Stand Against Anti-Asian Discrimination and Violence

APACTacks Resources for Allies

About the Author
Julia is Co-Lead of our APACTacks Employee Resource Group (ERG) and leads Social Impact and DEI Programs at Thumbtack. She was born in Shanghai and grew up in Missouri. Her family came to America in search of the American Dream — refuge and the opportunity to participate in our nation’s economy. She joins us with her global perspective and dedication to advancing inclusion within companies and communities.

About Thumbtack
At Thumbtack, our mission is to help everyone do life’s work with joy and purpose. We believe to do this work we must take a stand against Anti-Asian discrimination and violence. We are dedicated to a culture grounded in diversity, equity, and inclusion and freedom from discrimination.

Earlier this week our APAC Tacks ERG community put together and shared resources with our leadership and employees. We wanted to share them here as well so that folks outside of Thumbtack can help to raise awareness and take concrete actions to support the Asian community.

Here’s the link to the live resource.

What’s Happening?

Since the start of the pandemic, anti-Asian hate crimes have increased by 1,900% in the United states. In the recent weeks leading up to Lunar New Year, there’s been a spike in attacks particularly targeting the elderly.

• More than 3,795 incidents targeting Asian Americans have been reported since the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center began tracking in March 2020.
• 8 Dead, including 6 Asian Women in Mass Shooting Hate Crime in Atlanta
• 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakee, a Thai grandfather, was shoved during a walk in San Francisco and passed away due to his injuries.
• 19-year old Christian Hall was murdered by Pennsylvania police despite having hands up.
• 75 year old Asian man left brain dead from injuries in Oakland assault
• Good Samaritan Fatally Stabbed While Helping Fellow Asians Against Robbery
• A 91-year old Asian man was shoved to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown.
• An attacker slashed Noel Quitana, a 61-year old Filipino, across the face in the subway in Manhattan.
• In the month of January 2021, in Oakland, there were 20+ robberies and violent attacks reported (Source: Oakland Chinatown Chamber President Carl Chan)
• San Francisco Delivery man Jeffrey Fang van stolen with his 2 children inside
• 81.5% of Asian youth reported being bullied or harassed in 2020 (Source: Stop APPI Hate Youth Report).

Hundreds of violent acts are targeted towards Asians daily, however most incidents are never reported or categorized as hate crimes.

Unfortunately, this is not new. Sadly, history includes many times when Asian communities were subject to exclusion and violence in America. In the 1880s, “yellow peril” paved the way for the Chinese Exclusion Act, and in the early 1900s “dusky peril” halted South Asian immigration. These barriers weren’t removed until the Immigration Act of 1965. In 1942, America ordered more than 120,000 Japanese Americans into internment camps. In 1982, 27-year-old Vincent Chin was beaten to death in Detroit by two men frustrated by the dwindling auto industry. After 9/11, South Asian, Middle Eastern, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Arab communities experienced revenge-motivated hate crimes, including the murders of gas station owners Balbir Singh Sodhi, Vasudev Patel, and Waqar Hasan.

Despite being targets for discrimination and violence, our lived experiences have largely been overlooked or silenced because of the model minority myth that Asians are white adjacent. This perception discounts the impact of systemic racism, discrimination, and trauma in the Asian American experience.

In 2015, my mom Jenny and I had just opened our 5th restaurant and I was in my second year of operating a nonprofit. But the Midwest was not ready for an Asian American family to succeed, especially not a young woman of color. That winter I received 200+ pieces of hate mail hand delivered to my doorstep. That same month the nonprofit I operated was ransacked, a week later my family’s restaurant was burglarized. Then I went dark. I actively declined all local media requests and removed us from social media, deeply afraid drawing any additional attention would result in violence. I erased us.

The events of this past year brought back the unresolved trauma that I relentlessly pushed back over the years. I realized what I had done. In my persistence for safety, I made my family, our business, and our legacy — invisible.

I chose to be silent but know now — silence erases our humanity.

This week, we went back online, read about my family’s story here.

If you are Asian, join me in speaking up, tell your story. We matter. Our lived experience is the American experience and the world deserves to know.

