Inside our Droptalk with Asian Americans Advancing Justice

With the rise of anti-Asian harassment and discrimination against the API community across the US and beyond, how can we make sense of why this is happening now, what we can do, and even our emotions around it? During API Heritage Month, we wanted to make sure we gave our Dropboxers the opportunity to explore the answers to those questions.

We invited the president of Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), John Yang, to talk about these topics and more in a recent conversation that we call a Droptalk. AAJC’s mission is to fight for civil rights and empower Asian Americans to create a more just America for all through public policy advocacy, education, and litigation. With this Droptalk, we wanted to raise awareness around the recent increased hate crimes, have a robust conversation around how to educate ourselves and understand the root of racial bias, and suggest steps individuals and allies can take to move forward to create change.

The event, hosted by Dropboxer, API advocate, and Senior Legal Analyst Rachel Nghe, consisted of a brief summary of AAJC and a moderated Q&A about current API issues, followed by an open Q&A with the audience. Tina Lee, Head of Social Impact at Dropbox, helped to plan the conversation, and was surprised by the impact it had on her as well. She said, “Rachel and I teamed up to organize this event as a journey to take action and to understand the complex history of Asian American discrimination in this country. But to me, it was also a process of self reflection — it was realizing that I have much more to do in learning, listening, and showing up for others.”

We ended the event with a list of ways that Dropboxers can continue their journey in making a difference. We encourage others to check out these resources as well to help combat Asian hate and discrimination.

• You can contribute to AAJC here.
• Check to see if your company has set up a donation fund (or even better, if they offer a donation match!) At Dropbox, we have a Benevity fund set up by our Asians@ ERG.
• Watch and share relevant historical clips from PBS Film:
• Chinese Exclusion Act
• Breaking Through (Episode 5)
• Take the Hollaback! Bystander Intervention Training.
• Find opportunities to volunteer and sit on nonprofit boards with Board Match.
• Join internal skills-based volunteering projects — at Dropbox, such as Hack Week.
• Discover other skills-based volunteering opportunities on VolunteerMatch.