Statement by the Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness and the Center for Community Resilience:
Racism is a public health crisis. We stand with our colleagues, students and the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in the face of on-going attacks and hate crimes fueled by white supremacist rhetoric and bigoted lies. Increasing acts of violence against Asians, who have been targeted as scapegoats responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, were further punctuated this week by the racially and misogynistically motivated murders in Georgia. Intergenerational trauma due to racism is exacerbated by a society that refuses to acknowledge the root cause — the belief in white supremacy empowered by structural racism. Now more than ever it is essential for us to live up to our commitments to become an anti-racist organization and do our part to deliver on the promise of America. As we have stated before, we cannot ensure the health and wellbeing of all until white supremacy and the racist structures that support it are dismantled, and equity is achieved for all people and across all sectors, including health, criminal justice, economic opportunity, and education. Failure to act now will jeopardize the health and welfare of our nation for decades to come.
