In solidarity with our Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Communities

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the community of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, I would like to express my outrage and grief over the killings in Georgia this week. Regardless of the expressed motive of the shooter, this is a moment for us all to stand in strong opposition to anti-Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) bias acts and anti-AAPI harassment, gender-based violence, discrimination, and intimidation. We steadfastly support our AAPI community of students, faculty, and staff and are committed to providing an environment in which they can thrive.

This is also a moment to recognize that there remain threats to the future of our country that predated the COVID-19 pandemic and will need to be confronted long after the peak of cases has passed. These threats include racism, xenophobia, gender bias, and gun violence, as well as their deadly intersections.

We are not powerless in the face of these threats. In our public health work, we illuminate and characterize the problems, and then, through research and policy, we create paths to advance understanding, address health inequities, and save lives based on evidence. Moreover, in the way we treat one another, on and off campus, we can model the kind of respect, care, and supportive community that everyone deserves.

If you need support during this time, please reach out through MySupport for faculty and staff and for students through wellness.jhu.edu and its dedicated resources on racial trauma. We also urge you to report any hate crime or bias incident to the Office of Institutional Equity.

Thank you for all you do to stand against hatred, discrimination, racism, and violence.

My best to you all,

Ellen J. MacKenzie, PhD ’79, ScM ’75

Dean
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Bloomberg School of Public Health
The Johns Hopkins University