We stand in solidarity with the AAPI community.
Many people have reached out in the past few days, for which I am immensely grateful. I haven’t known how to respond or what to say, so wanted to share my thoughts openly with you all. I have been having a tough time processing the rise in violence against AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) communities and the most recent incident of anti-Asian violence in Atlanta. My heart goes out to the AAPI community, to the victims of the Atlanta shootings and their communities - Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng and four others whose names haven’t been released yet.
Hurt, betrayal, grief, fear, disappointment, sadness, anger. So many emotions to sort through. The most overwhelming of which being feelings of sadness and helplessness, especially for the new baby we’re bringing into this world so soon. Knowing the pain she will inevitably have to face, solely predicated on the way she looks.
As an Asian-American born and raised here in the U.S., this past year has been a reckoning for me. I have grown up trying to brush past the fact that I’m not white, but also not feeling like I belonged to society’s definition of “people of color.” Falling through the cracks, forgotten and invisible.
As I think about how I’ve tried to run away from the pain of racism and white supremacy, I remember vividly how growing up I tried to laugh off racist comments or simply tried to forget about them. Witnessing how much pain my parents have had to go through. The daily injustices from straight up racism to the seemingly smaller, but no less painful micro-aggressions, that continue for us all and are pervasive throughout our daily lives. Being asked “is Monica your real name,” being asked “but where are you really from,” being told I don’t live here when on a daily run in my neighborhood, being very frequently skipped while standing in line, seeing a salesperson be perfectly nice and friendly to the customer before me only to be treated with contempt and scorn when it was my turn to be served.
I’ve been quiet for too long. Silence is violence.
So here’s how we’re taking immediate action. We’re making contributions to the below organizations.
Additionally, here’s a list of 61 ways to donate, separated into categories based on what each organization does.
These are some resources that I’ve found to be helpful:
Hook & Fasten’s quickstart Instagram post with actions you can take
For a deeper resource dive for immediate actions, we recommend the Anti-Asian Resource Card, Swarm Strategy’s solidarity and resource guide, and the Asian American Racial Justice toolkit
This particular social media post has stuck with me the past couple of days.
It makes me think about how we are all complicit in upholding existing institutions within our society that perpetuate racism. The foundations of our country, democracy and capitalism, were created by and have grown under the control of a patriarchal white supremacist society. The responsibility to create change lies within each and every one of us.
We all can do better. We all need to be better.
Sending our love ❤️. We are grateful to be in community with you.