. Robert Montañez, Vice President of Instruction
Ms. Theresa Tena, Vice President of Administrative Services
Dr. Rochelle Perez, Librarian
Mr. Paolo Soriano, Counselor