The terrible murders of eight individuals in Atlanta this week, including six Asian women leave us in the Pacifica community with great sadness, grief and distress for the rising levels of hated-filled violence in our society and for the pain and suffering in the Asian community. While we do not yet know all of the details, there has been a clear pattern of escalation of violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) over the last year: According to NBC news, citing the advocacy organization Stop AAPI Hate, there have been about 3800 reported incidents of hate-based crimes targeting members of AAPI communities across the country, many against women, since last March when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Racist and gender-based crime have absolutely no place in our society. Pacifica Graduate Institute unequivocally condemns this violence and the hate that fuels it.
Joseph Cambray, Ph.D.
President/CEO
