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A Letter from Lisa

FCCNY Board Chair & Adoptee Board Director


March 25, 2021


Dear FCC Community,


One year ago we started quarantining and one year ago we also launched an FCC "We are Not A Virus" campaign

on social media. Racism against Asian Americans did not start with this pandemic, and it certainly won't end

with it either.


The horrific murders targeting Asian Americans who worked at spas in Atlanta profoundly affect all members of

our community. Racism has been on the rise and becoming more overt. While I am upset by this event, I cannot say I'm surprised,

and this is a regrettable state of affairs. I should not need to write this, but it is a privilege for many others to

ignore, therefore I believe it is important to say something.


I echo many of the statements already released condemning the racist violence that occurred a week ago.


These women were mothers, and daughters, and sisters and community members. It could have happened to

any one of us adoptees.


Violence like this could happen to Asians like us, by someone who looks like some of our family members. No

matter our proximity to whiteness, we are not white.


The perpetrators of this racialized hate crime is a white male who blamed "sex addiction" and who was defended by a spokesperson for the police department as having "a bad day". This is outrageous and completely ignores the

objectification, fetishization, and sexualization that many Asian females have to confront and deal with every day.

Additionally, the irony and double standard of being both a sexual "temptation" and a repulsive "virus" is not lost

on me.


Nicole Chung, author of All You Can Ever Know and Asian adoptee tweeted this:


"I hope every white parent of an Asian kid is paying attention and deciding how to talk to their kids about racism.

My white family long believed that my adoption = assimilation = protection. I've known this to be false since I

heard my first slur at the age of 7."


Parents and supporters, have you checked in with your families? You cannot always protect and shelter, or even

fully understand, but you must always support, show that you care, and try to understand. Show your continued

support by taking ongoing action—talk to the rest of your family, speak out, donate to Asian advocacy groups

and victims' families and communities, listen to and learn from events on Asian American issues and histories,

find Asian therapists and racial mirrors for you and your families.


Adoptees, take care of yourselves, take care of each other.


It's an honor just to be Asian.


Please find a number of resources and articles shared in our recent listserv emails​. We are working on a comprehensive list of resources to post to our website and will send an email with them as well. Here is a link to an information sheet on what to do if you are the victim of anti-Asian harassment and violence. Here is a link to sign up for bystander intervention training and what you can do to be an ally.

If you have any additional resources that you would like to share please reach out (email, fb page msg, fb group, Instagram, etc.).

Register and stay tuned for these upcoming events (and more!) that you are encouraged to attend​:

  • Know Your History: ​Mabel Lee - A Woman of Our TimeFriday ​3/31 
  • Adoptee Only Discussion: TBA—week of April 5th
  • Open Forum Call to Action: Save the Date—Thursday 4/15
  • "All You Can Ever Know" book discussion—Friday 4/30

If you have posted about your experience or written something recently relating to anti-Asian discrimination,

please ​let us know and we can share it with our wider community!

We are here for you; let others know you are here for us too.

Parents and supporters—show us your support by showing up.

Adoptees—I see you, I hear you, and I am with you.

Lisa Gibson 

Board of Directors

Chinese Adoptee Alliance
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supporting Chinese adoptees and allies.
"C double A", formerly FCCNY.

PO Box 21670
2300 18th St NW Lobby
Washington, DC 20009 


Questions, Comments, Concerns?
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