We at Unity Care denounce the attacks against Americans of Asian descent and stand together in full support of our Asian brothers and sisters.
The attacks on the Asian community are agonizing. The attacks on older Asians are cowardly and pain me to my core.
Racism and discrimination hurt all of us, not just the direct victims of these hateful actions. The heartbreaking level of hate and anger in our country is poisoning us — robbing us of joy, peace and creativity, and the kind of solidarity and cooperation that allows us to together seek solutions to problems that impact us all. Hatred is diminishing our ability to be our best selves and share our greatest gifts with each other and the world.
I know what it feels like to be violently targeted because of the color of your skin; the anxiety and trauma that it inflicts is debilitating and lasting.
When I started Unity Care 28 years ago, my aim was to help all youth achieve success — especially underserved youth of color who did not have the advantages and opportunities of many of their peers.
Early on, I recognized that our formal systems’ lack of understanding and appreciation of communities of color resulted in racist policies that harm youth and families. That’s why from the start Unity Care has been grounded in our transcultural engagement model (TEM), which allows us to build trusting relationships within communities of color that so that we can help vulnerable youth and families instead of hurting them further.
To transform our communities and our country’s racist systems, we must open our eyes to the problem and actively join together to create a more just society — one that encourages connections between people, leverages our differences and similarities for the benefit of all, and disallows the opportunity to dehumanize any group based on the color of their skin. We must get to know and trust each other, so we can see, and honor, the humanity in each of us.
At Unity Care, we begin by standing against any form of hate or bigotry — and standing for equality and fairness.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.”
Sincerely,
André Chapman, MA
Founder & CEO
