How to Help the AAPI Community
Asian Americans have been living in fear of their safety for months as a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes has swept across the country. After over a year of some of the most powerful government officials spewing a xenophobic and hateful Anti-Asian rhetoric, there has been a reported 150% increase among reported Asian hate crimes. The organization Stop AAPI hate reported nearly 3800 hate crimes in 2020. From New York, where a woman with her young child was spat at and called “china virus” to California, where a man was attacked by three men while at a laundromat, members of the AAPI community are living life in fear of their lives.
If you are not a part of the Asian American Pacific Islander community, it is your responsibility to step up as an ally and educate yourself about the discrimination and hatred AAPI is faced with within our country. Educate your family, friends, and peers. Offer support to your friends, neighbors, and coworkers who are a part of the AAPI community. Support Asian-owned businesses and restaurants. Call out bigotry and racism when you encounter it. Don’t be a bystander, step up for injustice when you see it.
Organizations, Resources, and Funds to Support
Hate Crime Book: How to Report a Hate Crime
https://www.hatecrimebook.com/
Esther Lim, an Asian American woman created booklets she distributed across the country after realizing there was no information on how to report hate crimes in native Asian languages. She has created a total of 6 booklets (Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish, and Korean) to help mend the language barrier many faces when trying to report discrimination and hate crimes.
NAAPIMHA
The national Asian American pacific islander mental health association aims at finding and providing mental health recluses to AAPI across the country.
Butterfly
Butterfly was created by a group of legal professionals, social workers, and sex workers to provide support to Asian sex workers.
Red Canary Song
https://www.redcanarysong.net/
Red Canary Song, named after an Asian aw worker killed by police in a raid of her workplace, is a grassroots organization dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of political representation and fair treatment of sex workers across the country. They also work to provide direct mutual aid to Asian American sex workers across the country.
Asian American Advocacy Fund
https://www.asianamericanadvocacyfund.org/
The Asian American Advocacy Fund is a grassroots organization dedicated to bringing social and civil justice to AAPI in Georgia.
Books to Read
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
“Hong begins her new book of essays with a bang. . . .The essays wander a variegated terrain of memoir, criticism, and polemic, oscillating between smooth proclamations of certainty and twitches of self-doubt. . . . Minor Feelings is studded with moments [of] candor and dark humor shot through with glittering self-awareness.”—The New York Times
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
“Interior Chinatown” follows a Generic Asian Man in his efforts to become more than a bit player. “Ever since you were a boy, you've dreamt of being Kung Fu Guy,” he tells himself over and over, a mantra for success. He wants to move from the background to the center of the screen. - Carolyn Kellog for the Washington Post
They Call Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven Scott
A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon -and America itself - Google Books
Films to Watch
The Farewell (2019)
"The Farewell" perfectly exemplifies cultural differences in family matters when Billi (Awkwafina) discovers that her family has decided not to tell their beloved matriarch, Nai Nai, that she has only weeks to live – a decision rooted in Chinese tradition to avoid "ruining her good mood." - Jenna Ryu
Minari (2020)
A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of this new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home. - Google Reviews
For more resources, organizations, and ways to be an active ally for the AAPI community click the links below.
https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/
https://www.ihollaback.org/app/uploads/2016/11/Show-Up_CUPxHollaback.pdf
