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Amazon's Prime and marketing boss writes heartfelt message to employees about anti-Asian attacks: 'I don't really know why there is ever any hate towards our differences' (AMZN)

stop asian hateAP Photo/Ben Gray

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Neil Lindsay, Amazon's VP of Prime and marketing, shared strong words about the recent surge in anti-Asian hate crimes across the country, condemning the racist nature of these attacks.

In an internal message to the Prime and marketing teams on Monday, titled "Our differences make us stronger," Lindsay wrote that recent attacks on the Asian community further highlight "the scourge of racism." Lindsay, who is one of the two dozen or so most senior executives at the company, shared personal anecdotes of racism that involved his Asian niece and Lebanese American husband, urging employees to show more support for each other, as "diversity is what makes our world so wonderful, so interesting."

"I don't really know why there is ever any hate towards our differences," Lindsay wrote in the email, which was obtained by Insider. "To me our differences, our diversity, is so truly beautiful."

It's a rare show of support from an Amazon executive on the matter of increased violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, has not said anything publicly nor addressed the issue internally, while his successor, Andy Jassy, tweeted a single message of support last week after Insider inquired about it. Both executives were much more vocal about last year's Black Lives Matter protests.

The Amazon leadership team's relatively muted stance is unusual given how other companies have in recent years become more proactive and vocal about addressing social issues. The significant increase in Asian hate crimes has been one of the most heated topics in the US, prompting nationwide concerns over the safety of Asian communities, especially following the shootings in the Atlanta area last week that killed eight people, including six Asian women.

CEOs of other companies, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, JP Morgan, and Walmart, have all condemned the growing number of attacks against the Asian community, either internally or externally, shortly after Tuesday's shooting rampage in Atlanta. A group of high-profile Silicon Valley investors are also calling for action using the #StopAsianHate hashtag on social media.

Amazon's spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Asian Americans have been victims of roughly 3,800 hate crimes since March of last year, according to Stop AAPI Hate, a group that keeps track of such data. The White House and top Democrats blamed former President Trump and others who pushed anti-Asian rhetoric during the pandemic for the national spike in hate crimes against the Asian American community.

Here's the full text of Lindsay's email, sent to staff this week:

Team, 

The news last week out of Atlanta and the murders of 8 people, including 6 Asian Americans, is yet another horrible horrible event that evokes anger, frustration and fear in many of us, if not us all. It coming on the back of dramatically increasing threats towards our Asian friends and colleagues, and too many other violent and racially motivated events further spotlights the scourge of racism. I've wanted to write to the team all week about these events, to offer my support and to encourage that we support each other, but I've frankly struggled to find words that I've thought might actually be helpful. It feels like every few weeks we have yet more examples of the worst that people can be, which seems to make the pleas for decency, for tolerance, to support each other, sometimes seem like shouting into the wind. But then I spoke with my niece and it became clear to me that even in a storm, I must reach out to those hurting most to offer my support in any way I can, and to let our friends know that we stand with them. 

My niece lives in Atlanta. She is the daughter of an Australian mother (my sister) and a Chinese Malaysian father. She is married to a Brazilian and has two wonderful sons. She works in Social Services helping disadvantaged families find the resources they need to tackle dangerous and difficult situations and to survive. She works with people who are victims often and she is necessarily a very empathetic and strong person. She is small in stature, big of heart and strong of personality. She told me, to my surprise, that when she leaves the house she leaves her kids with her husband because she's worried they will be threatened or exposed to her being insulted. She mentioned this fear has been growing over time. I realized immediately how much it matters for her to know that we're here if she needs, even if only to talk about her fears. I felt ignorant for not seeing how much this was impacting her, and therefore so many others. 

After this call, my Lebanese American husband reminded me of a scary situation he experienced on a plane a few years after 9/11 when he was reading his bible that happens to be written in Arabic (his first language), and then of a threat we once got on the street while walking our dog together, because a guy driving by assumed that we're gay (he was right). Dany, my husband, also mentioned the horrible experience our son's Mexican girlfriend had returning to the US late last year at the hands of immigration officials. He reminded me how much these relatively minor incidents hurt, how pervasive racism and other forms of bigotry are, and how exhausting it all is. 

This is what I want to say. I don't really know why there is ever any hate towards our differences. I don't really understand it. To me our differences, our diversity, is so truly beautiful. Diversity is what makes our world so wonderful, so interesting, and it's what makes my family tick. How can the differences of skin color, of culture or history, be a reason for aggression? I honestly don't get it. But what I do get is that it must stop, and each of us has a role to play in stopping it, even if only by offering our love and support to everyone we can, at every opportunity, and especially when they are hurting. 

To our Asian friends and allies who are grieving over recent events... you are not alone. We stand with you. I stand with you. The scourge of racism may have been allowed to rear its ugly head and to shake its fist, but it will not beat us. We will not let it. We have too much to celebrate in the diversity of our relationships. We have so many friendships to keep us whole. It's hard not to be angered by these violent acts, to feel a little (or even a lot) broken, but we must not let it stop us from being there for each other. 

If you need support beyond your own circle of friends and family, please follow this link to the Employee Assistance Program, Amazon's free, high quality counseling service. If you'd like to learn more about how to be an ally for the AAPI community, please visit these resources developed by Amazon's GDEI (Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) team. 

With as much kindness as I can give... 

Neil

Do you work at Amazon? Contact reporter Eugene Kim via encrypted messaging apps Signal/Telegram (+1-415-926 -2066) or email (ekim@businessinsider.com).

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