In the spring of 2020, we, the members of the editorial board of the American Journal of Surgery, committed to using our collective voices to publicly address and call for action against racism and social injustices in our society.
One year later, it is now heartbreakingly clear that we must continuously speak up and openly address ongoing injustices and hate. This week, 8 Americans, including 6 Asian Americans, were killed solely based on their race/ethnicity. Since the pandemic started, the Stop AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Hate coalition has received nearly 4000 reports of anti-Asian harassment, ranging from verbal harassment to physical violence,“… the fear and uncertainty inherent to novel infectious disease, the presumptive origin of COVID-19, and the perpetual foreigner stereotype make Asian Americans especially vulnerable to racism and disease scapegoating. (1)”
We again pledge to continue to publicly address injustices at all levels, to work to ensure that the American Journal of Surgery represents the diverse voices of the surgical community and encourages an open discourse in health inequities and research.
We stand in solidarity and we will not be silent.
Herbert Chen
Paula Ferrada
Gregory Kennedy
Brenessa Lindeman
Erika Newman
Carmen Solorzano
Dana Telem
Tracy Wang
Michael Zenilman
Reference
1. Chen HA, Trinh T, Yang G. Anti-Asian sentiment in the United States e COVID-19 and history. Am J Surg 2020; 220: 556-557.