TwoAsian males are suspected in the sexual assault of a co-ed on the UC Santa Barbara campus, reports the Daily Nexus.
The assault has stunned the community and raised issues of race and racism.
In an open letter to Chancellor Henry Yang, the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance and South Asian Students Association wrote:
“We stand in solidarity with all folks who have been targets of sexual assault – across the entire gender spectrum. But as painful as it is to acknowledge it, sexual assault is gendered and racialized. Asian Pacific Islander/American women are disproportionately targeted by sexual assault, as well as Black, Latina, and Native women – which makes the incidents from this past week all the more relevant to our community.”
Chancellor Yang responded to the assault by hiring five additional police officers to help alleviate fears on campus. Hundreds of flyers with sketches of the suspects were posted around campus. That, according to the two AAPI student groups, has lead to “racist comments.”
The student groups wrote:
“It is heartbreaking and unspeakably disgusting that as one community rises, another community is vilified and discriminated against. As the sketches of the two suspects have been plastered around campus, racist comments and hateful actions have already spread like wildfire. It seems that the stereotype of the “inherently patriarchal Asian man” have inevitably surfaced at this xenophobic, racist university.
“That being said, the lack of accountability by the greater API male community at large is horrifying. Where is the critical organizing against sexual assault by API men? Where is the accountability for the violence? Where is the condemnation that should be loud and clear?”
You can read the entire open letter in the Daily Nexus.