ATLANTA (March 19, 2021) – The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) condemns Tuesday’s shooting that killed eight people and injured one. Six victims were Asian women who worked at spas in and around the Atlanta area, where NACDD is headquartered.
 
We mourn with the Asian American community the shocking murders of Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Hyun Jung Grant, Soon C. Park, Suncha Kim, Yong A. Yue, Delaina Ashley Yuan, and Paul Andre Michaels. We stand in solidarity and continued concern for the safety of our Asian American staff, friends, family, and neighbors.
 
During the past year, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, anti-Asian American hate crimes rose at least 150% (researchers suggest these crimes are typically under-reported).
 
These murders are a horrifying and tragic reminder of our failure as a society and as public health professionals to end the scapegoating, rights denial, and social denigration of Asian Americans in the United States.
 
We must stop ignoring the impact of centuries of anti-Asian laws and policies in the United States (including the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first law that barred immigration exclusively on race and the internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II) that have resulted in significant burdens of chronic disease and other inequities among Asian American communities as well as caused inter-generational trauma.

In our efforts to become an anti-racist organization, we know that words are not enough.

As our Board President has called for in her President’s Challenge, we must do more as Chronic Disease Directors to center anti-racist policies and programs within our core program work.

We must also leverage our program work to push back on racial scapegoating related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a dramatic increase in attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

NACDD has signed on to the Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta Community Centered Response to Violence Against Asian American Communities.

Now is the time for us as public health leaders to continue to listen, to learn, and to keep acting on what we hear from our most marginalized communities.