More Policing Never Keeps Us Safe: Third Wave Fund's Statement on Atlanta Shooting

We are still grieving with the families, survivors, and broader community over the anti-Asian, white supremacist, misogynist, and anti-sex worker attack that happened in Atlanta on March 16, 2021. We are grappling with the collective trauma of this year, which includes the continued increase in violence against AAPI folks, particularly waged against working-class people, and women — and the continued white supremacist and xenophobic-fueled attacks on all of our BIPOC communities.

At Third Wave Fund, we will continue to amplify our commitment to the fight for racial justice, BIPOC liberation, migrant justice, abolition, and the decriminalization of sex work. Increased policing, criminalization, and other state interventions do not keep us safe. Instead, they further entrench white supremacy and ultimately perpetuate more harm in all of our communities.

As a fund that is deeply invested in the decriminalization of sex work, we know that stigma and discrimination put actual or perceived sex workers at high risk for interpersonal and state violence. We must not erase these dynamics from the narrative of last week’s events. We call on our siblings in philanthropy to invest in safety strategies that BIPOC sex workers have been creating for years.

​We are so grateful for our grantees Red Canary Song, Coalition for Rights & Safety for People in the Sex Trade, Massage Parlor Outreach Project, and others that continue to build community and power by and for Asian migrant sex workers. We are thankful for folks like SNaP Co., who are working towards an end to prisons and policing in Atlanta. Thank you to all of our grantees for your continued work, your clarity of purpose, and your organizing for the safety and wellbeing of our people outside of the carceral system.

Please read the following statements from grantees Red Canary Song, APIENC, The Outlaw Project, Best Practices Policy Project, and others from the broader movement. We encourage your organization to sign-on and follow their demands in this moment.

Red Canary Song
API Chaya (link has expired)
APIENC
NAPAWF Georgia (link has expired)
The Outlaw Project and Best Practices Policy Project

Today, we are grounding into the important community-building that all of our grantees do to create a more just and flourishing world. We know that only we can protect each other, and we extend our love and care to our AAPI & BIPOC community, Atlanta community, massage worker, and sex worker family.

In Love, Rage, and Struggle,
Third Wave Fund


Artwork by Jess X. Snow. Follow their work on Instagram.
Image Description: A beautiful abstract illustration of people walking amidst hills with purple highlights and red lanterns hanging in the air. The people (families, elders, children, etc) are walking towards a window that frames the words "In the future, our Asian Pacific Islander Elders are safe" and in the sky the words "We learned to protect one another without police."

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