AAPI Heritage Month: 100 ways Asian Americans and allies are fighting hate crimes, violence

McRobbie formally apologized in July 2020, and said he would, among other efforts, direct the university archives to research the 12 Japanese American students who were prevented from attending the university to apologize to their family members.The organization was launched by community activists and academics in March 2020 as a reporting tool for hate incidents in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. More than 700 tech industry players attended the “Tech for AAPI” online rally to condemn violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.The Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence recently made an effort to preserve affordable housing in New York City. The group is also fighting alongside other community organizations to pass a plan to halt the development of several luxury towers.In response to the rise in violence against Asian Americans across the country, Soar Over Hate has distributed more than 27,000 safety devices, including personal alarms, whistles and pepper spray, to community members and organizations in New York and California. Working with elected officials and other advocates, it launched a campaign this year to pass a bill that would decriminalize unlicensed or unauthorized massage therapy in New York state.More than 85 organizations, ranging from the civic engagement nonprofit 18 Million Rising to the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, spoke out in opposition of the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act in May 2021. Read more.New York state is ​​distributing $10 million to organizations that are supporting Asian American communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic. In addition to a vigil to commemorate those who died in the attack, which injured several other people, the coalition created educational programming to promote Sikh awareness in schools and communities, focusing on such sacred visible aspects as turbans and facial hair, to bring light to Sikhism as a whole.The White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, which was formed by the Biden administration, hosted a virtual event to commemorate the anniversary of the Atlanta-area spa shootings in March. The event included a fireside chat with Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community leaders to share how their work combats the issue of anti-Asian violence, especially among AAPI women.A post shared by Nike (@nike)Using the hashtag #StopAsianHate, global brands showed their support for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community amid the increase of violence against Asian Americans last year. Read more.South Asian Youth in Houston Unite leads healing and restorative justice workshops and other efforts to create safer spaces for South Asian LGBTQ youths.In a celebration for AAPI Heritage Month last year, MTV and a coalition of partners hosted a special event to highlight the contributions Asian American and Pacific Islander communities have made to the country and to express support in a time of heightened violence. Between the attack and the rally in April, unprovoked assaults on two Filipino men were also caught on camera in New York City.The Asian American Federation launched its Hope Against Hate campaign last year to establish safety programs and language-accessible victim support services for Asian Americans in New York City. With more than 300,000 followers across social media platforms, the group has sent money to national coalitions like Stop AAPI Hate and the Very Asian Foundation, as well as to such local projects as Welcome to Chinatown.AAPI Youth Rising, a group founded by middle schoolers in California, supported legislative actions to integrate AAPI history into public school curriculums.A post shared by Amanda Nguyễn (@amandangocnguyen)Activist Amanda Nguyen’s viral video last February, which called on mainstream media outlets to give more coverage to recent violence against Asian American communities, drew millions of views. Nguyen, the founder of the civil rights organization Rise, was chosen as one of Time’s 2022 Women of the Year.Last spring, young Hmong organizers with the Asian Minnesotan Alliance for Justice hosted free, one-hour, interactive bystander intervention training sessions for community members.The policy and research nonprofit released a survey in March that found that all nonwhite racial demographic groups experienced similar rates of hate crimes in early 2022, adding context to how hate incidents affect different groups in the U.S. Results showed Asian American women experienced hate-related incidents at similar rates as Asian American men.To commemorate the one-year mark of Malikah, a collective of trauma-informed women and nonbinary trainers, has been hosting a series of seminars on self-defense, organizing and healing justice to help South Asian women fight gender and hate-based violence.Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC has been leading bystander intervention training in Mandarin and Cantonese to community members.In a historic ceremony April 15, city officials formally apologized to Asian American residents for the anti-Chinese riot that killed one person and destroyed the city’s Chinatown in 1880. For the first anniversary of the Atlanta-area spa shootings, AAPI Women Lead also hosted a virtual healing space, focusing on the targeted violence against Asian women.The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, backed by the AFL-CIO, published a public guide about ways to learn about and combat anti-Asian violence, as well as a toolkit recommending actions people and institutions can take to build a labor movement that is inclusive of the concerns of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. According to students, such a program is critical amid increased violence targeting the Asian American community.The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans has submitted budget priorities to the White House for fiscal year 2023, focusing on issues such as data disaggregation and language access. To call out the monolithization of Asian Americans and the erasure of Pacific Islanders, the council launched its digital #WhoWeAre campaign last year to showcase the diversity of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.The Asian Law Caucus, which advocates for and offers legal services to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, is redistributing $3 million of its funding to community-based organizations across 15 states, as well as $600,000 to the Emergency Victims and Survivors Fund in Georgia. The two aimed for their study, named Double Jeopardy, to open a dialogue about such experiences and help universities implement programs that would give students the support and resources they need.Several prominent Asian Americans, including Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong and Lisa Ling, took part in a public service announcement last year shedding light on the history of anti-Asian racism in the country. The “#StopAsianHate​ Together” ad, helmed by “Be Water” director Bao Nguyen, features a candlelight vigil with celebrities recounting acts of violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community across decades, including the killings of six women of Asian descent in the Atlanta area last year. Read more.Nonprofit Ascend, which works to elevate Asian American and Pacific Islander business leaders, launched its multiyear Ascend Impact Fund last year to expand advocacy, education and community engagement around the history of racism against Asian Americans. Having received six-figure commitments from its inaugural corporate donors, the fund supports the Ascend Foundation’s research in tracking the progress of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in leadership roles and understanding the factors that lead to inequities.Under Stop AAPI Hate's internship program, dozens of high school students with the Stop AAPI Youth Campaign work together to produce policy reports exploring the prevalence and impact of anti-Asian racism on youths. In February 2021, the MLB shared a social media post standing in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and declaring that it is a “shared responsibility to root out this insidious hate.” In another statement, the NFL said the attacks were "abhorrent, disturbing and must cease." Weeks later, after the Atlanta-area shootings that resulted in eight deaths, including those of six Asian women, the NBA also tweeted its support for the community, directing fans to learn about the violence through the organization Stop AAPI Hate.In Chicago, Advancing Justice partnered with the Council on American-Islamic Relations to undertake bystander hate incident intervention training for community members.The group 18 Million Rising publishes campaigns responding to political and social injustices affecting Asian Americans.