CBAA AAPI Solidarity Statement

The College Book Art Association (CBAA) stands in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. The attacks in Atlanta and New York are just two recent examples of ongoing violence and oppression that target AAPI women in particular. We want to call out the white supremacy and misogyny at work in these attacks, and the structures that enable this toxicity to exist. We pledge our support to the AAPI members of the book art community, and to all AAPI people, and refuse to accept or be complicit in the silencing and erasure of AAPI voices.

We apologize deeply to any members of the book art community who have been hurt by our slow action. We will do better, and we sincerely thank our members who have reached out and held us accountable. We also acknowledge that this is coming at a time of ongoing police violence against BIPOC people, highlighted by the killings of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center and Adam Toledo in Chicago. All of this overt violence, as well as the subtler forms that exist everyday and everywhere, are intimately connected.

The CBAA Board reaffirms our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Transparency. We are actively working to establish sustainable anti-racist initiatives that will hold space for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC); Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI); LGBTQ+ and other marginalized voices in our organization and our field. We look forward to building a more inclusive and more equitable organization. We recognize that this process will be ongoing, and that it needs to be much more than statements of our intent. We welcome and encourage feedback and ideas as we do our best to move forward sustainably. Please contact president@collegebookart.org with any suggestions or requests for additional information.

To any of our members looking for resources to learn more about the oppression and violence that AAPI people face, to donate, and/or to help more in their own communities, we offer this list as a place to begin:

Stop AAPI Hate

Stop Discriminasian (SDA)

68 Ways to Donate in Support of Asian Communities (The Strategist)

April 19, 2021

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