Tag Archives: Facilitation Forum

Take Action Against Anti-Asian Violence and Racism

Our network partners have worked In allyship and solidarity across marginalized groups and have continued to call on community members to report hate incidents, condemn anti-AAPI and racist sentiments, attend workshops and bystander intervention trainings, and call for greater accountability and policy responses from elected officials. Community groups and activists have also provided support systems and spaces for community members to reflect in the current moment, learn more about the long history of anti-Asian violence in the United States, as well as support those who have experienced hate themselves. Here are some ways you can take action against anti-Asian violence and racism:

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago is offering various Bystander Intervention Trainings each month. To combat the current rise in harassment and discrimination and to also proactively prepare for the future increase of hate incidents, Advancing Justice | Chicago is partnering with New York-based nonprofit Hollaback! and CAIR-Chicago to plan and implement an aggressive scaling up of locally-led bystander hate incident intervention trainings for community members.

Asian Americans United and VietLead – Add Your Name: Joint Statement in Response to Recent Anti-Asian Violence! Our hearts go out to the Asian American youths who were harmed by racially motivated intimidation and violence on SEPTA. We recognize that they suffered real physical, mental, and emotional trauma, and that this harm is felt broadly across many in our communities. We know that increased policing and punitive measures will not break this cycle of violence and is not part of the vision for true safety that our communities continuously seek. Add your name to our petition to actually center our young people and ask: What does justice look like for them?https://secure.everyaction.com/ZtLzCsn_ikub0NarCatfEw2

Watch this Facebook live event from Cia Siab, Inc where community members learned how to effectively respond as a bystander and how to form a safety plan from some of the Cia Siab, Inc. staff. Members of the community can also continue to report hate incidents through Cia Siab, Inc’s Hate Incident Form at www.ciasiabinc.org/hateincidentreport.

Address Anti-Blackness through Racial Justice Discourse

As we continue to work towards social and racial justice, incidents of anti-racism and xenophobia in AAPI communities has also brought forth calls for racial solidarity to dismantle anti-Blackness in our communities and understand the role of white supremacy in our struggles toward shared liberation. Here are some ways to take action, continue your education to address anti-blackness, and help fight against attacks on social justice discourse:

VAYLA’s AAPI Rising: Uplifting AAPI Means Dismantling Anti-Blackness Event – Over the past year, the uptick of anti-Asian incidents has reminded us that racism and violence against AAPIs is not new. Through much grief and pain, our AAPI community is strengthened through solidarity. As AAPI communities move forward and overcome increased anger, fear, and violence, it is critical for us to recognize and dismantle anti-Blackness in our communities and understand the role of white supremacy in our struggles toward shared liberation. Watch the recorded session and listen to the community and conversation around addressing anti-Blackness with our own family, community, elders, and navigating internalized white supremacy.

Join the crucial fight to defend the truth with the African American Policy Forum’s #TruthBeTold Campaign – “After unprecedented global protests for racial justice that followed the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, right-wing groups across America instigated and intensified well-funded, orchestrated disinformation campaigns against critical race theory, intersectionality, and other forms of racial and gender justice discourse.” Visit their website to learn more about how to respond to these organized attacks and find the latest updates from the disinformation and legislative campaign against critical race theory, social justice discourse, and race and gender education. This website also offers articles, research, and critical analyses that help explain the who, what, where, and why of the coordinated attacks on critical race theory, racial justice, and anti-racist education (including useful explainers of critical race theory, research into the structure of the disinformation campaign, political analysis, and more).

As an organization of Muslim women committed to building sisterhood and advancing social equity, Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment has continued to open space for our community to learn and grow as anti-racist activists, advocates, and allies. Please visit their anti-Blackness resource page to learn about places to begin or continue your anti-racism journey.

Empowering Pacific Islander Communities invites Black Pasifika specifically to join in conversation with one another to share space and perspectives from the skin you live in as Black AND Pacific Islander. This discussion will be facilitated by Jason Finau and Savali Andrews, two maternal cousins with a shared identity but different upbringings and journeys forward as African American Samoans raised on the west coast in the US. This space will convene on the second Friday of every month. “Black Pacific Alliance Join us every 2nd Friday for conversations on the Black + PI experience. Our next meeting is Friday, January 14th, 2022 | 6-8 PM (PT) For more info or to join, please contact: [email protected].”

