Cerritos College Board of Trustees Condemns Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans; Renews Its Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At its April 21 meeting, the Cerritos College Board of Trustees adopted Resolution #21-0421G to condemn the recent surge in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans. The Board also adopted Resolution #21-0421H, affirming its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Cerritos College is a minority-serving institution, with approximately 2,000 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students each semester.

Recent acts of violence shed light on the historic and pervasive problem of anti-Asian violence and discrimination in the United States. Between March 2020 and December 2020, Stop AAPI Hate received nearly 3,000 firsthand accounts of anti-Asian hate incidents across the country. Nearly 44% of all incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate have come from California, and no other state in the continental United States has a larger Asian population than California.     

In its anti-Asian hate resolution, the Board recommitted to standing with the AAPI community and calls on all citizens and leaders to join the Board in condemning racist attacks against Asian Americans, and to helping end racism through educating our communities on the rich history and culture of Asian Americans. 

The Board’s diversity, equity, and inclusion resolution, affirms strong support for diversity in faculty and staff hiring, diversity among faculty, students, staff and programs. The Board expects everyone in the Cerritos College community to implement the District’s diversity initiatives and maintain a climate of respect, civility, anti-racism, and inclusion as part of the institution’s commitment to educational excellence.

“The Cerritos College Board of Trustees will absolutely continue to express its denouncement of xenophobia and anti-Asian sentiment and harassment. As leaders and trusted professionals in our community, we have a responsibility to stand against systemic racism and acts of violence. Ours is the responsibility to forge a community strengthened by our diversity rather than weakened by fear and inequity. We must continue the hard work of addressing these issues in pursuit of a safe, thriving, and solicitous place to live and learn from each other,” said James Cody Birkey, president, Cerritos College Board of Trustees.

“As a campus, we continue the work to advance racial justice in a number of ways, which include building racial equity awareness and analytical capacity across campus, equipping one another with the skills, tools, strategies, resources and relationships to be effective leaders and advocates in the fight for racial justice in education, and by taking both internal and external actions to combat institutional racism and advance racial justice,” said Dr. Jose Fierro, president/superintendent.