Statement attributable to:
Susan R. Bailey, M.D.
President, American Medical Association
“We are angered and appalled by last night’s shootings which left eight people dead in Georgia—attacks that appeared to target the Asian-American community specifically. Early in the pandemic, the AMA highlighted that xenophobic language around the virus threatened to further fuel discrimination and hate crimes against Asian Americans, which were already a significant concern due to longstanding interpersonal and structural racism.
“Data released this week by Stop AAPI Hate shows nearly 3,800 firsthand reports of violence, many of those against Asian-American women, discrimination and harassment against Asian Americans since March of last year, including more than 500 incidents in just the first two months of 2021. This number is likely an underestimate. Racism and xenophobia—in action and in language—must not be tolerated.”
“As we saw again in this case, gun violence is a public health crisis in our country, killing more than 30,000 Americans each year. The AMA supports common-sense reforms, broadly supported by the American public—including the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021 that was recently passed by the House—to prevent further injuries and deaths.”
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Editor’s note: In 2016, the AMA declared gun violence a public health crisis and continues to advocate common-sense solutions including research, background checks, and gun buy-back programs to reduce injury and death by firearms in America.
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About the American Medical Association
The American Medical Association is the physicians’ powerful ally in patient care. As the only medical association that convenes 190+ state and specialty medical societies and other critical stakeholders, the AMA represents physicians with a unified voice to all key players in health care. The AMA leverages its strength by removing the obstacles that interfere with patient care, leading the charge to prevent chronic disease and confront public health crises and, driving the future of medicine to tackle the biggest challenges in health care.
