Thread by @EthnicMediaSvc

🗣️According to #stopaapihate there have been over 10k attacks targeting Asian American women since March 2020. We'll be discussing this alarming trend today at 11am PST with an expert panel. Follow @EthnicMediaSvc or via FB Live: fb.me/e/1GPrUvRyn @NAPAWF @AAAJ_AAJC

Welcome to today's briefing, "Moving Beyond Hate: Asian American Women Respond to Uptick in Hate Attacks." You can follow the convo here
@EthnicMediaSvc or via FB live at fb.me/e/1GPrUvRyn

Our speakers today are: Sung Yeon Choimorrow, Executive Dir. of @NAPAWF; Marita Etcubañez, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives with @AAAJ_AAJC, Michelle Kang of the Atlanta Korean Committee against Asian Hate and Sasanna Yee.

How have communities responded to these attacks? How have they tried to address the hate, asks @EthnicMediaSvc ED Sandy Close.

We must understand that while the #pandemic increased incidences of AAPI hate, it is not new. "Many of us felt unsafe living in the US long before #covid," says Sung Yeon Choimorrow of @NAPAWF.

Asian American women are targeted both for their race and their gender. A poll from @NAPAWF showed over 70% of AAPI women voters say they experienced some sort of racial harassment or discrimination since June 2019.

The first Chinese woman to come to the US was brought by an American businessman in the 19th century as a "form of entertainment" for white Americans. This continues to influence American perceptions of Asian women.

Media portrayals of AAPI women have long been dominated by troped like "dragon lady" or "geisha girl" or "china doll." These hyper-sexualize AAPI women and paints them as "easy targets," says Sung Yeon Choimorrow.

The model minority myth has also contributed to an increased perception of AAPI's as vulnerable and submissive. This history has created a hostility that is particularly harmful for women.

Stereotypes perpetuated at schools even today date back to the propaganda of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which continues to inflict harm on young people today.

It is the normalization of dehumanizing AAPI women that is the most harmful aspect of this history, says Sung Yeon Choimorrow of @NAPAWF

"We have been seeing more people step up to take action," says Marita Etcubañez of @AAAJ_AAJC. "We have more people now speaking out."

#Hatecrimes continue to go under reported, but the numbers are rising.

Bystander intervention training available here: ihollaback.org/bystanderinter…

More than 150,000 people have been trained to "take action or intervene" says Marita. But policy change, systemic change is needed. Passage of the Covid 19 Hate Crimes Act marks a victory, specifying improvements to data collection and reporting.

Resource for reporting #hatecrimes StandAgainstHatred.org

"We need greater investment in our communities, including social services and education so people feel safe and can thrive," says Marita.

More diverse and inclusive education can help to dampen the hate, says Marita, including the incorporation of Asian American history in school curriculums.

"Our communities are experiencing a dual pandemic of COVID 19 and this increasing #AntiAsianHate"

"Racist rhetoric and China bashing targets our communities," says Marita.

The Justice Dpt just this week announced it would be ending its China Initiative, which targeted AAPI community members. The move was done on the basis of improving #nationalsecurity. npr.org/2022/02/23/108…

AAPIs have become louder during the pandemic, says Michelle Kang of the Atlanta Korean Committee against Asian Hate. "We were furious and frustrated" following shootings in Atlanta. Korean Americans formed the committee the very next day following the shooting.

The committee created a space where people of color could grieve, heal and come together. This was the first such gathering in the Korean American community, says Kang.

AAPIs "fight to ensure our voices as Asians, Blacks, Browns and Pacific Islanders are not forgotten in US history."

Different ethnic groups within the AAPI community have come together to create a support network. On March 16 AAPIs will again stand in solidarity to demand a stop to #hatecrime and systemic racism. AAPIs have transformed themselves from being invisible to being visible.

In 2022 Gwinette County in GA where 1/3 of AAPI voters reside will provide election materials in Asian languages and Spanish, says Kang.

On March 16 Kang's committee will hold a commemoration for the 1st anniversary of the Atlanta shooting. "Remember and Renew" will be among a number of events aimed at stopping #hatecrime and achieve #racialequity and #racialjustice.

Kang says communities of color have become more aware of the hate that exists within their communities and there is a growing sense of commitment to combatting this.

Our final speaker is Sasanna Yee, whose grandmother was fatally attacked in San Francisco. kalw.org/news/2021-04-0…

Yee's grandmother immigrated to the US in the late 1980s. She was attacked across the street from her home, the home Yee herself grew up in, on Jan 8, 2019.

"I know that hurt people hurt people,"says Yee, reflecting on the attack that took her grandmother's life. "My journey of healing pain, anxiety and depression has helped me to be more compassionate toward others."

Black Lives Matter was such a powerful slogan. Yee wanted to know, what is the slogan for Asians. Her group came up with Asians Belong. "This phrase is affirming, it acknowledges we have been seen as perpetual foreigners, but no longer."

It is amazing to hear Yee say that she sees herself in the attacker who took her grandmother's life, in those moments of anger and rage. And yet she chooses love. Truly inspiring and critical at this troubling moment.

The name of Yee's grandmother translates as "abundant love." Very powerful.

"A deep thanks to our speakers for helping us take a closer look at this very troubling... and almost contagious violence against AAPI women," says Sandy Close.

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