Download as PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 28, 2020
Contact: Nikki Metzgar
(202) 599-7642 / nmetzgar@napawf.org

Washington, DC — Earlier this week, four police officers, including Officer Derek Chauvin and Officer Tou Thao, murdered George Floyd in his home city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. George Floyd was 46, described as a “quiet personality but a beautiful spirit” by friends, and had recently been laid-off from his restaurant job due to COVID-19.

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum Executive Director Sung Yeon Choimorrow issued the following statement:

“We are deeply saddened and outraged by the brutal murder of George Floyd due to police violence in Minneapolis, MN. We join the demand for justice for George Floyd and his family. 

Among the four police officers responsible for George Floyd’s death, we acknowledge that one, Tou Thao, is Asian American. There is an insidious history of state violence and harmful narratives that have attempted to wedge our communities apart through the model minority myth cooperating with anti-Blackness. We recognize the internalization of these narratives has led to Asian-on-Black violence in this case and in our history. We stand firmly against complicity in anti-Blackness, violence against Black communities, and the model minority myth. These narratives arise out of white supremacy that harms us all. 

“As AAPIs, we must confront anti-Blackness in our own communities and work tirelessly to dismantle the systems that have enabled racial injustice against our Black siblings for generations. Our work is not only to advocate for our own community. It is also to hold our community accountable when acts of anti-Blackness occur in our midst. We channel the power of Yuri Kochiyama and Grace Lee Boggs and their commitment to not only act in solidarity but courageous action. They recognized that the fight for AAPI racial justice and black racial justice require our equal effort and when AAPIs get their demands met, we cannot then close the door on our Black siblings. And to our community, we would like to make it clear that stereotypes placing us white-adjacent do not grant us power or protection; they merely make us complicit in systemic oppression deeply rooted in our nation.”

# # #

The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) is the only multi-issue, progressive, community organizing and policy advocacy organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and girls in the U.S. NAPAWF’s mission is to build collective power so that all AAPI women and girls can have full agency over our lives, our families, and our communities.