Organizing to Protect Immigrants, Refugees, and TPS Holders

Our network partners have been advocating for immigrant and refugee rights and protections as they call for pathways for citizenship, organize against ICE, defend asylum, advocate to end deportations and incarceration in our communities, and work to free our community members from immigration jails, prisons, and detention facilities. Here are some of the most recent campaigns that you can take part in to protect our communities from these incidents of anti-Asian violence. 

Adhikaar has previously called upon Congress to act now to protect Nepali TPS holders and affirm immigrants by creating a concrete pathway to citizenship and permanent residency through legislation. Adhikaar launched a TPS redesignation campaign and needs your help! Nepal remains unsafe for return due to the continuing effects of the 2015 earthquake, ongoing and recent political instability, and the current impacts of COVID-19. Their campaign urges the Department of Homeland Security to redesignate Nepal for TPS, which could allow for 35k+ additional Nepalis to become eligible for TPS. Watch this video to understand why redesignation is so important and what you can do. Take action today by signing the petition to call Secretary Mayorkas to redesignate Nepal for TPS! 

Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW) – “In order to #StopAsianHate, we have to hold to account the way the government enacts anti-Asian violence through deportation. Anti-Asian violence isn’t just between individuals, it’s ingrained in how our country is governed. #seafreedom #stopseadeportation.” Join the Coalition of Asian American Leaders and their partners with the Southeast Asian Deportation Defense Network (SEADDN) in calling for urgent action to end the deportation of Southeast Asian families by signing this petition demanding that visa sanctions against Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos be removed. Sign this petition to demand that President Biden and DHS Secretary Mayorkas lift all visa sanctions. 

Southeast Asian Freedom Network – SEAFN has worked to lift up the stories of community members who were targeted unjustly by the immigration legal system. Detention and deportation is anti-Asian violence. The Southeast Asian immigrants facing deportation have families, communities, lives ahead of them. They do not deserve to have their lives upended by an unjust immigration system. Join these organizations and pledge to support the end of Southeast Asian Deportation: http://bit.ly/seafreedom. You can also share their toolkit: https://bit.ly/seafreedomtoolkit. We cannot stop until deportations are ended entirely for Southeast Asian immigrants and refugees.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta – The Biden administration plans to expand Folkston ICE Processing Center, making Georgia the private prison capital of the U.S. We stand firm with 20 other organizations to demand an immediate halt to all plans to expand! #AbolishICE #ShutDownFolkston #CommunitiesNotCages Read the full press release here: https://drive.google.com/…/1mLiIefWe7GUDndK3jUKy1b…/view

Southeast Asian Freedom Network – SEAFN – Phoeun You, is a 47-year-old Cambodian refugee and crisis counselor from Long Beach, CA. After serving over 25 years in and being found suitable for parole, Phoeun deserves to be reunited with his family! Not transferred to ICE detention! His leadership and hard work has been overlooked because he is a refugee. #StopICEtranfers to #ProtectPhoeun and support #VISIONAct. Use this Toolkit: bit.ly/ProtectPhoeun

Hmong Innovating Politics (HIP) Joint Statement: Southeast Asian Americans Unite in Solidarity and Demand Justice for Soobleej Kaub Hawj

Hmong Innovating Politics (HIP) and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) has issued a joint statement to demand justice for the murder of Soobleej Kaub Hawj on June 28, 2021, at the hands of officers while fleeing the Lava Fire in California. Moreover, we demand that Siskiyou County officials and the Board of Supervisors end their discriminatory water ordinance and invest in resources to build meaningful relationships with Hmong and SEA communities. Read the full joint statement that was signed by 11 community partners and TAKE ACTION!

