The Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) recognizes and strongly condemns the recent attacks against top elected officials in St. Louis and Orange County for their COVID-19 prevention efforts. Dr. Faisal Khan, St. Louis County’s Public Health Director and Chairman Andrew Do, Orange County Board of Supervisors have encountered physical and verbal attacks in recent weeks based on both their Asian heritage and positions supporting COVID-19 preventative measures.
With the continued escalation of coronavirus-related hostility, disinformation, xenophobia and racism, the return to the workplace and schools becomes yet another battleground for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities We call on our communities and allies to be cognizant of and vigilant against rising anti-Asian sentiment and abuse, which has been exacerbated by misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 virus and various public health measures instituted to fight the disease.
While some have questioned the veracity of Dr. Khan’s claims, we seek to affirm and uplift, rather than disregard or discredit, the lived experiences of discrimination, hardship, and resilience of the AAPI community since the onset of the pandemic. Additionally, we strongly condemn the intentional spread of misinformation and disinformation about vaccinations and other COVID-19 mitigation public health efforts as a danger to everyone in the wider community. The frequency of anti-Asian bias incidents is often correlated with worsening pandemic conditions, or at least with the accompanying incendiary rhetoric and misinformation. The spread of the Delta variant coinciding with the start of the school year means that, on top of concerns about an uncertain COVID-19 situation, many in the AAPI community are contending with fears of rising anti-Asian hostility.
APALA, one of the six National Associations of Librarians of Color, continues to stand in solidarity with our Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities. We continue to urge our library community to stand with us by publicly condemning anti-AAPI racism through visible actions, which we encourage you to share here. We offer to our communities, educators and library workers our 2021 COVID-19 anti-xenophobia and anti-racist information resources and COVID-19 Anti-Asian Racism Resources for K-12. We call on our partner organizations and allies to join us in battling discrimination, xenophobia, and white supremacy, as well as continue to actively report and speak up against assaults that occur on both a local and national level.
Founded in 1980, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations to APALA are tax deductible and support our work for library services, programs, scholarships, awards, and grants related to library services benefiting Asian/Pacific Americans and Asian/Pacific American librarians.