A letter from the Asian Student Union

To the Hope College Community,

Over the past year, there has been a horrifying rise of hate crimes, xenophobia, harassment and racism towards the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. On behalf of Hope College, we, the Asian Student Union, acknowledge that these events have brought forth feelings of fear, anger and frustration. Thus, we want to condemn the racist sentiments and acts targeting the Asian community and express our deepest sympathy for all those impacted. We are profoundly saddened and outraged by the lack of reporting in the media and acknowledgment of hate crimes towards the community.

As a Multicultural Student Organization (MSO), we have no tolerance for any form of racism, white supremacy, bias or discrimination that ultimately enables violence against any BIPOC community. Racism is not just a political issue; it is also the Gospel issue. Racism of any kind runs contrary to the truth that God created us all in His image. We are brothers and sisters through Jesus Christ; therefore we should treat our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31). Jesus cared about the marginalized and broke down the barriers of race through his everyday actions. Therefore, it is imperative that as we continue to process these acts of violence, we also begin to educate ourselves on the history and prevalence of racism in our country. In addition, we should work towards bridging the discrepancy through our actions.

I want to draw your attention to our call to action. We have a duty as members of ASU to acknowledge the violence happening is due to a greater system that enacts racial violence and oppresses all communities of color. We stand in solidarity with the AAPI community of Hope’s student body, faculty and surrounding Holland community. We encourage students and faculty to attend to reserve time to get to know your AAPI peers and practice anti-racist allyship. We urge the Hope community to report incidents of any acts of racism or discrimination and to stand up for your fellow AAPI peers when you are witnessing hateful actions towards them. Additionally, we also urge everyone to reflect on their own biases and stand in solidarity with other BIPOC communities; our struggles are interconnected, and we all have a responsibility to bring solutions that aim towards accountability and repairing relations between communities. It is critical that we all come together to support each other in times when the world only seems to bring us down.

Spera in Deo,
Hope College Asian Student Union
Ali Koehl, VP
Sunnie Zou, Treasurer
Joy Gregson, Co-Chair of Board of Trustees
Susan Par, President
Luong Tran, Trustee