Originally posted Mar 18, 2021. I am re-posting to affirm our lab’s culture and commitment to colleagues and community members.
PI Statement:
As you may already be aware, at least 6 Asian-American women were murdered in Georgia yesterday. We do not yet know all of their names. Primarily White-led reporting has already incorrectly pronounced the names of the women who are known. Atlanta police officials have reported claims that the alleged murderer “had a really bad day”, was suffering from addiction, and was “not racially motivated”.
I condemn the idea that this targeted violence was neither racialized nor a hate crime. Anti-Asian violence, racism, and hate incidents have been rising at an alarming rate throughout the past year, driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as xenophobic rhetoric by some politicians and news outlets.
Anti-Asian racism also pervades our culture in more silent ways. This racism has long been a part of the lives of those holding Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) identities, and who live and work in predominantly White-normalized spaces.
I condemn this most recent act of violence against AAPI individuals, groups, and communities. I also want to acknowledge the trauma that this event has caused to members who identify with AAPI communities, and especially to our friends and co-workers.
As I have shared before during the BLM protests, and following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, I believe that PIs and academic leaders need to articulate how we intend to support members of minoritized communities and use our privilege to shed light on pervasive racism within our professional communities. This includes pointing out that:
1) During the COVID-19 pandemic, members of AAPI communities have been singled out by repeated slurs about the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in China. We must educate ourselves about how these slurs have resulted in violence against Asian communities around the world, and we must speak up to refute this language.
2) It is necessary to dismantle the “model minority” myth. This has serious and damaging repercussions on members of AAPI communities including a) flattening many different AAPI identities into a single “Asian” monolith; b) making it extremely difficult for those who hold AAPI identities to report hate crimes and racialized violence; and c) erasing hundred and years of racism, violence, and injustice due to the perceived successes of specific members of this group.
3) Members of AAPI communities, like members of other minoritized groups (including but not limited to Indigenous, Hispanic, Black, and LGBTQIA identities), face violence, hate, discrimination, and injustice in academic and public spaces. We must be aware that this occurs, and watchful. We must respond when our colleagues, communities, and institutions act as if anti-Asian discrimination does not occur.
4) I have worked closely with members of AAPI communities throughout my professional career, and though I have heard Mandarin and Cantonese and Korean languages in all of my professional spaces, I have never asked myself (nor have I confronted people in positions of power) how my White privilege has negatively impacted the success, ability to thrive, and well-being of my friends and colleagues who hold AAPI identities. I commit to taking on this process, and to the process of educating myself about anti-Asian violence, injustice, and hate. I am doing this work now and welcome your insights and resources.
I also want to share the following with you for a second time in a year, because it is so important:
1) I encourage you to process the trauma of these national events in any way that makes sense for you. Pitt resources include: the Counseling Center and the Office of Diversity & Inclusion. If you need extra support from me, you have it unequivocally. I will support you to the best of my abilities, which includes identifying the right resources and professionals to assist you, me, and/or our lab in moving forward with viable forms of support.
2) Our group will continue to be diverse in race, national origin, religion, gender identity, age, culture, and in many other invisible ways. Please be aware that I do not consider the diversity in our group to be an action towards justice. Being “willing” to hire people of color/women is not evidence of work in this area, though many people seem to believe it is. Every person in our group was hired for one reason only - because they are the best scientist for the job and are a critical member of our group. That said, our diversity makes us better as scientists, colleagues, and leaders.
3) My expectation is that our group is a leader locally and nationally in our actions to support equality and justice in scientific spaces and beyond. What does this look like specifically?
- If you are in a position of power or privilege in our lab, please speak up when you hear someone (including me) using language or acting in a way that does not promote these values. We are all learning at all times. We are not in the business of “canceling” someone because they make a misstep, but we must identify missteps to address them. Consider this my explicit request and permission to raise examples or questions related to my discourse or practice that can help make them more inclusive or equitable. You could bring these up at any time you feel most comfortable (e.g., during our one-on-one meetings, in our small group or whole lab gatherings if you feel it appropriate). We also have yearly Individualized Development Plan meetings, where I will ask about our anti-racist learning and actions.
- If you identify as a scientist in an underrepresented group, please do not feel that it is your responsibility to take on this work - you do not owe the lab unpaid labor to educate us about justice and equity issues. I expect those with privilege, like myself, to take the lead on learning about and leading our group in anti-racist actions.
- You have my permission and support to use professional time to do work on justice in science, academia, and related spaces. I volunteer as part of the Diversity Committee and Early Career Committee at my national associations (AHA/ATVB). Sometimes this work benefits my career (again, because of my white privilege) and sometimes this work is just extra and hard work. You have my support in using professional time to take part in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives within your scientific communities and University. Please let me know how I can support your efforts to deepen scientific commitments to ethics, justice, and human rights.
- If you possess White privilege, please know that most “diversity” committees are comprised almost entirely of scientists from minoritized groups. I challenge you, in particular, to volunteer and work on these committees to reduce the extra work these scientists have to do and to be a part of the hard work involved. For some ideas, please consider: https://sojo.net/articles/our-white-friends-desiring-be-allies
- The diseases we work towards ending affect people from marginalized backgrounds at a significantly worse rate than their white counterparts. Despite this, the current highest standards of care are not available to those same communities. How do we address these health care disparities as basic scientists?
*By rigorously discussing and addressing whether there are ethnic and/or gender differences that can be modeled in the lab.
*By making sure that human samples we use are representative of the people who are most impacted by disease (for example, we should be harnessing data sets like the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) cohort in our research).
*By making sure that our models, however pre-clinical, take into account non- male physiology.
My goal is to deepen my commitments to this work in our lab and invite you to do the same either individually and/or as part of this team.
Sincerely,
Ali Kohan
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
University of Pittsburgh
**Here is a short list of groups that are dedicated to education, advocacy, and action against anti-Asian violence and hate, as well as some useful resources:
- http://sova.pitt.edu/links-asian-american-mental-health-resources
- https://www.ocapghpa.org/index.html
- https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2021/03/17/anti-asian-attacks-rising-covid-19-pandemic/
- PBS’ Asian Americans is a five-part documentary series on the history of Asians in America.
- #AsianAmCovidStories is a YouTube documentary series exploring Asian Americans’ experiences and challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC’s tool for reporting hate incidents and Stop AAPI Hate’s tool for reporting hate incidents.
- Learn what makes a hate crime from the U.S. Department of Justice.
- Learn about coded language from the National Education Association's EdJustice.
