Editorial Introduction

ABSTRACT

What is there to say during these tumultuous times? Over the last year, in each introduction I've written for an issue of Feminist Formations, it seems there are new crises and violences to contend with. Living through a deadly global pandemic, we have sustained so many losses. At the time of this writing, COVID cases in India have overwhelmed the healthcare system, particularly in rural areas. There is a desperate shortage of hospital beds, antiviral drugs, vaccines, and even oxygen to treat the rising number of patients. In the US, anti-Asian violence has increased exponentially, evidenced by the recent shootings of six Asian American women in Atlanta. In many parts of the country, violence against Asians has specifically targeted Asian elders and women. Police violence against Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities continues, and while many felt relief over the recent guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd, we also must contend with the fact that fewer than 5 percent of police who commit acts of violence against BIPOC communities are ever held responsible. And in Gaza, Palestinian people continue to experience state and settler-colonial violence from the Israeli government, with more than 145 Palestinians—including forty-one children—killed by Israeli bombing raids this month, and nearly a thousand Palestinians wounded. We are reminded that what is happening in Palestine is a feminist issue.