Now, more than ever, the Asian community requires allyship. We can and we must fight anti-Asian racism in solidarity with BIPOC groups. We are not invisible and we are not your model minority. We too are communities of color that experience discrimination and our communities have been hurting in silence.

APAC, APPI communities and Allies, here’s what you can do:

These resources were collectively contributed by APACTacks ERG members. Thank you to MSNBC, NBCNews, Airbnb Newsroom for reference to your shared resources.

Report Anti-Asian violence or assault.

• If you or someone you know has experienced an act of violence, report them to StopAAPIHate.org #StopAAPIHate

Take action.

Raise awareness.

• With the lack of reporting on these attacks we can all do our part by raising awareness and sharing news and content. Watch Amanda Nguyen’s call for mainstream coverage and MSNBC’s We are crying out for help’: Actors, activists sounding alarm on surging attacks against Asian Americans and The Readout on Asian Americans face rise in racist attacks amid pandemic
• Read and share Asian Americans Are Calling on Allies in Response to a Wave of Violence by VICE News, The U.S. is Seeing a massive Spike in Anti-Asian Hate by The Cut, and A Tense Lunar New Year after attacks on Asian-Americans by The New York Times

Amplify Asian voices.

• Provide space for lived experiences to be shared and listened to. Reach out to friends, family, and colleagues and believe in their lived experiences.
• Make space and time for processing pain and the healing journey. There is space for all of us. Read Michelle Kim’s piece on the importance of Asian and Black solidarity and the real enemy of Anti-Asian hate crimes.

Read and Amplify:

• The Many Lives of Steven Yuen by The New York Times
• My People are Dying in Silence by eric toda
• ‘I Will Not Stand Silent.’ 10 Asian Americans Reflect on Racism During the
• Pandemic and the Need for Equality by TIME
• Gold House A100 List honors Asians & APPIs every May
• AHN Top 50 Unsung Heros 2021

Asian voices to follow:

• Michelle Kim, CEO & Co-Founder, Awaken
• Daniel Wu, Actor and Asian American Activist
• Dion Lim, Activist, ABC7 San Francisco Anchor
• Amanda Nguyen, Founder of Risenow.us
• Daniel Dae Kim, Actor and Asian American Activist
• Yoonj Kim, Activist
• Dr. Kiona, Activist

Community voices to follow:

• NextShark, leading source of APPI, Asian American news
• Asians with Attitudes, Activist group
• Asians4Blklives, Activist group
• Asians4Antiracism, Activist group
• Gold House, APPI community
• APPIWomenLead, Nonprofit group

Correct language.

With the COVID-19 pandemic came an increase in xenophobia and violence, escalated by irresponsible and incorrect language used by public officials. COVID-19 is not the “Chinese virus”, “Kung Flu”, or the “Wuhan Virus.” Language matters, correct and denounce acts of racism and Anti-Asian discrimination within your own communities.

Safety tips when experiencing/witnessing hate.

Educate yourself, family, and friends on what to do if/when experiencing or witnessing hate. Safety is top priority. Here are 5 things to consider during these situations.

Educate yourself.

American History.

• Take time to learn about issues and events throughout history including (but not limited to) the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
• Chinese Immigrants and the California Gold Rush
• The history of the racial classification of South Asians, the Dotbusters, and Anti-South Asian Hate Crimes after 9/11
• Korean and Vietnam wars and Japanese internment camps during WWII
• Anti-Filipino sentiment, Filipino Farm Worker Movement and US imperialism
• The murders of Vincent Chin, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, Balbir Singh Sodhi

Articles to read:

• Model minority stereotype and how it creates inequality for all by TIME
• Debunking the model minority myth learn how the Model Minority Myth used been used as a racial wedge between Asian and Black communities
• America’s long history of scapegoating it’s Asian citizens by National Geographic
• Income Inequity in the U.S. is rising most rapidly among Asians by Pew Research Center
• Read McKinsey & Company’s piece on COVID-19 and how stakeholders in the public, private, and social sector can help advance Asian American recovery.
• Read New American Economy’s report on Immigration and COVID-19.

