Children’s HealthWatch strongly condemns attacks on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders – including the recent tragic killings of eight people, six of them Asian women, in Atlanta.  These recent attacks on Asian Americans and immigrants serve as yet another grim reminder of the pervasiveness of white supremacy and structural racism. Xenophobic and racially charged rhetoric around COVID-19 (predicated by centuries of anti-Asian sentiment and legally sanctioned discrimination, e.g. the Yellow Peril and the Chinese Exclusion Act), encouraged and excused by those invested in othering Asians and upholding whiteness, have given way to actual physical attacks and murders.

As an organization committed to advancing health equity for families and young children, we stand in solidarity with those harmed by systems of oppression and seek to enact real and lasting change that will only come from a deep and honest examination of how we got here—and white people must do their part to dismantle white supremacy. Children’s HealthWatch is committed to honestly examining our mission, research, and policy goals with a racial equity lens and seeking practices and policy solutions that dismantle systems of oppression that result in the violence of poverty, structural racism, and hate. The long history of violence toward immigrants and communities of color, including Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, must stop now. We are committed to joining in the fight against white supremacy in all of its forms and recognize that now is the time to walk the walk.