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UDARI response to hateful action in Memorial Hall

Posted on May 9, 2023 at: 12:59 am

Dear UD Anti-Racism Initiative Friends,

We are sharing a statement written by concerned faculty members in Memorial Hall:

On the morning of May 8th, a faculty member noticed a swastika and threatening message drawn by an individual or group on a poster advertising a drag queen performance on the office door of a Jewish faculty member in the English Department. As soon as it was noticed, this violent symbol of oppression and genocide was immediately removed and reported. This is a deplorable act for which there is no room in the University of Delaware community.

As members of the UD community, we reaffirm that hate has no place at the University of Delaware or in Memorial Hall. Respect and inclusion are essential to our work in our classrooms, in our research, and in our university community. We assert that the University of Delaware is a place where all are free to learn in a safe and welcoming environment. We affirm our commitment to people of all genders, sexualities, and faiths, and stand with Jewish, queer, and trans members of our community. We condemn both this specific action and actions that target members of the University of Delaware community for their race, sexuality, gender, ability, religion, or any other aspect of their identity, embodiment, or experience.

To affirm your commitment to this statement, please sign below.

Statement Denouncing Hateful Action in Memorial Hall (google.com)

Sincerely,

Alison, Emerald, and Lynnette

Acknowledging History

Posted on February 17, 2023 at: 11:32 am

UD Anti-Racism Initiative hosts symposium on UD’s history as a land-grant university and its impact on Indigenous communities.

Posted on UDaily, February 9, 2023.

UDARI Subcommittee Grant Award Winners for 2021-2022

Posted on November 22, 2021 at: 9:44 am

The following subcommittees of the UD Anti-Racism Initiative have been awarded grants for anti-racist projects or events they are organizing this academic year: Associate in Arts Equity and Inclusion Subcommittee, Legacies of Dispossession and Enslavement Subcommittee, Anti-Racism Programming Subcommittee, First State First Chance Subcommittee, Asian-American Anti-Racism Initiatives (AAAI) Subcommittee, The Indigenous Programming Subcommittee, The Latino and Hispanic Heritage Caucus.

Vigil for Victims of Atlanta Shootings and Anti-Asian Violence.

Posted on March 26, 2021 at: 4:32 pm

Vigil for this Sunday, 7pm at Grace Church in Wilmington, DE. Please help us to spread to the word at UD. Thank you.

Please join us to remember the victims of the Atlanta shootings and unite against acts of racial/sexual/gender violence towards Asians/Asian American Women and AAPI communities. We are a few in DE, but I believe our experiences matter, not only in our injury, but also in our commitment to the coalitional work of justice and liberation.

#StopAsianHate Vigil

March 26th is StopAsianHate Day

Posted on at: 3:07 pm

Racism and the Invisible Asian Americans

Eight people, six of them Asian women, were killed in Atlanta on March 16. In the aftermath of the slaughter, many competing explanations have focused on the shooter’s motivation. A Cherokee County sheriff department spokesman’s careless words seemed to express sympathy with the shooter and manifested anti-Asian racism. Increasingly, discussions have turned toward the shooter’s sexual temptation and the association of spa businesses with sex work, serving to transfer the blame unfairly to the women and their hypersexualized Asian bodies.

The growing awareness of violent assaults on Asian Americans over the last year has shaped our understanding of the killings in Atlanta in a certain direction. Americans are still struggling to comprehend and foster meaningful dialogue about racism, sexism, xenophobia, and classism. Now, living in 2021, Americans of all colors and races still lack the vocabulary to talk seriously about violence against Asian American women who continue to be framed in hypersexualized terms. The historical legacy of the U.S. wars in Asia coexists alongside records of sexist and racist restrictions on Asian immigration. Racism, sexism, xenophobia, and classism cannot be separated.

The Asian American Anti-Racism Initiative is a group of faculty, students, and administrators at the University of Delaware working to offer a forum to understand the contributions of Asian Americans to the public discourse around race. We denounce the killings in Georgia and we are dismayed by the coverage of the mainstream American media.

We will act. We will counter all forms of stereotype and typecasting. We will reframe the pre-established views. And we will combat systemic racism, sexism, classism, and xenophobia.

As the first step to create a more inclusive community, on Wednesday April 28 and Wednesday May 5, we invite members of the UD community to join us for #FightingforAllofUS: film streaming and conversations about Yuri Kochiyama and Grace Lee Boggs, two Asian American women who challenged all of us to create a more just and equitable society. Kochiyama and Boggs fought for women, men, children, Asian, Black, Latinx, and Native Americans. They worked across class and social groups, combatted systematic racism, and fought for equality and equity. Their passion and revolutionary activism cut across all racial thresholds and barriers. They stood tall in history, side by side with others in the Civil Rights Movement. And we invite all of you to join and discuss how acts of antiracism must first begin with unity that span across racial boundaries and socioeconomic backgrounds.