Organizations Representing Asian American Communities Across the Nation and Allies Release Statement Rejecting Criminalization and Retribution, and Call for Responses Addressing the Root Causes of Racial Violence

 As a national network of local and national Asian American organizations and individuals that convened in the wake of the pandemic a year ago, we have been working together to share best practices and lessons learned from responding to anti-Asian violence.

We are horrified by the continuing acts of violence against members of our Asian American communities across the country, from New York to Oakland’s Chinatown. We stand in solidarity with the survivors, victims, and their families during this challenging moment, when fear accompanies even the most basic daily experiences. We all deserve to live without the threat of violence and to feel safe in our neighborhoods.

True safety for all must come in the form of investment and resources, not punitive measures that create division and reinforce our criminal justice system’s discriminatory structures. Many grassroots Asian American organizations, including some who are part of this network, have worked for decades as part of multiracial efforts to secure such resources for all of our communities.

The recent assaults in the Bay Area and New York come on the heels of over 3,000 acts of documented anti-Asian hate incidents last year with chilling consequences for our community members who fear violence whenever they leave their homes. There are many additional cases that are misclassified, ignored, or unreported. Going to school or the grocery store, getting a COVID-19 vaccine, or simply taking a walk should not be accompanied by fear of injury or death. However, that fear remains the reality for so many of our community members across the nation.

President Biden’s Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States is a welcome step forward to acknowledging the impact of hateful political rhetoric on our communities.

However, much more must be done at the local level and nationally to combat the vitriol unleashed by the prior Administration, that continues to this day.

The solution to violence is not more violence in the form of aggressive and discriminatory law enforcement. Instead, we need interventions and responses that address the root causes of violence and that provide culturally and linguistically sensitive services for survivors, victims, and their families.

We also call for immediate and deep investments in our communities—including access to victims’ compensation funds, language accessibility, and culturally competent mental health services. We need community ambassador programs to accompany vulnerable community members home, bystander intervention training, equitable public school history curricula, cross-racial community and solidarity building, and restorative justice programs.

All sectors must play a role. Political leaders must follow the lead of community leaders in identifying policy solutions. Philanthropy can provide immediate and long-term resources for programs within our communities and partnerships with Black and Indigenous communities. Government agencies, from the Community Relations Service at the Department of Justice to state and local level programs, must prioritize healing and trauma-informed interventions.

Disrupting and dismantling structural inequities and racism will do much more to make us safe than further criminalization and conflict. The community-centered approaches we have shared  will help us heal and more genuinely help our neighborhoods and communities become healthier, stronger, and safer.

AAPI-Led or AAPI-Serving Organizations:

18 Million Rising

AAPIs for Civic Empowerment Education Fund

AAPIs for Justice San Antonio, TX

Act To Change

Alliance of South Asians Taking Action

Asian Pacific Islanders Coalition, South Puget Sound (APIC SPS)

APIC-WA, King County Chapter

APIC-WA, King County Chapter

ASIA PACIFIC CULTURAL CENTER

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles

Asian Americans For Equality

Asian American Organizing Project (AAOP)

Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition of Washington State

Asian Community Development Corporation

Asian Counseling and Referral Service

Asian Economic Development Association

Asian Law Alliance

Asian Media Access

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA)

Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO)

Asian Pacific Community Fund

Asian Pacific Islander Coalition – South Puget Sound Chapter

Asian Pacific Islander Coalition – Spokane Chapter

Asian Pacific Islander Forward Movement (APIFM)

Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council

Asian Solidarity Collective

AYPAL: Building API Community Power

CAIR San Francisco Bay Area

Can’t Stop! Won’t Stop! Consulting

ChangeLab

Chhaya Community Development Corporation

Chinatown Community for Equitable Development

Chinatown Community Land Trust

Chinatown Service Center

Chinese American Museum of Chicago

Chinese American Service League

Chinese for Affirmative Action

Chinese-American Planning Council

Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community

Coalition of Asian American Leaders

Dr. Michael Hutchins Impact on Wildlife Fund

East King County APIC

Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC)

Equality Labs

Faith and Community Empowerment

Filipinx for Immigrant rights & Racial justice Minnesota

Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries (FIRM)

Freedom Inc

Grassroots Asians Rising

India Association of Minnesota

India Association of Western Washington

InterIm CDA

Islamic Networks Group (ING)

Japanese American Citizens League

Japanese American Citizens League – Seattle Chapter

Japanese American Citizens League, Twin Cities Chapter

Khmer Girls in Action

Korean American Coalition – Los Angeles

The K.W. Lee Center for Leadership

Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP)

Little Tokyo Service Center

ManForward

Masa

Mekong NYC

MPower Change

Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC)

NAKASEC

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)

National Asian Pacific Americans Against Substance Abuse

National CAPACD

National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)

National Queer Asian and Pacific Islander Alliance

OPAWL – Building AAPI Feminist Leadership in Ohio

Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment (PACE)

Pacific Asian Counseling Services

People’s Collective for Justice and Liberation

Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation

Philippine Study Group of MN (PSGM)

Poligon Education Fund

Raksha, inc

Release MN8

Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment

The Revolutionary Love Project

The SEAD Project

Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation & Development Authority

Seeding Change

Sewa-Aifw

Siengkane Lao MN

Sikh Coalition

Snohomish County APIC

South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)

South Asian Youth Action

Southeast Asian Community Alliance

TaikoArts Midwest

Thai Community Development Center

Theater Mu

Transforming Generations

Tsuru for Solidarity

United Cambodian Community

Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota

W-Isms

Allies:

Arab American Association of NY

Arab American Civic Council

Arab American Institute (AAI)

Believers Consulting LLC

CAPIUSA

Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, California State University, San Bernardino

Color of Change

Cullasaja Synergy Consulting, LLC

East Bay Democratic Socialists of America

Interfaith Alliance

Islamophobia Studies Center

Lambda Legal

Muslim Advocates

Muslim Wellness Foundation

NAACP Hollywood Bureau

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

National Council of Jewish Women

National Immigration Law Center

National Urban League

Rabbinical Assembly

Secure Justice

SolidarityIs/Building Movement Project

Support Life Foundation

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation

United We Dream

White Center Community Development Association

 

Resources:

Statement from Asian American organizations in the Bay Area

From @18million Rising, “Call on Me, Not the Cops” in Asian languages: https://18millionrising.org/2020/06/callonme.html

From APANO: A Resource Guide for AAPI Anti-HateActivists,Victims and Survivors of Hate

https://www.apano.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/PUAH-Resilience-to-Hate-Resource-Guide-3_23_20.docx.pdf

From Advancing Justice – AAJC and Hollaback! Bystander Intervention Training:

https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/events

From Vision Change Win: Community Safety Toolkit

https://www.visionchangewin.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/VCW-Safety-Toolkit-Final.pdf

Hate Reporting Sites:

Stopaapihate.org

Standagainsthatred.org