The killing of eight people in Atlanta, six of whom were women of Asian descent, is directly connected to a history of white supremacy, anti-Asian violence, and discrimination in America, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the plague of Anti-Asian hate crimes, which have spiked 150 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we mourn with the Asian American Pacific Islander community, we are strengthening our resolve to invest in the empowerment and safety of Asian American, BIPOC, and immigrant communities. Vera supports approaches that do not draw a false equivalency between the expansion of policing and the need for safe communities.

About the Vera Institute of Justice:

The Vera Institute of Justice is a justice reform change agent. Vera produces ideas, analysis, and research that inspire change in the systems people rely upon for safety and justice. Vera collaborates with the communities most impacted by these systems and works in close partnership with government and civic leaders to implement change. Across projects, Vera is committed to explicitly and effectively reducing the burdens of the justice system on people of color and frames all work with an understanding of our country’s history of racial oppression. Vera is currently pursuing core priorities of ending the misuse of jails, transforming conditions of confinement, providing legal services for immigrants, and ensuring that justice systems more effectively serve America’s increasingly diverse communities. Vera has offices in Brooklyn, NY; Washington, DC; New Orleans, and Los Angeles.