Take Action Against Anti-Asian Violence and Racism

Our network partners have worked In allyship and solidarity across marginalized groups and have continued to call on community members to report hate incidents, condemn anti-AAPI and racist sentiments, attend workshops and bystander intervention trainings, and call for greater accountability and policy responses from elected officials. Community groups and activists have also provided support systems and spaces for community members to reflect in the current moment, learn more about the long history of anti-Asian violence in the United States, as well as support those who have experienced hate themselves. Here are some ways you can take action against anti-Asian violence and racism:

Stop AAPI Hate has published a survey on state and local resolutions, which found that only 18 states and 49 of 3,073 (1.6%) counties have enacted resolutions in opposition to anti-Asian hate. You can use their 50-state survey to find out if your state or local representatives have stood up against hate (download it at https://bit.ly/3dzQmRl) and learn how your elected officials can take action by taking a look at their template resolution (download it at https://bit.ly/3qJygSq)

Donate to the Support the AAPI Community Fund campaign! This fund aims to condemn incidents of anti-Asian violence and create lasting social change as AAPI voices are amplified and empowered while we address broader, systemic problems. With the donations received through the Fund, GoFundMe.org will issue grants to trusted AAPI organizations working to rectify the racial inequalities in our society. Other fundraisers through the website include:

  • Fundraisers for AAPI Justice – Verified fundraisers helping those affected by violence against the AAPI community
  • Fundraisers for AAPI Neighborhoods – Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) neighborhoods have been struggling to survive since the beginning of COVID-19. Take action to revitalize and preserve AAPI culture in your local community by donating or sharing the verified fundraisers on this page, or by donating to the general fund supporting various AAPI organizations.
  • Fundraisers to uplift the AAPI community –  Support various AAPI efforts determined to increase awareness around inequalities, create solutions, and inspire hope within the community. Take action by donating or sharing the verified fundraisers on this page or by donating to the AAPI Community Fund, supporting various AAPI organizations.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago is offering various Bystander Intervention Trainings throughout July. To combat the current rise in harassment and discrimination and to also proactively prepare for the future increase of hate incidents, Advancing Justice | Chicago is partnering with New York-based nonprofit Hollaback! and CAIR-Chicago to plan and implement an aggressive scaling up of locally-led bystander hate incident intervention trainings for community members. 

Help Chinese for Affirmative Action and 150+ community-based organizations and the California API Legislative Caucus #FaceTheHate and fight for the passage of this historic proposal that would go beyond general condemnations of hate and address the structural inequities and injustices that API communities have grappled with for generations now. Together, we can pass the API Equity Budget. You can download their #FaceTheHate toolkit to get started.

Watch this Facebook live event from Cia Siab, Inc where community members learned how to effectively respond as a bystander and how to form a safety plan from some of the Cia Siab, Inc. staff. Members of the community can also continue to report hate incidents through Cia Siab, Inc’s Hate Incident Form at www.ciasiabinc.org/hateincidentreport. 

OCA Greater Houston is also offering Bystander Intervention Training in August and September. Learn how to help people targeted by identity-based bigotry and harassment. Register today at https://houstonagainsthate.org/BIT This FREE 1.5-hour, interactive training will teach you Hollaback!’s 5D’s of bystander intervention methodology. We’ll start by talking about the types of disrespect — from microaggressions to violence — that people with marginalized identities face and the history of identity-based violence. You’ll also learn what to look for and the positive impact that bystander intervention has on individuals and communities. We’ll talk through five strategies for intervention: distract, delegate, document, delay, and direct; and how to prioritize your own safety while intervening. We’ll have time at the end for practice, and you’ll leave feeling more confident intervening the next time you see identity-based harassment online or in person.

 

 

Address Anti-Blackness through Racial Justice Discourse

As we continue to work towards social and racial justice, incidents of anti-racism and xenophobia in AAPI communities has also brought forth calls for racial solidarity to dismantle anti-Blackness in our communities and understand the role of white supremacy in our struggles toward shared liberation. Here are some ways to take action, continue your education to address anti-blackness, and help fight against attacks on social justice discourse:

VAYLA’s AAPI Rising: Uplifting AAPI Means Dismantling Anti-Blackness Event – Over the past year, the uptick of anti-Asian incidents has reminded us that racism and violence against AAPIs is not new. Through much grief and pain, our AAPI community is strengthened through solidarity. As AAPI communities move forward and overcome increased anger, fear, and violence, it is critical for us to recognize and dismantle anti-Blackness in our communities and understand the role of white supremacy in our struggles toward shared liberation. Watch the recorded session and listen to the community and conversation around addressing anti-Blackness with our own family, community, elders, and navigating internalized white supremacy.

