President Richard Englert and Provost JoAnne Epps condemned the killings of eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at three Atlanta-area spas on March 16 and recent incidents of discrimination against Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States in a statement on Friday.
“We share the outrage and frustration at the repeated incidents of bias and violence, and join with others in condemning them,” Englert and Epps wrote. “Temple’s diversity is its strength. When one group in our community feels threatened, we all feel the impact.”
Atlanta-area authorities charged a 21-year-old man with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault in connection with Tuesday’s shootings, the New York Times reported.
The shooting occurred amid a spike in discrimination against people of Asian descent in the U.S., with nearly 3,800 hate incidents, the majority directed toward women, reported to Stop AAPI Hate, a reporting center for discrimination and violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, from March 2020 to February 2021.
Tuesday’s shooting has heightened fear in the Asian American community amid an increase in anti-Asian xenophobia linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, ABC News reported.
Temple Student Government posted a guide on how to combat anti-Asian discrimination on Instagram Thursday, asking students to reach out to TSG if they have experienced incidents of bias on or off campus.
“To our [Asian American and Pacific Islander] community: TSG indisputably condemns these racist actions and provides our whole-hearted advocacy and support in combating these hate crimes,” the statement read.
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