On Wednesday, January 11, an eighteen-year-old woman of Asian descent was stabbed in the head repeatedly. The assailant told law enforcement that she attacked the teenager for being "Chinese” because she wanted "one less person to blow up our country." Authorities have since charged the assailant with attempted murder.

Faculty, students, and staff of IUB’s Asian American Studies Program are both angered saddened by this racial violence, which is the continuation of a rapidly rising national trend. Anti-Asian racism, intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic and rising U.S.-China tensions, has increased dramatically in recent years. As a result, AAPIs across America have found themselves the targets of racial harassment, vandalism, discrimination, and violence.

Last week’s attack reminds us that anti-Asian acts are not one-off events or a distant problem, but rather belong to broader pattern of American racism. As a result, AAPI Hoosiers continue to find themselves being targeted. The Asian American Studies Program calls on IUB students, faculty, and staff to stand by their AAPI colleagues and neighbors, to speak out against racist statements, to combat racist actions, and to be active allies.