March 19, 2021
Statement on Systemic Anti-Asian Harassment & Violence
By NCSS President Stefanie Wager and
Executive Director Dr. Lawrence M. Paska
We are deeply saddened and shocked by the murders in Atlanta on March 16, 2021, which further underscore the persistent discrimination and violence perpetrated against Asians and Asian-Americans nationwide. We condemn such acts of violence and hatred as being against the very principles and values we teach our children both as educators and across all social studies disciplines. We affirm that social studies education has a bold responsibility to do more than prepare all students for college, career, and civic life; it must combat all forms of racism, discrimination, intolerance--every imaginable word across human languages to describe the act of making one human being feel inferior to, and threatened by, another.
In May 2020, NCSS issued a statement entitled A Response to Anti-Asian Harassment and Violence During COVID-19. At the time, NCSS sought to help educators confront the sad reality that “this is not the first time the United States has witnessed a surge of anti-Asian discrimination in a time of public health crisis.” Now there is an urgent need to re-release and re-affirm this statement. Today, we reaffirm that anti-Asian harassment and violence is a systemic problem that cannot be tolerated in our civic life-- during and beyond COVID-19. Verbal and physical harassment, violence, hate, and racism toward Asians and Asian Americans clearly persists in daily American life. To quote from our previous statement:
NCSS urges those in the public sphere to recognize the harm that is occurring and to engage in education about the impact of discrimination and violence on our citizens.
As acknowledged in our own values, we seek to raise the voices of every child and every participant in our society, and to create an inclusive culture where all voices are encouraged, supported, and celebrated.