Join the crucial fight to defend the truth with the African American Policy Forum’s #TruthBeTold Campaign – “After unprecedented global protests for racial justice that followed the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, right-wing groups across America instigated and intensified well-funded, orchestrated disinformation campaigns against critical race theory, intersectionality, and other forms of racial and gender justice discourse.” Visit their website to learn more about how to respond to these organized attacks and find the latest updates from the disinformation and legislative campaign against critical race theory, social justice discourse, and race and gender education. This website also offers articles, research, and critical analyses that help explain the who, what, where, and why of the coordinated attacks on critical race theory, racial justice, and anti-racist education (including useful explainers of critical race theory, research into the structure of the disinformation campaign, political analysis, and more).

As an organization of Muslim women committed to building sisterhood and advancing social equity, Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment has continued to open space for our community to learn and grow as anti-racist activists, advocates, and allies. Please visit their anti-Blackness resource page to learn about places to begin or continue your anti-racism journey. These resources include

To commemorate Juneteenth and celebrate to forge stronger alliances across Asian American and Black movements and communities, North Carolina Asian Americans Together encouraged us to take part in actions, gatherings, and rallies across the nation, both in our communities and online. Support organizations in North Carolina like Black Voters Matter, NC Black Alliance, NC BLOC (Black Leadership and Organizing Collective), BYP 100 Durham, SpiritHouse, and Wake County Black Student Coalition that are fighting for Black lives and all of our collective liberations. 

 

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New Way Forward Act for Southeast Asian Refugees

NBC: Asian American community advocates say a new immigration reform bill reintroduced in Congress on Tuesday can become a pathway for Southeast Asian Americans who have been deported to return to the U.S. or who are in deportation proceedings to stay in the country.

Reintroduced by Reps. Jesús  “Chuy” García, Pramila Jayapal, Karen Bass, and Ayanna Pressley, the New Way Forward Act seeks to decriminalize immigration and tackle systemic racism in the country’s immigration system. Key components of the bill include: eliminating mandatory detention, redefining convictions, ending deportations based on certain convictions, restoring judicial discretion for immigration judges, creating a five-year statute of limitations for deportability, and establishing an opportunity to come home for certain deported individuals or non-citizens in deportation proceedings.

Advancing Justice and SEARAC issued the following joint statement: “This landmark legislation re-envisions the United States’ severely flawed and racist immigration enforcement system. The New Way Forward Act would restore fundamental due process protections and compassion back to our immigration system. For the last several years, our country’s outdated and unjust immigration laws have been used to deport our communities at an unprecedented level. As we look to eliminate mass incarceration and create a racially just society, the New Way Forward Act is an essential step toward justice and equity for immigrant and refugee communities. We need to provide a way for those individuals who were unjustly removed to have the opportunity to come home and be reunited with their families.”

Read more about the news story here. Find out how you can take action today by following Advancing Justice and SEARAC’s action alerts to contact your members of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor the New Way Forward Act! Find the digital tool kit here.

Building Upon AAPI Organizing During the 2020 Election

Reflecting on the community mobilization and organizing they engaged in during the 2020 election, our network partners are committed to continuing to defend and protect the right to vote, increase AAPI voter turnout and representation, and organize to make sure policies and elected officials reflect our community concerns and conditions. Read some of the statements and campaigns our network partners have released after the 2020 election, showcasing how they plan to continue the fight for democracy, the strategies they utilized and learned, and how you can get involved in future elections and their civic engagement efforts.

After the election, DRUM – Desis Rising Up and Moving announced the tasks they had of defending the right to vote, defending the integrity of election results, and getting organized to continue building independent working-class power. As community members are facing, “imminent evictions, facing unemployment, still grieving their loved ones lost to the pandemic, being brutalized by the police, or waiting in long food pantry lines,” DRUM recognizes that our interests and needs are not being reflected, thus reinforcing the need for us to continue to build community power. Read more about their campaign and how you can learn here: http://bit.ly/PowerSafetySolidarity 

Hmong Innovating Politics noted that, “despite millions of dollars stacked against them, our young people, volunteers, and outreach specialists did an outstanding job in mobilizing residents in Fresno and Sacramento. They spent countless hours on the phone, engaged thousands of first time voters, helped contact 35,000 AAPI voters throughout the Central Valley, and were part of a multi-racial, multi-generational coalition that drove the largest AAPI voter turnout in the history of California.” HIP is committed to continuing to train leaders, build with their allies to ensure immigrant communities are represented in politics and decisions, and connect with community members who are still disconnected and are not civically and politically engaged. Read HIP’s entire post-election reflection here.

