May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, which comes after a particularly painful year for the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
For the last year, the AAPI community has seen an increase in receiving hate across the country. Harmful rhetoric that wrongly blamed the AAPI community for the pandemic was the spark and emboldened white supremacist beliefs. In turn, this fanned the flames of anti-Asian sentiment that is already deeply intertwined with our country’s history and systems of power.
California is no exception; anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents have skyrocketed across the state in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Orange County.
In light of the recent anti-Asian and anti-Sikh violence in Atlanta and Indianapolis, EnviroVoters stands with the AAPI community and the victims’ families as they mourn these tragedies.
That’s why we feel it’s important that we use our voices as an organization to strongly condemn the root of this hatred: white supremacy.
Make no mistake: this increase of hate crimes are acts of white terrorism fueled by white fear, misogyny, and sexual violence. Moreover, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are treated as perpetually foreign in the United States, endangering them in unique ways.
We must hold ourselves and our leaders accountable to ensure we are all doing the work towards eradicating racism and white supremacy from our society. To protect our planet, we must also protect the people who live in it, especially communities that are unfairly targeted by racist policies and attitudes. The impacts of the pandemic have further exposed how intricately tied the environmental justice movement is to racial justice issues.
As this month is dedicated to the celebration of the AAPI community, we must remember to stand strong with them past May. In addition, the climate crisis is not some far-off catastrophe; from sea rise in the Marshall Islands to air pollution in Long Beach and Richmond our Asian and Pacific Islander neighbors in the US and abroad are feeling the brunt of it right now. Racist hysteria in our neighborhoods, bad policy in our state capitols, and fossil fuel extraction around the world undergird the atmosphere of racist hysteria our AAPI friends and neighbors have to move through year-round.
We simply cannot fight for climate justice without fighting for racial justice. We will remain committed to using our platform to empower people of color and fight for the most vulnerable amongst us, and we call on our members to do their part to Stop Asian Hate.
RESOURCES
Education:
- Stop AAPI Hate: a national coalition documenting and sharing resources about anti-Asian discrimination.
- Stop Asian Hate
- Asian American Timeline: An interactive timeline of Asian American history from the 1400’s to present day.
- Guidance for Protecting AAPI Workers: guidance for anti-discrimination protocols for employers in response to COVID-19
Support for the AAPI Community:
- Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance’s comprehensive list of resources
- Monsoon Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity : serves victims and survivors of sexual violence, domestic violence, and trafficking in the Asian and Pacific Islander community in Iowa.
- Womankind: supports women who are victims or survivors of gender-based violence on their journey to healing.
- AAPI Women Lead: supports AAPI women and girls with workshops and and research, and promotes movements such as #ImReady, which addresses issues like gender-based and racial discrimination and sexual harassment in the community.
- National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum: empowers AAPI and women and girls through reproductive health, economic justice, immigrant rights, and more. (You can also support the Atlanta chapter to uplift local efforts in the wake of the shooting.)
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta: a nonprofit legal advocacy group protecting the rights of Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in Georgia and the Southeast.
- Asian Law Caucus: promotes and protects civil and legal rights of Asian and Pacific Island communities.
- Chinese Progressive Association: empowers the low-income and working-class Chinese immigrant community in San Francisco.
- Asian American Feminist Collective: an intersectional feminist group that focuses on exploring identity, building community, political education, and advocacy.
- APIENC: an organization supporting the AAPI queer and trans community in the Bay Area.
- Asian Immigrant Women Advocates: a nonprofit focusing on immigrant youth and workers in low-wage industries in the Bay Area.
- Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum: a health justice non-profit organization, APIAHF is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of more than 20 million AAs and NHPIs living in the United States and its jurisdictions.
Donate:
- AAPI Community Fund: grants will benefit a number of AAPI grassroots organizations (including these) that are committed to fighting racial injustice and inequality.
- Oakland Chinatown Victims Fund: Asian Health Services is housing funds to support an Oakland Chinatown Victim’s Fund for individuals and families impacted by the recent crime and assaults that have occurred in the community.
- Chinatown Community for Equitable Development: a community-based organization in Los Angeles dedicated to grassroots organizing, educating, and mutual help.
