A Note to our Grant Partners

Dear partners, 

I’m deeply shaken and outraged by the tragic shootings in and around Atlanta this week. My heart is with the victims and their families. The pattern of violence, discrimination, and hate-fueled rhetoric against Asian Americans is real, and it’s downright terrifying. All across the country, members of the Asian American community are living in fear – scapegoated and harassed in connection with a global pandemic they’re fighting to survive, too. 

We must name the ugly role of hate, misogyny and racism in this attack not because it is new but because we must see it for what it is in order to change it. It’s so wrong, and so far from the American dream my grandparents envisioned when they put their children on boats to get here from Vietnam. Seeing women who look like my grandmother attacked in the streets of San Francisco for no other reason than being Asian is really hard.  

I love MY country. I love OUR country. Not for what it is today but what it stands for and can become. It is filled with optimists. I am amongst that group willing to do what it takes to help our country live up to its potential. Lady Liberty calls out, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Racism turns that beautiful vision that brought my family and many others here into a corrupt bargain. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative remains committed to centering racial equity in our work to undo that corrupt bargain. We are working to ensure that diverse voices guide CZI’s initiatives. We stand in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities here in the Bay Area and across the country to ensure that everyone is seen and safe. 

With care,