In Solidarity with the Asian Community

Photo Credit: Tom Secor

Photo Credit: Tom Secor

Message from the Executive Director

We at the Coalition of Communities of Color would like to take this moment to remind our community that this country ought to be for all of us. CCC also wishes to remind our Asian families, members, friends, and colleagues that we are with you in this fight against the white supremacy that has always been a part of the United States and continues to deeply harm our community.

The recent, and predictable, spate of hate crimes targeting the Asian American and Asian immigrant community in the United States, and here in Portland, is both reprehensible and contrary to our deepest values of justice. And we must stop this hate.

The horrors and death visited upon the six Asian women in Georgia recently is only the latest in an ever increasing string of such atrocities. Such acts are predictable when one considers the harmful, hateful rhetoric spread by white supremacists and engrained systems of misogyny.

CCC is an alliance of 19 culturally specific, community-based organizations with representation from the following communities of color: African, African American, Asian, Latino, Middle Eastern and North African, Native American, Pacific Islander, and Slavic. We join together to support a collective racial justice effort to create conditions where all communities can thrive, free of fear and without hate or discrimination.

CCC was begun through the leadership of its founders, including those from the Asian, Asian American, and immigrant community. Our Asian and immigrant-representing members are integral to any success we have had as an organization. And our future success hinges upon our continued collaborations, as Oregonians, for the greater good. This past year has shown us more than ever about the importance of solidarity and fighting racism. CCC has long recognized the importance of deep and nuanced conversations about how white supremacy oppresses communities of color, that this oppression manifests itself in different ways across and within BIPOC communities, and how we must work together to dismantle it in all its forms. 

This pandemic of racism will not end in May, or 2021, because there is no vaccine that can be produced to quash its pernicious effects, and it certainly will not end by BIPOC communities taking on this burden of fighting their oppression alone. This is work that has to be done by all of us, now and for the rest of our lives. We need everyone to commit to this work and speak out against hate. 

As long as our communities face racism, we are here for our Asian friends, neighbors, and families, and urge all of our members, community members, and leaders to take action to support those who are impacted during this time of acute pain and beyond. We ask that you look to our member organization APANO’s response to the Atlanta shootings and the resources they have shared, as well as the open letter organized by the Pacific Islander and Asian Family Center of IRCO, now with hundreds of signatories.

CCC urges you to act, either through one of the many organizations, links, and useful vehicles listed below, or on your own, in your community, with people you know.  For it is only through your deliberate, intentional actions as individuals that we can begin to make the long lasting change this country so desperately needs, and that communities under siege, like our Asian, Asian American, and immigrant communities, our brothers and sisters, both deserve and crave.

Please help break the cycle.  Please support our Asian family. Please join us in this collective effort.

In Solidarity,

Marcus C. Mundy, Executive Director

Coalition of Communities of Color

Resources

Please see the following resources for Asian communities and allies. Thank you to Coi Vu and IRCO for collecting these resources.

Sources to report a hate incident/crime in addition to calling law enforcement:

Mental Health/Social Support Resources:

Webinars/Conversations/Resources:

In Remembrance

Learn Our Names

Photo Credit: Tom Secor

Photo Credit: Tom Secor

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