Books to read:

• At America’s Gates Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, Erika Lee
• The Chinese in America: A Narrative History, Iris Chang
• Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, Cathy Park Hong
• Race, Rights, and The Asian American Experience, Angelo Ancheta
• American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang
• Ghosts of Gold Mountain, Gordon Chang
• The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
• Girl in Translation, Jean Kwok
• The Sun is Also a Star, Nicola Yoon
• Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng
• Loveboat, Taipei, Abigail Hing Wen

Watch:

• PBS’s Asian Americans, 5 series documentary
• Grace Lee Boggs, life and legacy of woman behind Black Power Movement
• The Model Minority Myth, 40min by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
• Little America, Episode 6 The Grand Prize Expo Winners, Directed by Tze Chun (Apple TV+)
• Warrior, TV Series, Warrior Takes the Model Minority Cliche and “flips it on its ass”
• Minari, 2021 Film featuring Steven Yeun about Korean American family in Arkansas
• The Farewell, 2019 Film featuring Awkwafina directed by LuLu Chang
• Always Be My Maybe, 2019 Film featuring Ali Wong and Randall Park

How to support the greater Asian Community

Support Chinatowns:

• Support Asian-owned small businesses, shops and restaurants. Chinatowns all over the country are struggling. Order Chinese food from Chinese Food Club and donate to Save our Chinatowns (San Francisco Bay Area) and Send Chinatown Love (New York).

National Organizations:

• Stop AAPI Hate: Aggregates, records and responds to incidents of hate and harassment. 501(c)(3)
• Act to Change: national nonprofit that addresses bullying, has language translation
• Gold House: APPI community of founders, leaders and creatives 501(c)(3)
• APPI Women Lead: #ImReady Movement aims to strengthen the progressive political and social platforms of APPI communities through empowering women and girls.
• Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: AALDEF defends the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, advocacy, education and organizing 501(c)(3)
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice: 501(c)(3) focused on civil, housing, labor, and immigration rights for Asian Americans
• Hate is a virus: nonprofit community that exists to amplify Asian voices and dismantle racism and hate in the APPI, APAC, and BIPOC communities
• The Can’t Burn Us All, #TheyCantBurnUsAll is a movement to activate all Asians and allies to stand up and fight back against hate crimes and racism.

San Francisco Bay Area

Fundraisers:

• Oakland Vietnamese Community Center: Delivers 30,000 meals a month for elderly, burned down in early February 501(c)(3)
• GoFundMe pages for families that have been impacted by recent incidents of violence: Vicha Ratanapakdee’s family, Jeffrey Fang’s family

Volunteer Opportunities:

• Oakland Chinatown Safety: Oakland Chinatown Coalition is organizing a volunteer foot patrol to join their existing Chinatown Ambassador Program called Community Strolling. Volunteers will pass out red envelopes, build relationships with visitors and members of the community, and clean up trash. Can’t volunteer but want to learn more? Email OakChinatownCoalition@gmail.com to get their newsletter.
• Jacob Azevedo formed a volunteer mutual aid group to walk/escort the elderly in Oakland Chinatown. Join by emailing CompassionInOakland@gmail.com

Organizations:

• New Breath Foundation: Supports API immigrants and refugees, people impacted by incarceration ,deportation, and survivors of violence. 501(c)(3)
• APIENC: API Equality NorCal: Builds transgender, non-binary & queer API power. 501(c)(3)
• Asian Prisoner Support Committee: Supports Asian prisoners and deportees. Members regularly accompany and protect elders through Chinatown. 501(c)(3)
• Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN): Environmental issues force in Oakland. 501(c)(3)
• Filipino Cultural Center: For Filipino families to access services, support, and community
• Chinese Progressive Association: Empowers the low-income and working class immigrant Chinese community to demand better living and working conditions. 501(c)(3)
• AYPAL: Power to the youth. Empowers Oakland’s low-income Asian & Pacific Islander immigrant and refugee families to be leaders for school reform and neighborhood change

Special thank you APACTacks Co-Lead Eunice Ho and Thumbtack’s Global Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dionna Smith, GPHR.