Dear Phoenix Family:
Boston Prep stands in solidarity with the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community at Boston Prep and across our city and country. We steadfastly denounce hatred, racism, and xenophobia in all of its forms. Hate is a virus and one we must fight through actions, in community with one another, today and always. To our AAPI community, we share your pain and your anger, and we extend our love and support to you.
We are saddened and outraged by the continued hateful rhetoric and attacks on marginalized communities across our nation as we again experienced the senseless loss of lives at the hands of an armed gunman acting on racially motivated hatred. We mourn the loss of Daoyou Feng, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Delaina Ashley Yaun, others whose names we do not yet know, and the many others who came before them amidst an alarming increase in anti-Asian violence.
Sadly, this week’s attacks in Georgia are not isolated in time, geography, or target. Racially motivated violence and harassment occurs across our country, including here in our local communities, every day, impacting people across communities.
In a powerful spoken word performance titled “We Rise,” our students spoke about the fact that these repeated acts of hatred fill them with a sense of being strangled of the very air they breathe.
However, in this same performance, our brilliant students illuminated the way forward.
While words matter, and we will continue to raise our voices, we know that our words are not enough. Our words must be accompanied, as our students so poignantly named, by performance, by action. Just as we see our community rallying to take action to halt the COVID-19 virus, we must collectively take action to halt the virus of hatred and work to break down the systems of white supremacy. We must dismantle oppression and marginalization wherever and whenever we see it and work together to pursue liberation and equity.
As a Phoenix Family, we will continue to work to cultivate a community defined by compassion and unity, a community that uplifts voices, builds understanding, and honors the humanity of all - a community grounded in mutual respect and love.
We ask you to join us.
With love and support,
Eileen Callahan, Chief Academic Officer
Julie Duran, High School Principal
Margaret Gregory, Middle School Leadership Team
VaLonda Harris, Interim Middle School Principal
Sharon Liszanckie, Executive Director
Vanessa Shiu, Director of Systems and Operations
Eric Tabb, High School Assistant Principal
Lucie Torrey, Interim Middle School Assistant Principal