Reflecting on the 2020 election and beyond, Freedom Inc stated: “We won because we engaged over 13,000 Black and Southeast Asian folx in Dane County and raised consciousness around the multiple oppressions we are living through. We won because we have learned how this current system works and we know we are better equipped to govern ourselves. We won because we mobilized roughly over 3,000 people to the streets, to show that WE, THE PEOPLE, hold COLLECTIVE POWER, and when WE MOVE, our oppressors shake. We organized our communities to envision liberation; that vision mobilized our communities to demand change and deliver this win.” Freedom Inc. will continue to fight to hold systems accountable to community demands through mutual aid efforts and grassroots community-led campaigns. Read their entire statement here and sign up to volunteer with Freedom Inc. to help build power at bit.ly/CPBvolunteer.

Organizing Against ICE and Protecting Immigrants and Refugees

Our network partners have been advocating for immigrant and refugee rights and protections as they organize against ICE, defend asylum, advocate to end deportations in our communities, and work to free our community members from immigration jails, prisons, and detention facilities. View and read more about some of the campaigns and advocacy efforts our network partners are involved with and find out how you can help:

Adhikaar has joined the Communities United for Status and Protection (CUSP) with four other immigrants rights and grassroots organizations to amplify the needs and experiences of the African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latinx, Arab/Middle Eastern, and Asian/Pacific Islander (API) communities. This collaboration was founded based on the need to build power, mobilize, and galvanize within our communities. Together, they will fight for permanent residency for all TPS holders. Support their efforts by donating here: bit.ly/adhikaardonate

HANA Center participated in Chicago’s #FreedomTogether car caravan with other immigrants rights groups from across Illinois. They called on President-elect Biden and Congress to end deportations and family separation, pass inclusive COVID-19 relief regardless of immigration status, and introduce legislation with citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants. Support the HANA Center and find out ways you can volunteer here

Asian American Resource Workshop: “On November 19th, the Trump administration proposed a new rule to ban work permits for people on Orders of Supervision (OSUP): those who have been ordered deported but are temporarily released from custody. This includes tens of thousands of Southeast Asian immigrants and refugees who have resettled to the US and rebuilt their lives after being displaced by the war in Southeast Asia. Join us in protecting our friends, families, and community members by submitting a public comment opposing the proposed work ban on work permits by Monday, December 21st.”  Learn more and take action at https://tiny.cc/ProtectWorkPermits

 

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Mobilizing Against Anti-AAPI Hate and Racism

As hate and discrimination against the AAPI community has dramatically risen during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our network partners have called on community members to report hate incidents, condemn anti-AAPI sentiments, and attend workshops and bystander intervention trainings. Here are some examples on how you can take action:

Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago: With numerous reports of anti-Asian verbal and physical attacks and Illinois being the fourth ranked state with the highest number of reported incidents, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago and other local organizations have joined together and launched a virtual bystander intervention training program for community members to learn how to take action against hate and racism. Read more about this program here.

STOP AAPI HATE: “In response to the alarming escalation in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University launched the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center on March 19. The center tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in California and where possible throughout the United States.” Visit https://stopaapihate.org/ to report a hate incident, read their reports, find safety tips, and how you can act now to stand against anti-AAPI hate and racism today.

Cia Siab Inc. created this Hate Incident Report Form, specific to the state of Wisconsin, with the purpose of giving individuals in the Hmoob community an outlet to report hate incidents in a confidential manner, while also encouraging individuals outside of the community to report any hate incidents that has occurred to them as well. Examples may include, but are not limited to, the use of degrading language or slurs (spoken or written) and physical harm suffered based on identity or perceived identity.

Anti-Racism Workshops: By following the Prophetic model, Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment is rooted in the Sunnah and reminded of the diversity of identities and how they show up. These workshops provide language, examples, tools, techniques and most importantly sisterhood in order to change a system. If your organization or group would like to receive training, contact the organization for more information related to pricing, timing and details about each workshop. Learn more about their Anti-Racism workshops here.