My statement to support our AAPI community

Jiajun Zhu
Nuro
Published in
2 min readMar 5, 2021

People of all backgrounds grow up with the American Dream as a lifelong aspiration. Many individuals work tirelessly to bring that dream to bear, including people born outside of the United States. I am one of them.

I grew up in Shanghai, China, and as a kid I was fascinated by stories of technologists and entrepreneurs. My dream was to one day become one of them. After graduating from college, I came to the US to pursue a Masters Degree in Computer Science and immediately fell in love with the American culture and its people. Seventeen years later, my family and I are proud to call the US our home — a home where I’ve been able to fulfill my childhood dream by co-founding Nuro. And last year, I felt truly blessed to become an American citizen.

My story is similar to that of many Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) families that have sought the promise of a better life as we have worked to become included in the larger American story. The history and contributions of AAPI immigrants in America spans centuries, and is rich with challenges and triumphs, similar to many other people of color.

Sadly, in recent months, there has been an alarming increase in hate crimes directed at the AAPI communities. At Nuro, we stand firmly against these acts of discrimination and are determined to do our part.

We believe that social equity is fueled by inclusive action. To that end, in support of the AAPI community, we are making the following commitments:

  • Hosting moderated listening sessions for all employees to engage in dialogue about the marginalized experiences of AAPI individuals
  • Launching an internal podcast, highlighting personal stories of our employees
  • Inviting everyone interested to share their story with Asian Americans Advancing Justice
  • Offering employees resources to build awareness of AAPI civil rights history in America
  • Spotlighting organizations like Stop AAPI Hate where the AAPI community can share their experiences and learn more about AAPI safety

We encourage you to join us in taking action, big and small, that cultivates belonging for people of all backgrounds.

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