Members of the Student Government Association (SGA) condemned hate crimes against Asian communities at the organization’s March 18 meeting.
“SGA stands against all the racism and hate crimes, especially ones that our Asian American community is experiencing now,” President Karine Kanj said at the start of the meeting, reading from of a longer statement sent out to the Suffolk community.
Reports from Vice President Lukas Phipps included an update on the Student Judiciary Review Board (SJRB) meeting, where members reviewed SJRB bylaws regarding specifics on the wording of official SGA documents.
The reports from Treasurer Angela El Jazzar included approved budget requests from multiple clubs and organizations on campus, including the Suffolk Democrats and Suffolk University’s ACLU chapter.
During open forum, Senator-at-Large for International Students Xin Yi Yap made a statement about last week’s attacks in Georgia that left eight people dead.
“To many of us who do not share identities that face racial-based violence, I urge you to please speak to your families and friends,” Yap said. “Talk to them about why the occupation of those women does not justify their deaths, and why the man having a ‘really bad day’ is no reason for taking innocent lives and why having a ‘what about Black versus Asian’ narrative deviates from this actual root of the problem. Which is white supremacy.
“Talk to them and educate yourselves, if you’re white, that dismantling white supremacy is not about taking away your right or hating you as a person, and about establishing equity for people that have been treated as a lesser human by the system,” she continued. “There is a lot of hurt and fear going on right now, and you can make this process feel a lot better and a lot easier by holding yourselves accountable and being involved.”
