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MPI Statement on Racial Injustice
Against the Asian Community

 

MPI believes in equality and justice for all people and see 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.

 

 

 

Learn More and Take Action

Stand Against Anti-Asian Discrimination and Violence 

by Julia Li

What’s Happening? 

Since the start of the pandemic, anti-Asian hate crimes have increased by 1,900 percent in the United States. In the recent weeks leading up to Lunar New Year, there’s been a spike in attacks, particularly targeting the elderly.

  • More than 2,583 incidents targeting Asian Americans have been reported since the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center began tracking in March 2020.
  • 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakee, a Thai grandfather, was shoved during a walk in San Francisco and passed away due to his injuries. 
  • A 91-year-old Asian man was senselessly shoved to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown.
  • An attacker slashed Noel Quitana, a 61-year-old Filipino, across the face in the subway in Manhattan. 
  • 19-year-old Christian Hall was murdered by Pennsylvania police despite having hands up.
  • In the month of January 2021, in Oakland, there were 20+ robberies and violent attacks reported, according to the Oakland Chinatown Chamber president.
  • San Francisco delivery man Jeffrey Fang’s van was stolen with his 2 children inside. 
  • 81.5 percent of Asian youth reported being bullied or harassed in 2020, according to the Stop APPI Hate Youth Report. 


Hundreds of violent acts are targeted towards Asians daily, however, most incidents are never reported or categorized as hate crimes.

Unfortunately, this is not new. Sadly, history includes many times when Asian communities were subject to exclusion and violence in America. In the 1880s, “yellow peril” paved the way for the Chinese Exclusion Act, and in the early 1900s “dusky peril” halted South Asian immigration. These barriers weren’t removed until the Immigration Act of 1965. In 1942, America ordered more than 120,000 Japanese Americans into internment camps. In 1982, 27-year-old Vincent Chin was beaten to death in Detroit by two men frustrated by the dwindling auto industry. After 9/11, South Asian, Middle Eastern, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Arab communities experienced revenge-motivated hate crimes, including the murders of gas station owners Balbir Singh Sodh, Vasudev Patel and Waqar Hasan. 

Despite being targets for discrimination and violence, Asian American lived experiences have largely been overlooked or silenced because of the model minority myth that Asians are “white adjacent.” This perception discounts the impact of systemic racism, discrimination and trauma in the Asian American experience. 

In 2015, Mom and I had just opened our fifth restaurant and I was in my second year of operating a nonprofit. But the Midwest was not ready for an Asian American family to succeed, especially not a young woman of color. That winter we received 200+ pieces of hate mail hand delivered to my doorstep. That same month, the nonprofit I operated was ransacked and a week later my family’s restaurant was burglarized. Then I went dark. I actively declined all local media requests and removed us from social media, deeply afraid that drawing any additional attention would result in violence. I erased us. 

The events of this past year brought back the unresolved trauma that I relentlessly pushed back over the years. I realized what I had done. In my persistence for safety, I made my family, our business and our legacy invisible. 

I chose to be silent but know now that silence erases our humanity. 

If you are Asian, join me in speaking up, tell your story. We matter. Our lived experience is the American experience—and the world deserves to know. 

Now, more than ever, the Asian community requires allyship. We can and we must fight anti-Asian racism in solidarity with BIPOC groups. We are not invisible, and we are not your model minority. We, too, are communities of color that experience discrimination and our communities have been hurting in silence.

APAC APPI communities and Allies, here’s what you can do:
*Resources were collectively contributed to by APACTacks ERG members. Thank you to MSNBC, NBCNewsand Airbnb Newsroomfor reference to your shared resources.

Report Anti-Asian violence or assaults. 

  • If you or someone you know has experienced an act of violence, report it to StopAAPIHate.org  #StopAAPIHate #StopAsianHate

Take Action 

Educate Yourself

 

 

How to support the greater Asian Community 

Support Chinatowns

National Organizations

  • Stop AAPI Hate: Aggregates and responds to incidents of hate and harassment against APIs. 501(c)(3) 
  • Act to Change: National nonprofit that addresses bullying and has language translation.
  • Gold House: APPI community of founders, leaders and creatives. 501(c)(3)
  • APPI Women Lead: #ImReady Movement aims to strengthen the progressive political and social platforms of APPI communities through empowering women and girls.
  • Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund: AALDEF defends the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, advocacy, education and organizing. 501(c)(3)
  • Asian Americans Advancing Justice: National nonprofit focused on civil, housing, labor and immigration rights for Asian Americans.
  • Hate is a virus: Nonprofit community that exists to amplify Asian voices and dismantle racism and hate in the APPI, APAC and BIPOC communities. 
  • The Can’t Burn Us All: #TheyCantBurnUsAll is a movement to activate all Asians and allies to stand up and fight back against hate crimes and racism.

San Francisco Bay Area

    Fundraisers

Volunteer Opportunities

  • Oakland Chinatown Safety: Oakland Chinatown Coalition is organizing a volunteer foot patrol to join their existing Chinatown Ambassador Program called Community Strolling. Volunteers will pass out red envelopes, build relationships with visitors and members of the community and clean up trash. Can’t volunteer but want to learn more? Email OakChinatownCoalition@gmail.com to get their newsletter. 
  • Jacob Azevedo formed a volunteer mutual aid group to walk/escort the elderly in Oakland Chinatown. Join by emailing CompassionInOakland@gmail.com. 


Organizations 

Special thank you to APACTacks Co-Lead Eunice Ho and Thumbtack’s Global Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dionna Smith, GPHR.

About the Author
JuliaLi is co-lead of the APACTacks Employee Resource Group (ERG) and leads Social Impact and DEI Programs at Thumbtack. She was born in Shanghai and grew up in Missouri. Her family came to America in search of the American Dream—refuge and the opportunity to participate in our nation’s economy. She joins us with her global perspective and dedication to advancing inclusion within companies and communities. 

About Thumbtack 
At Thumbtack, our mission is to help everyone do life’s work with joy and purpose. We believe to do this work we must take a stand against anti-Asian discrimination and violence. We are dedicated to a culture grounded in diversity, equity, and inclusion and freedom from discrimination.  

The APAC Tacks ERG community put together and shared resources with our leadership and employees. We wanted to share them here as well so that folks outside of Thumbtack can help to raise awareness and take concrete actions to support the Asian community. Here’s how you can reportacts of violence, take action, educateyourself and supportthe greater community.