Solidarity Statement

CN: Racial harassment, Gender Based Violence.

RCA Students Union would like to express its heartfelt solidarity with students that are affected by recent news from the UK and The US. It's been a saddening and heavy few weeks following the tragic death of 8 people in Georgia and also Sarah Everard in the UK. These are great losses that have reverberated and impacted many.

We want to take the opportunity to bring awareness to issues surrounding racial and gender based violence, in particular, the ways it affects members of our RCA community. For instance, there have been a number of unfortunate incidents, whereby East Asian students have been victims of racial abuse and harassment. Also, we want to note that many people have been affected by the death of Sarah Everard. We’ve seen the way in which it has sparked a wider conversation about gender based violence.

At the Students’ Union, we hold ourselves to a number of guidelines and values in the hopes that we can work towards an equal experience for all students. In response to recent events, we will be organising events and will work closely with RCA and Student Support to ensure that students feel comfortable and able to reach out for support.

On Monday the 29th at 1 pm, we have organised an event, Solidarity Space, this is an hour-long session where the SU can learn how to support and combat some of the difficult issues facing students, specifically in relation to harassment and abuse. This specific event is for Women, Non-Binary and Trans women. However, we hope to expand and hold more of these kinds of events for other marginalised groups in the near future. Please find more details and how to register for the event here.

If you are seeking any support in the meantime, here is who you can contact at the RCA:

Support at The RCA 

• Student Support

•  RCASU Equality and Diversity Officer: Halimo Hussain

• Reporting tools internally at RCA: Anti-Bullying, Harassment and Victimisation Procedure – The Right to Respect & Student Misconduct Policy

Lastly, we’ve also compiled a list of resources, which consists of things to read and watch as well as organisations you can contact for support.

Resources:

Reading lists, articles, videos:

• Daikon Zine

• Six Ssouth East and East Asian women started this network called besea.n (Britains East and South East Asian Network) with lots of resources and articles as well as doing grassroots work they also have a reading list.

• Watch WeRNotVirus Omnibus Theatre A collective of leading actors, writers, directors and creatives of East and South East Asian heritage from the UK’s performing arts industry joined forces online to present a new digital arts event titled WeRNotVirus. This urgent artistic response aimed to shine a light on the surge in hate crime directed towards the community during the Covid-19 crisis. 

Social Media pages:

• Instagram: Asian Mental Health Collective

• Daikon Zine

• Sisters Uncut

Helplines/ Centres:

• Solace Women's Aid Support Line Free advice and support to women and children in London to build safe and strong lives, Advice helpline: 0808 80205565 (Monday – Friday 10 am – 4 pm), Email: advice@solacewomensaid.org

• Asian Women Resource Centre

• Midaye (West London Women's Support Group for Ethnic Minorities) 

• Rights of Women - Free legal advice 

• Stop AAPI Hate crime reporting tool

• London Chinese Community Centre is also offering a session on Monday to encourage the report of hate crime and assist affected individuals and how they can report issues to the police and obtain the appropriate support.

Counselling:

Chinese Welfare Trust is providing free counselling services for Chinese, East and Southeast Asian victims of hate crime who are residents in the Greater London area.