The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum is deeply saddened by the hateful attack on a group of women of South Asian descent in Plano, Texas. Caught on video, the assault involved hateful rhetoric, physical assault, and threatened gun violence. This was a shocking display of the venomous power of racism and a sign of the deep divisions in our society.

The hate speech and physical assault directed toward the women reflects the deeply rooted prejudice and discrimination against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities that has surged in recent years. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident, earlier this month a Dallas County Grand Jury indicted the man accused in the shooting of three women of Korean descent at a Dallas hair salon in May with hate crimes.

We encourage learning about the rich history of AAPIs in America as well as the long-held intolerance and hostility directed against AAPI communities in our country. We urge people to act to challenge and disrupt this scourge of hatred. Our beloved Holocaust Survivor, Max Glauben, often said that hatred is like yeast that grows and consumes the hater. He implored us all to stand up against prejudice to keep it from destroying ourselves and our community. Let us honor his memory and legacy by doing all in our power to combat prejudice, hatred, and indifference.

We recently explored the historical and current context of this long-held bias in our Crucial Conversations series on challenging AAPI hatred, which is available on our DHHRM YouTube Channel. To help us all better understand AAPI identities, history, and the impact of discrimination against AAPI communities today, we created a tool kit that is available on our website.

The mission of the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum is to teach the history of the Holocaust and advance human rights to combat prejudice, hatred, and indifference. To learn more, visit www.dhhrm.org.

– Mary Pat Higgins, President and CEO

– Mark Zilbermann, Board Chair

 

Resource links:

• • Tool Kit for Challenging Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Hatred
  • Crucial Conversations: Challenging AAPI Hatred – The Past, Part 1
  • Crucial Conversations: Challenging AAPI Hatred – The Past, Part 2
  • Crucial Conversations: Challenging AAPI Hatred – The Present
  • Crucial Conversations: Challenging AAPI Hatred – The Future