Like so many people in the United States and beyond, we at The Voices and Faces Project grieve the shooting deaths in Boulder, Colorado and Atlanta, Georgia. That six of the victims in Georgia were Asian American women puts a painful point on the fact that anti-Asian hate and harassment have been rising during the last year. That we have seen this rise alongside a broader increase in crimes motivated by bias toward individuals because of their race, ethnicity or gender makes this moment feel all the more painful — and urgent.

Anti-Asian bigotry has a long history in this country. From the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, to the vilification of the Chinese during the McCarthy era, to the sexualization and exploitation of Asian American and Pacific Islander women in today's global and US-based sex trade, discrimination, objectification and violence have been lived realities for far too many persons of Asian descent.

Sometimes we have had the courage to confront these hard truths about our nation, and ourselves. Other times we have chosen — and it is a choice — to look away. Because what has endured alongside the racism and inequality that continues to plague marginalized communities is the unwillingness of far too many of us to enter into common cause with those who are fighting for their basic human rights. And often, their lives.

Over the last few days, a word that we have heard over and over again to describe the loss of life in Georgia and Colorado is "heartbreaking."

But it is not enough — it has never been enough — for our hearts to break over acts of violence. Compassion is only a starting point. Action — sustained, strategic, and insistent action — is what is necessary as we renew our commitment to fighting misogyny, racism and white supremacy in all forms, and creating a nation where hate has no home. — Anne K. Ream, Founder, The Voices and Faces Project