A MESSAGE ABOUT STANDING WITH ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER DICKINSON LAW COMMUNITY MEMBERS

March 2021 — Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway shared the following message with the Penn State Dickinson Law community on Monday, March 8, 2021:

In recent months, incidents of physical and verbal assault against people of Asian heritage have increased precipitously across the country. According to Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition focused on combatting the rise in racism against Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 2,800 incidents of anti-Asian hate were reported between March 19 and December 31.

These incidences of hate have risen in the last year, but they are also tied to a long and unfortunate history that is well documented by, among other things, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II. These were racist acts and policies that were isolating and harmful then, as are the traumatic and disdainful acts of violence we are witnessing and feeling today.

I have spent my formative adult years in Hawai‘i and in the Asia Pacific Region living and learning in the Native Hawaiian host culture with and alongside members of the Asian and Pacific Islander diaspora. This lived experience has formed my core values of collectivism, community, and kinship. These core values compel me to speak up about and speak out against the violence directed at people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. As I have said before, I would do anything to shield you from these harms. I am confident that the Dickinson Law community stands with me in this and in opposition to racism of every kind. Specifically, The Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs also issued a statement condemning these actions and calling “for all Pennsylvanians to stand up against anti-Asian hate and racism in all forms.” 

If you see something, experience something, or need someone who will listen, I am here.  I also provide these additional resources:

Report a Hate Incident
Support Asian American Colleagues

On behalf of the Dickinson Law Community, the administration, the faculty, the staff, and the students . . . you are not alone, we are with you as grains of sand fronting the same waters.