How you can support the safety of Asian Americans with attacks on the rise

In addition to the trauma of the global pandemic, it’s been a year of increased racist and violent rhetoric against Asian American communities across the country. After a series of horrific attacks around the turn of the new year in Oakland, California, and New York City‘s Chinatown neighborhoods, internet users are trying to help #StopAsianHate by donating to community organizations, supporting victims, and sharing stories that are typically silenced. 

Celebrities and multinational corporations — from actors like Daniel Dae Kim and media behemoths like Netflix and Paramount — have also contributed to the #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate hashtags, sharing useful Twitter threads and encouraging community members and victims to report instances of racism and violence, which tend to be underreported. 

The new presidential administration has weighed in as well, in an apparent effort to show its commitment to anti-racist leadership and anti-discrimination policies. President Biden issued a memorandum at the end of January condemning both the crimes themselves and comments by former President Trump that “stoked unfounded fears and perpetuated stigma about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and have contributed to increasing rates of bullying, harassment, and hate crimes against AAPI [Asian American and Pacific Islander] persons.”

Even with these public statements of support, however, communities still report being fearful of public spaces. School officials in New York City report that families are hesitant to send their children to public schools, according to NBC News. And hundreds have begun organizing safety walks for elderly Asian Americans who normally go out in Oakland unassisted. 

There’s a lot you can do beyond hashtags and statements, however, from donating money to worthy causes to attending online trainings. Here are some ways you can contribute to an environment of safety, inclusion, and empathy for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.   

Support relevant nonprofits

Advocacy and community groups have called for supporters to share their actions online and donate to on-the-ground safety measures and legal advocacy work. 

Last week, Twitter user Deepa Iyer (@dviyer) shared such a list of organizations and relevant articles, which was in turn widely shared by celebrities and activists. We’ve compiled a list of a few of these organizations, among others, which you could consider supporting.

• Compassion in Oakland was founded at the beginning of 2021 by four Bay Area activists to coordinate safety measures for Oakland community members, mainly through volunteer-organized escorts for people fearful of public violence. If you are in the area, you can volunteer as an escort using this Google form. 

• The Stop AAPI Hate reporting center was founded last March by the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council, Chinese for Affirmative Action, and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University to document increasing rates of anti-Asian American sentiment. It “tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in California and where possible throughout the United States.” You can donate to the center or share your own stories, which helps the center’s advocacy efforts. 

• Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a nonprofit legal advocacy group organizing for equal protections for Asian American communities. You can donate to the network or support one of the network’s affiliates that does work on the ground in Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. 

• AAPI Progressive Action is a political advocacy group that works to increase the political representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders through policy support, voting campaigns, and candidate advocacy. The group accepts donations that go toward efforts to get community members in positions of power. 

• Chinese for Affirmative Action, one of the organizers behind a Bay Area coalition demanding action against violence from San Francisco and Oakland leaders, is a progressive advocacy group working on both community and federal levels to protect the safety and equality of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. You can donate to their advocacy work or apply to volunteer as an interpreter or translator to aid their community work.  

Learn about bystander intervention 

Bystander intervention programs help teach allies and community members how to respond to and de-escalate instances of racist or violent attacks. Over the last year, organizations have offered online trainings to help people mediate public conflicts. 

• Hollaback! is an anti-harassment nonprofit that provides safety and intervention training for women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, and other marginalized communities. The organization collaborated with Asian Americans Advancing Justice for free online bystander intervention and de-escalation trainings for allies and community members. The next session will be hosted on March 15 at 6 p.m. ET. You can sign up on the Hollaback! website. 

• IMPACT, a self defense nonprofit based in California’s Bay Area, has transitioned its safety courses online. You can still register for the “Interrupting Oppression” Zoom course — upcoming sessions are on Feb. 20, Feb. 27, and March 6. The organization also offered a personal safety online course, which will be available through Zoom on March 18. 

• The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project published a guide to responding to racism toward Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.   

• The Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Asian Americans Advancing Justice partner to provide educational resources through the Stop Hate project, which also operates a hotline to report instances of discrimination. The hotline can be reached at 1-844-9-NO-HATE. 

Participate in some self education 

This country’s legacy of racism against Asian Americans goes well beyond recent rhetoric and is rooted in centuries of discrimination, as NBC News reports. 

Reading and sharing personal accounts from victims of racist attacks helps build awareness of that legacy’s continued effects. It can also encourage quicker official responses. 

After the murder of Oakland resident Vincent Chin on Jan. 31, celebrities sought help finding the perpetrator via Twitter, who was arrested one week later. When New York City resident Lee-Lee Chin-Yeung was attacked on Feb. 16, actress Olivia Munn asked her followers to help. The NYPD made an arrest three days later based on numerous community tips, NBC News reported. 

Listed below are public databases of crimes reported across the country: 

• Reports made to the Stop AAPI Hate center are available to the public online. 

• Asian Americans Advancing Justice has been documenting and sharing instances of hate since 2017, as a way of increasing awareness and visibility of targeted discrimination. You can add your own story or read others’ reports on the Stand Against Hatred website.  The organization also has an array of educational resources available. 

  • South Asian Americans Leading Together, a nonprofit and nonpartisan advocacy group, documents instances of hate towards South Asian, Sikh, Muslim, and Arab communities. You can report your own story or read through the organization’s database. 

Advocate for anti-discrimination legislation

Beyond individual action to stop the rise of hate crimes, activists believe policy at all levels needs to reflect a commitment to anti-discrimination practices. Advocacy groups, including those mentioned above, work year-round to promote rights legislation specifically helping AAPI groups. 

Stop AAPI Hate issued a report in October of 2020 that documented a rise in anti-Asian American sentiment and xenophobic statements from politicians over the last year which, it argued, influenced federal policies that disproportionately and negatively impacted Asian Americans. 

While legislative commitments to anti-discrimination could be seen as largely symbolic, they also show that political representatives might be willing to move away from some of the stigmatizing language of the previous administration and its attendant negative effects. It also suggests that they are capable of being pushed to more meaningful action on behalf of Asian Americans. 

• Stop AAPI Hate supported the passage of House Resolution 908, which condemned racism against Asian Americans. The organization encourages you to track how your representative voted and follow up with their commitment (or lack thereof). 

• California House Resolution 23 was introduced on Feb. 12, encouraging the California Assembly to denounce the rise in hate crimes and pledge “to ensure that APIs feel safe and welcome, both during this COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.”

You can urge your representatives to publicly support and vote for national and local legislation that explicitly protects AAPI communities as it arises. Following the work of the organizations mentioned above can help you do so and stay in it for the long haul, helping to make the U.S. a safer place for all.