Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Dear SPSI Community,
Sometime ago, SPSI took a public stand against racial violence in all forms. At this time, we wish to support our colleagues, family members, friends, patients, and clients of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, who have suffered profoundly.
SPSI decries the increase in violence towards the AAPI community that has occurred over the last year. But, this violence certainly has much deeper historical roots. There has been the fetishization of women from the AAPI community, the denigration of both people and their places of business, and the long history of damage to culture and exploitation of people from the AAPI community.
It helps ground us to know that there are complex psychosocial aspects to racialized violence. Of course, the powerful forces that inevitably interact within people at times explode into overt acts that subsequently make the news. But there are also the pervasive, daily attitudes of bias and exclusion that have existed towards members of the AAPI community.
We stand together in our sadness for the suffering within the AAPI community. We need to ground ourselves in knowing what history and current events show us, so that we allow ourselves to be aware. We need this awareness in order to have a chance to impact ourselves and others in addressing the roots of violence within.
Sheri Butler, Director
Chris Keats, Director-Elect
Rebecca Meredith, Board President
John Cardinali, Faculty Chair
Anne Buchinski, Faculty Chair-Elect