Meyer Memorial Trust staff and board stand with the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in Oregon and around the country.
We vehemently condemn the despicable anti-Asian American rhetoric and its intended and inevitable violent consequences — abuse, assault and murder — that have alarmingly risen in recent months and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though this pain is not new, it is exacerbated in these trying times, troubling reminders of how deeply rooted xenophobia, discrimination and white supremacy are within our society. It must end. Oregon has a long history to wrestle with that includes the Hells Canyon Massacre, exclusions of Chinese “non-residents” in our state constitution and the stain of intergenerational trauma as a result of the internment of Japanese Americans in the United States.
We at Meyer are committed to helping uncover and dismantle the systems that are advancing this hate. We do so, not because we have family members or personally identify as AAPI, though many of us do. We condemn this bigotry because being silent is unacceptable and our vision is to build an Oregon that is humane and just.
— Meyer Memorial Trust staff & board