In the past year, COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated the ongoing racism, misogyny and hate that threaten the dignity and safety of people of color and women. Most recently, we have witnessed the heightened visibility of xenophobic violence toward the Asian American and Pacific Islander community (AAPI), including this week’s attack in Atlanta in which eight people—six of whom were women of Asian descent—were murdered.

Families grieve the loss of their loved ones. Communities grieve the loss of their safety. The painful cycle will stop only when we speak up for inclusion and when we tighten our gun laws.

We hold the families in Atlanta in our hearts as they face an unfathomable loss and stand with the AAPI community as we recognize that the long history of violence and discrimination they have faced must be part of the work toward racial and gender equity in the U.S. We will only thrive as a nation when we live up to our highest ideals, in word and in deed, of liberty and justice for all.