NEW YORK, NY - The following statement can be attributed to the RPA Staff and Board of Directors.
Regional Plan Association (RPA) strongly condemns the year-long surge of racially-motivated violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. For nearly a century, RPA has sought to improve public spaces - including streets, parks, and mass transit - throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. This work is especially crucial now when people feel unsafe to use these spaces and services. Racism and bigotry of any kind has no place in an equitable region, where individuals of all races, incomes, ages, genders, and other social identities have equal opportunities to live full, healthy and productive lives.
It is important to acknowledge that the previous presidential administration fostered the negative association between COVID-19 and the Asian American community by the repeated use of anti-Asian slurs and rhetoric. At RPA, we understand that our words are important and must be backed by our recommendations and actions.
Asian Americans have helped build this country in the face of persistent discrimination. Americans of Chinese and Japanese descent designed some of our most iconic buildings, including the original World Trade Center in New York City. Tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants built our country’s transcontinental railway system. Asian American scientists and engineers help build our nation’s space program and tech industry. Yet the AAPI community experienced discrimination and racism from our nation’s founding such as in Executive Order 9066 which authorized the internment of over 100,000 Japanese Americans in relocation camps, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which explicitly suspended immigration of Chinese laborers, and the racially motivated attacks on Filipinos and other immigrants that led to the Filipino Farmworker Movement. We must continue to acknowledge the wrongs of the past to address racism in the present.
Over 9% of our region’s population identifies as Asian and their contributions to our communities, towns, cities, and country are immeasurable. Asian Americans played a key part in the development of our civil rights laws and the critical legal cases that determined equal protection in the United States including Ozawa v. United States (1922) and United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923).
This moment calls for a cultural reset. All levels of government as well as the civic sector must focus more on outreach and inclusion of Asian American communities - and a shift toward inclusivity. Agencies which manage public space, like transit agencies and departments of parks and transportation, should take all measures necessary to ensure the safety of the Asian American population. As citizens we must protect and uplift those victimized by bigotry. We must also actively call out racism whenever it appears.
We must come together as a region - and nation - to reject senseless racism and xenophobia. If you hear someone erroneously blaming the pandemic on Asian Americans, please correct them. If you encounter harassment, de-escalate if possible. To work towards building a region where all have the opportunity to thrive, we cannot be silent when violence and hatred are experienced by anyone in our community. We must work together to create the conditions and policies we all deserve.
