There are times when we need to be bold and courageous, and this is one of those times.
Stop Asian Hate.
We are again witnessing horrific violence against a community of our friends, of our neighbors, of our colleagues that cannot be ignored, including by the meeting and event industry.
The recent incident in which a gunman killed eight people in Atlanta, six of whom were Asian Americans, is part of a troubling trend. According to data from Stop AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Hate, there have been nearly 3,800 incidents of violence and discrimination reported in the past year against Asian Americans. About 76 percent of Asian Americans have expressed worry about AAPI hate crimes, harassment and discrimination as a result of rhetoric related to COVID-19.
MPI issued a statement after the Atlanta incident at the urging of the organization’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee.
“MPI believes in equality and justice for all people and sees the recent violent acts against the Asian community as despicable and shameful. Through our educational and leadership resources, we hope to be part of positive change. Racial injustice, revoked freedoms and discriminatory treatments need to be addressed with a commitment to action and justice. While we don’t know the answers, we strive to be part of the solution by serving as an example of positive change everywhere. Because when we meet, we change the world.”
Gary Murakami, director, global sales for MGM Resorts International and a member of the DEI committee, applauds the statement and urges the association to continue to be a strong voice.
“If we don’t use the platform we have, the voice we have, to influence change, why do we do it?”
“We all need to educate ourselves more and understand a little more about not just the Asian issues, but the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion, and how meetings and events influence these very vital conversations,” he says. “It’s not just the anti-Asian hatred. It’s Black Lives Matter, it’s George Floyd. All of these things have elevated the conversation and made it more necessary that all the voices are heard. Difficult conversations must be had.
“The time is now to continue the dialogue. I value what MPI is doing with the DEI committee in amplifying the conversation of how diversity, equity and inclusion are in concert with meetings and events. When We Meet, We Change the World is so true, but if we don’t use the platform we have, the voice we have, to influence change, why do we do it? We’re not here just to create an event, we’re here to influence change or action.”
It’s personal for Murakami, too, and also for Trevor Lui, a renowned chef in Toronto and a former member of MPI’s Global Board of Trustees. He recently did an interview on Cityline, a Canadian talk show, and discussed the discrimination he has faced.
“People were surprised that I could actually shoot a basketball or jump or ran fast because Asians are not supposed to be athletic,” he said. “That carried on even in my corporate life. I can’t even tell you the amount of times people have asked me [if] I knew martial arts or kung fu—I’m assuming because I’m Asian, or the commentary on if I can actually see properly through these eyes.
“These things are so normalized and ingrained in society culturally that we don’t speak up enough about it. The truth is we get it all the time. Being a restaurant owner myself, l feel like we have to work extra hard to depict that our restaurant is clean, because how many times we have heard the commentary, ‘Oh, I wonder if the food is clean, I wonder where their food is from.’ It’s normalized conversation and people assume we’ll just put our head down and it’ll just bounce off us.”
Let’s not put our heads down. With Asian Pacific American Heritage Month scheduled in May, Murakami will be moderating a #RealTalk dialogue on May 26 titled “Standing Up and Speaking Out - AAPI Voices in the Meetings & Events Industry.” We’ll tell you more about it soon, but plan to listen in and join me in raising the voice within the meeting and event industry to Stop Asian Hate.
Until next time…
Rich Luna
Editor in Chief
rluna@mpiweb.org
