#StopAAPIHate

Words cannot express how heartbroken and angry I am at the recent surge in violent racist attacks against the Asian American community this past year. The cowardly actions of a few people targeting the most vulnerable in our communities – women and the elderly – make me feel sick to my stomach. Grandmothers and grandfathers have been shoved, spat on, slashed with knives, beaten, and KILLED, yes even killed, simply because they are Asian American. Last week eight people’s lives were senselessly taken, six of them being Asian women, and yet because the killer denied racist intentions, police excused his behavior as “having a bad day.”

I’m disgusted and horrified by what is going on in our country.

Growing up as an Asian American woman in the Bay Area, I mostly felt comfortable in my own skin. In fact, between boba shops and trading sticker pictures from summers in Taipei, I thought it was actually pretty darn cool to be Asian American. It wasn’t until I moved to NYC for residency training that I encountered actions that I realized were racist in nature. It started from children on the street mocking me “Me no speak English ching chong” as I moved furniture into my first NYC apartment to my attending telling jokes about how Asian women were the only thing to get under a Jewish man’s skin at departmental grand rounds (yes, that was actually said in front of my entire department).

I did what I thought was acceptable. I laughed off every encounter with possibly racist behavior because I didn’t know what else to do. My whole life I was taught that to be a good person I should not make waves. In Chinese the word for this is “乖” which means obedient. I was so obedient, in fact, that MY NICKNAME growing up was “小乖” which means “little obedient one.” So little Miss obedient one kept her head down and laughed off microaggressions and racist comments and actions in order to keep the peace. In a way, by making everything a joke, I could trivialize these actions, and then somehow justify to myself that I was not really ever a victim of racism.

Well I’m not laughing now.

Attacks Against the AAPI Community

Starting in late January with the death of 84-year old Thai grandpa Vicha Ratanapakdee, who was shoved to the ground and later died from his injuries. He was just out for his daily walk. That could have been your grandfather.

Then there was Xiao Zhen Xie, a 76 year old grandmother, who was attacked in San Francisco in broad daylight for no reason. She made headlines because she fought back and there are videos of her attacker being taken away on a stretcher. But to be honest those videos are difficult for me to watch as she is sobbing in Chinese that he came up and beat her for no reason. That could have been your grandmother.

That same day, 83-year old Ngoc Pham who survived 17 years in a concentration camp in Vietnam after the war was knocked to the ground, resulting in a broken neck. That could have been your grandfather.

Then there was Noel Quintana, a 61 year old Filipino man, whose face was slashed with a box cutter on the L train in NYC. He called for help and no one came to his assistance. I used to take the L train everyday in NYC to go to work. That could have been me.

Just two weeks ago 75-year old Pak Ho was on his walk when he was violently shoved to the ground and robbed. He had just gotten his second dose of the COVID vaccine. Unsteady on his feet and using a cane, Pak Ho was already weak. He fell to the ground, hitting his head, and died just 2 days later from his injuries.

Attack after attack. Video after video. Don’t believe me? Check out journalist Dion Lim’s twitter where you can see it for yourself.

My head is spinning at the level of hate being hurled at the AAPI community. The group StopAAPIHate has documented nearly 3800 reports of anti-Asian incidents in the past year, with 68.1% verbal harrassment, 20.5% shunning AAPI, and 11.1% physical assaults. AAPI women reported 2.3 times more hate incidents than men.

Action Items

So what can you and I do? In the beginning I felt overwhelmed because I’m only one individual and I wondered what kind of difference can I make. But we all must unite and stand strong together to push for change, and everyone’s efforts absolutely matter. Here are a few ways that you can make a difference.

• Speak out against AAPI hate. Denounce racist and xenophobic behaviors. Stick up for your AAPI brothers and sisters. March with us. Stand with us. Support us.
• Report hate incidents at StopAAPIhate.org.
• Donate. Support grassroots organizations and volunteers. List of places to follow at the end of this post.
• Volunteer with organizations such as Compassion in Oakland to help escort Asian American elders as they run errands
• Raise awareness of what’s going on in the AAPI community right now
• Hold those around you accountable. This includes your friends, family, coworkers, workplace.
• Check in on your Asian American friends. Many of us are not okay.

Where to Donate

Organizations / Victims of Hate Crimes

Stop AAPI Hate which is actively tracking and responding to the surge in hate crimes against the AAPI community. Also check out their “act now” page for more resources and how to get involved

Asian Americans Advancing Justice to support Georgia’s AAPI community. All donations will go directly to the victims and their families dealing with the aftermath of the awful shooting last week.

Hate is a Virus which is raising $1 million to give back to local and national communities that provide services to AAPI communities

NAPAWF (National Asian Pacific American Womens Forum) to build collective power within AAPI women and girls

Heart of Dinner to deliver meals to Asian elders throughout NYC

Asian Mental Health Collective to destigmatize and provide mental health support to AAPI communities

Red Canary Song, a grassroots collective of Asian and migrant sex workers

Links to GoFundMe for each of the victims of the Atlanta shooting

Resources

More ways to donate

More ways to learn and take action