Adler University President Raymond E. Crossman, Ph.D., addresses the rise of anti-Asian violence and harassment happening across the U.S. and Canada, and shares resources to help support Asian Americans and Asian Canadians, in a message to students, faculty, and staff.

On Tuesday night, a terrible act of violence took the lives of eight people in Atlanta, Georgia. This attack comes in the context of a larger wave of targeted, anti-Asian harassment and violence that has increased over the course of the last year. Asian communities around the world have suffered oppression and violence. These xenophobic attacks are causing pain and fear among Asian Americans and Asian Canadians – including among our own students, staff, and faculty.

In Vancouver, we have seen an exponential rise in anti-Asian hate crimes during the last year. In the United States, violent acts against Asian people have been sustained following the rhetoric of the previous U.S. administration during the COVID-19 pandemic. We know that hateful speech and violence against the Asian community did not begin a year ago, but no one can deny that racist language and characterizations fuel violence and terror.

Racism against Asian Americans and Asian Canadians is often ignored or disappeared. But such racism has a long legacy in both our countries, and the very terms Asian American and Asian Canadian were coined in the 1960s by student organizers who were advancing pan-Asian, anti-racist advocacy.

As Adlerians, we must speak out against anti-Asian hate and violence. We must also hold our public officials accountable to do more to combat racism. I encourage you to take time to reflect on these events, listen to others’ experiences, and continue to take care of one another. Looking ahead, there’s much work for us to do, individually and together. Here are resources that have been shared thus far by members of our community:

• @asiansformentalhealth offers tool kits and a comment thread of therapists willing to prove free therapy to the Asian American Community
• Asian Mental Health Collective has toolkits and a directory of Asian American and Asian Canadian therapists
• SubtleAsianMentalHealth provides free 1:1 listening sessions
• @LaiChientherapy offers pay-as-you-wish group therapy for Asian American/Pacific Islanders
  An Asian Languages crisis phone number: 887-990-8585
• Safety tips for those witnessing or experiencing hate