Support and Help for the AAPI Community

[Artemis Gordon]

If you are looking for ways to help the Asian American Pacific Islander community in the wake of the murders in Atlanta, plus increased hate crimes, harassment, assault and ongoing bullshit xenophobic prejudice, we have links.

First, call on the people whose job it is to enforce gun control: you can find your representatives in the US at 5calls.org. You set your location, pick the issue you’re calling about, and they give you a script to help you call your senators and representatives about that issue.

I do this every Thursday, and, heads up those of us with anxiety about talking on the phone (hi): a lot of the time it’s voicemail. I’ve spoken to a person once. One time. (And they were very patient as I had a few issues on my list).

I often feel that when confronted with a problem, I have figure out how to fix it. The hate and White supremacist structures that encourage it can’t be solved by one person, but I can do a lot to help, support, and address the pain of seeing more prejudice and more hate crimes. And my first step is to tell the people whose actual job it is to address these issues to do that job. Now.

Next: time and money and energy and speaking up.

We have a lot of links and options. Pick the ones that speak to you. To paraphrase my former senator Cory Booker, never let your inability to do everything prevent you from doing something.

NB: Not every group mentioned below is a 501c3. Many may participate in corporate matching programs, so check the matching options from your employer if that’s an option available to you. 

Stop AAPI Hate.org – Report a hate incident, and share safety tips, and donate to support their work.

Via Stop AAPI Hate: “Donate to local efforts through the Movement Hub, a platform that brings together 40 Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations across the U.S. that address anti-Asian racism. These organizations are part of the Shared Liberation Network, an anti-racism response network.”

Locally in Atlanta, Asian Americans Advancing Justice focuses on “protecting the civil and human rights of Asian Americans in Georgia and the Southeast.”

Also in Atlanta: via Nicole Cardoza’s Anti-Racism Daily newsletter, the NAPAWF Georgia chapter, “which builds collective power with AAPI women and girls.”

The Asian Mental Health Collective, and the Asian Counseling and Referral Service in Seattle, WA,  offer mental health support and address stigma of mental illness and care.

Red Canary Song is a collective of Asian and migrant sex workers working through mutual aid, one of the few massage parlor coalitions in the US: “There are over 9000 workplaces like these across the country with no political representation, or access to labor rights or collective organizing.”

Author RO Kwon shared information about free online bystander training for anyone interested: iHollaback.org Bystander Intervention to stop anti-Asian/American and xenophobic harassment.

Asian Americans for Equality was founded in New York City’s Chinatown, and “advances racial, social and economic justice for Asian Americans and other systematically disadvantaged communities, guided by our experiences as Asian Americans and our commitment to civil rights.”

Claudia suggests Compassion in Oakland, which offers chaperones for the elderly in the Oakland area amid other services.

If you have local or national organizations that you’d like to share, please drop links in the comments. The spam filters can be sensitive about comments with several links in a row, so if you don’t see your comment immediately, please be patient. I’m watching the spam filter closely today.

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