STATEMENT FROM CBTU

PRESIDENT REV. TERRENCE MELVIN

Last Tuesday night, eight people were murdered, and one person was injured at three spas in Georgia, many of whom were Asian and immigrant women that were targeted at their place of work. In the wake of these pointless shootings, we want to lift up our brothers and sisters at the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) who fight tirelessly for the rights of workers across this country. 

The Coalition of Black Trade Unionist (CBTU) shares in the hurt and sorrow of our Asian Pacific brothers and sisters whose families have suffered a devastating loss in their community. These assassinations were also propelled by the demonization of China, when Former President Trump radicalize and racialized Covid-19 instead of leading America and when he told “Proud Boys and Neo-Nazi to “stand back and stand by”. Words are powerful and lead people to action, and we recognize it as senseless violence against immigrants and communities of color, and violence against one is violence against all and should not be tolerated. America must tackle xenophobia; America must work to empower all to protect all workers in all industries.

We encourage our CBTU family and friends to continue to stand up for the rights of all workers, and to stand side-by-side with our Asian workers in their fight against anti-Asian violence and discrimination in this country.