Thread by @EthnicMediaSvc

At 2pm PST AAPI community leaders across Southern California will discuss the resources available to support AAPI communities and actions underway in the wake of the #MontereyPark shooting. Watch the livestream here ethnicmediaservices.org/media-briefing…
@APCF @AAPIEquity @ajsocal_

@APCF @AAPIEquity @ajsocal_ Welcome to today's briefing, where we'll be talking about resources for the AAPI community in the wake of the Monterey Park shooting. Today's briefing will be moderated by @NorbertTanMBA of @AAPIEquity. You can watch the livestream here ethnicmediaservices.org/media-briefing…

This week's tragedy hits home personally, says @NorbertTanMBA, whose family lives in Monterey Park.

Peter Ng of @cscla_info lives 1/2 mile from where the shooting occurred. "You can imagine when the news broke how much it hit me."

Since 1970 Monterey Park has been a hub for immigrants from Taiwan, China and elsewhere to eat, shop, says Ng. "This tragedy... just shattered everyone's hearts."

Speaking in Mandarin, Ng says people in Monterey Park share close ties, personal relations, making this tragedy all the more painful.

"We must be strong, and share this feeling... by reaching out, hopefully we can recover and be strong again," says Ng.

Ng describes receiving calls from all over the world, wanting to know how the community is coping. "This is the kind of support we really appreciate. It gives us the sense that someone does care."

Ng says that being at the epicenter makes gives his staff a sense of duty. In the hours after the shooting @cscla_info released a statement calling for calm. The center's Dir. for Behavioral Health also went to a senior center to be on standby with counselors.

"We have 6 or 7 families who lost loved ones in the shooting, including one victim's sister, who is completely traumatized," says Ng.

Ng adds elected officials, including VP Harris, have been "very supportive."

What will @cscla_info do in the long run to support the community? "For prevention, we need to get the message out... Asian senior citizens are among those who get the least services," says Ng, adding they often hold on to trauma rather than opening up about it.

"We need to learn to detect" these signs, says Ng, whose group is planning a series of workshops to look at what he calls Mental Wellness First Aid.

The important thing is to help them open up, not leave them alone. "We have to embrace each other."

Our next speaker is Chun-Yen Chen, ED of @APCF. Chen's children once attended the dance center where the shooting occurred.

Chen's son called after hearing about the shooting and called his mother, who had turned off her phone for the Lunar New Year. "Recalling these events... my hands are trembling," says Chen.

"Most of the people who attend the dance center are retired. Chinese, Filipino, Latino... these dancers were like grandparents to my kids."

"Because this is personal, I can do something, and I want to help," says Chen. "I want to gather the community together." Chen's group has organized a GoFundMe campaign that has raised close to $1m.

gofundme.com/f/monterey-par…

Chen says many have reached out, including one who has been dancing at the studio for 20 years, fear the studio will be closed. "We need to keep dancing," says Chen, stressing the need for messages of love.

Connie Chung Joe is the CEO of @ajsocal_. "I am a San Gabriel Valley resident," she says. "We spend a lot of time in that area."

@ajsocal_ had a booth at the Lunar New Year festival in Monterey Park. "I woke up on Sunday morning and heard the news, and my first thought was, 'Are my staff safe.'"

Speakers on the briefing met with WH staff the other day. Joe says coordination between government and CBOs is not as efficient as it needs to be. Govt agencies have info that CBOs do not, though CBOs are the ones on the ground connected to the communities.

Joe adds it was 4 days before government officials called her to coordinate on community response.

Government agencies too often lack intimate knowledge of communities. Joe says she and the other groups on the briefing have created a resource list with information on mental health centers, etc.

Victims are going to need help long after the news cycle passes, says @NorbertTanMBA. "We need to ID who the victims are right away, to assess what their needs are. Our goal is to get the (GoFundMe) money to them ASAP," says Joe.

Victims Compensation Benefits is a program where people who are victims or who have witnessed events like the shooting in Monterey Park can get reimbursed for payments for funerals, mental health treatment, etc.

Joe notes that because many of the victims and their families are immigrants they can often struggle with these kinds of resources, which is one of the services groups on the call today are focusing on.

The resource directory can be found here: bit.ly/MP_resources

Manjusha Kulkarni, ED of @AAPIEquity, says these organizations have spent decades providing services to the AAPI community and so were able to spring to actions after news of the shooting broke.

The idea is we want a place where our community can go to learn about services and the GoFundMe campaign, says Kulkarni. "This is going to be a long process, so we need to be in this together."

Questions are poring into the chat, including whether anyone on today's briefing knew victims of the shooting. "I knew Mr. Ma, the teacher, who was always encouraging people to dance."

"For us at @AAPIEquity we have been very careful about releasing names," says Kulkarni, recalling families of victims in Atlanta shootings who did not want their names made public. "They want to keep this very close."

What can allies outside the AAPI community do? Share the resource guide, says Kulkarni, or share what resources you are aware of. Or donate to the GoFundMe campaign gofundme.com/f/monterey-par…

Part of the media narrative cites isolation of immigrants during the pandemic as a factor. But Connie Chung Joe says she worries about this kind of speculation and the portrayal of Asian Americans as "dangerous or volatile."

There are more mass shootings than there are days in the year, says Joe, who notes copycat shootings are also possible. We have to be careful not to extend what happened in Monterey Park or Half Moon Bay to the entire AAPI community.

Chun-Yen Chen of @APCF says victims in #HalfMoonBay live in close quarters and so there needs to be care in releasing names. She also notes there are no AAPI service orgs in Half Moon Bay, further complicating the response.

We have 400 million guns in this country, says @NorbertTanMBA, while in most Asian countries gun violence is extremely rare. @KulkarniManju says attitudes in the AAPI community show strong support for #guncontrol legislation.

@KulkarniManju also notes the shootings come in the wake of a spate of verbal and physical attacks targeting Asian Americans. But many of these have been low level. "I don't want people to live with this incredible fear," says Kulkarni.

Peter Ng says social media platforms like WeChat are being inundated with posts about the shootings. "The information is crucial, but it isn't always accurate," he says. "We have to rely on official info" even though that info is not always readily available.

As a closer speakers offer some calls to action. "For victims and their families, please reach out and call us," says Connie Chung Joe of @ajsocal_

"I want everyone to take a deep breath... we are here, waiting for you to reach out to us. You belong here, don't feel isolated," says Chun-Yen Chen.

"Please speak up," says Peter Ng. "Often Asian Americans do not want to approach authorities. You can come to us."

Here's the resource page again. Please share: bit.ly/MP_resources

Thank you to all today's speakers. Our condolences to all the victims, their families and the communities impacted. Visit ethnicmediaservices.org for follow up reporting on this and future briefings.

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