How You Can Help #StopAsianHate

by HULA on Apr 16, 2021

Being a proud Hong Kong-based and Asian founded company, it is very hard for us all to overlook the hate crimes being committed in the US, against those of Asian descent. Although we are lucky to be situated in Hong Kong, where racially motivated violence is significantly lower, we feel that is it our duty to stand with the Asian community and against racial discrimination -- from an institution to a personal level. Here's a summary of what had happened and how people outside of the States can help.

Nearly 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents were reported over the course of roughly a year during COVID, a significantly higher number than late year's 2,600 nationwide over the last five years. One of the latest painful incidents marked the death of 6 Asian-American women, who were killed at three spas on March 16.

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Targeting the presumably weak and vulnerable, a large number of elderly people have been subjected to such hate crimes and racist attacks, including Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old Thai man who died after being violently shoved to the ground in San Francisco, where a large Asian-American population resides; Noel Quintana, a 61-year-old man whose face was slashed across from ear to ear on the L train in New York City; an 89-year-old Chinese woman was slapped and set on fire by two 13 year-old boys in Brooklyn, New York. According to Stop AAPI Hate, 68 per cent of the nearly 3800 crimes were reported during the pandemic. Coupling COVID-19 with the xenophobic political dialogue of the last year (let's not forget ex-president Donald Trump's inflammatory comment on the pandemic or as he called it "the China virus"), the advocacy group recorded more than 650 incidents in just one week. Killings and incidents have been described as the "intersection of gender-based violence, misogyny and xenophobia" Besides the US's binary approach to politics and the 'us' versus 'them' mentality, these incidents are best explained by the "widespread omission" of Asian Americans within cultural conversations, according to Amanda Nguyen, an activist and the founder of the Rise civil rights not-for-profit organisation. Although the Asian population grew faster than other major groups in the last US census, the community's stories are more widely covered in the media and its concerns are not polled by political parties. "Minorities can be ade easy scapegoats. And pandemics can unleash underlying hostility that exists towards some group," says Time Soutphommasan, Australia's former race discrimination commissioner and now a sociology and political theory professor at the University of Sydney.

How to Help to #StopAsianHate

Through campaigns, advocacy and actions on social media, people including Phillip Lim, Opening Ceremony's Humberto Leon, and Carol Lim, Susie Bubble, Bryanboy and Eva Chen have come forward to support AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islanders). Click below to learn more about the non-profit advocacy group.

Click here to donate to the AAPI Community Fund

If you still want to help via ways other than financial assistance, support the #StopAsianHate by reporting any instances of anti-Asian assaults and crimes with Stop AAPI Hate or a local group advocacy group. If you think your overseas friends need this information, support this movement by passing along this information to them. Statement from The Winter Institute on Asian American Racial Violence - William Winter Institute

Statement from The Winter Institute on Asian American Racial Violence - William Winter Institute

Staying informed and educated about the Asian communities and the long history of racism against Asians or Asian-Americans would be a great way to start understanding the current situation and help see through from everyday casual racism to the institutional and deadly consequences of racism. If you find yourself at odds with your friends or family who help perpetuate minority oppression -- no matter how small or harmless it may seem, politely address what was said and focus on sharing learning. Sadly, there is no easy way to take on such a heavy topic and sometimes deeply internalised biases, so expect a little pain and discomfort when you are working on improving yourselves and the ones around you.