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Stop AAPI Hate Leaders Named to TIME’s Annual TIME100 List of the 100 Most Influential People in the World

Statement: Stop AAPI Hate Leaders Named to TIME’s Annual TIME100 List of the 100 Most Influential People in the World

September 15, 2021 — TIME has named Stop AAPI Hate co-founders, Cynthia Choi, Manjusha Kulkarni and Russell Jeung to the 2021 TIME100 annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

“It is a great honor to be recognized for this award among this list of influential leaders,“ said Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council. “This work would not be possible without the bravery and strength of our respondents and the AAPI community at large, and we want to thank them for their willingness to speak out against injustice. This award is a testament to the fact that our advocacy work is being valued, and it validates our fight against Anti-Asian hate.”

The full list and related tributes appear in the  Sept. 27 / Oct. 4 issue of TIME, available on newsstands on Friday, Sept. 17, and now at time.com/time100. The list, now in its eighteenth year, recognizes the impact, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals.

In March 2020, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University launched the Stop AAPI Hate coalition in response to the alarming escalation in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The coalition is renowned for being the leading aggregator of anti-Asian and anti-Pacific Islander hate incidents, ensuring the AAPI community is not being ignored and advocating on its behalf by providing technical assistance, from rapid response to preventative measures and supporting restorative justice efforts.

“We hope any attention received through this incredible honor sheds light on the issues still at hand,” said Russell Jeung, Ph.D., co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. “Since we began tracking data, the reports we receive show a sustained, devastatingly high number of racist attacks against Asian Americans. 2,478 reports were made to our center between April and June 2021, bringing the total number of incident reports to 9,081 since we started collecting data in March 2020.”

“This award encourages us that our work is far from over,” said Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. “As anti-Asian hate incidents reach an all-time high, we must continue to hold our leaders accountable and fight for more holistic solutions to combating hate in schools, workplaces and places of business. We need to invest in education, community led safety initiatives that address immediate harm and address root causes, know your rights campaigns, and legislation that reinforces human rights and civil rights protections for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.”

Follow @TIME for updates about the list on Twitter and Instagram and at Facebook.com/TIME.

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TIME.COM: “In a turbulent year, as the U.S. has seen a surge in racist, anti-Asian attacks—from terrifying assaults on senior citizens to the tragic mass shooting in Atlanta—no coalition has been more impactful in raising awareness of this violence than Stop AAPI Hate. Since its start, the organization has logged more than 9,000 anti-Asian acts of hate, harassment, discrimination and assault across the country.”

“San Francisco State University professor Russell Jeung, who had been an East Oakland, Calif., organizer for Cambodian and Latino youths since the ’90s, founded Stop AAPI Hate in March 2020 with veteran activists Cynthia Choi, co–executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, and Manjusha P. Kulkarni, executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council. They created a place where Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders could file firsthand accounts of racism they had experienced—the types of incidents that have long haunted our communities but gone unreported by government agencies and the media and unnoticed by others.”

“Stop AAPI Hate has become not only an invaluable resource for the public to understand the realities of anti-Asian racism, but also a major platform for finding community-based solutions to combat hate. And its leaders have locked arms with other BIPOC organizations to find restorative justice measures so that civil rights—for all vulnerable groups—receive the protection they deserve.”

View the TIMES.com article here

 

 

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Help Increase Equitable Access to COVID-19 Vaccines

Take action today by keeping your community informed and safe with the COVID-19 vaccine, public health guidelines, and relief efforts! Our network partners have been engaging in community outreach and education on accessing COVID-19 relief and vaccinations and are looking for community members who can help others schedule their vaccine appointments, provide in-language services, and combat vaccine misinformation and myths. Check out some of the campaigns below that highlight volunteer opportunities:

Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon has complied a list of compiled BIPOC specific clinics in Oregon. Help a neighbor schedule their vaccine appointment at apano.org/vaccine-info

Center for Pan Asian Community Services – Help beat COVID-19 by continuing to social distance and getting vaccinated! By following these tips, you can help keep yourself and your loved ones safe and healthy. Help others find the nearest vaccine location near them at www.vaccines.gov. 

As communities of color have been the most devastated by COVID-19, Filipino Advocates for Justice have been outreaching to Alameda County (California) voters and nonvoters to provide in-language accessibility to ensure that our communities are getting the assistance they deserve. There have been deep inequities in COVID-19 vaccine rollout and this outreach program aims to inform our communities of their options and give them access and assistance in getting vaccinated.

Freedom Inc – With the potential for a spike in evictions this summer as the eviction moratorium expires, Madison Tenant Power and Freedom Inc. are pairing up to raise funds to help folks stay in their homes or find new, better housing! These funds will be used for security deposits and other critical housing funds so that more of our community members to have safe housing for themselves and their families. Funds will be distributed by Freedom Inc. Please give as generously as you can, and please share the campaign!

If you live in Fresno or Sacramento County, please join Hmong Innovating Politics’ Hmong COVID-19 Vaccine Network. HIP knows that trying to track down a COVID-19 vaccine has been difficult for so many in our community and they are committed to helping you and your family get vaccinated and navigate the various steps in order to get there. Watch HIP’s COVID-19 Summer Updates video here.

North Carolina Asian Americans Together – NCAAT wants to hear from community members in North Carolina! They are looking for folks who have had any experiences and/or issues (Mental health, stigma, financial issues, racism/xenophobia, or others) with accessing healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic that identify as an Asian American from an underserved group in North Carolina. NCAAT’s goal is to gather disaggregated data in the form of your experiences that will lead to us having the necessary and improved data to advocate for more resources and funding. 

VietLead – It is important that our community have adequate access to the COVID-19 vaccine. VietLead’s Health team is really excited to help bring the vaccine and vaccine education to our community in language! VietLead is in need of volunteers to do phonebanking. We need YOU to help with vaccine outreach this summer, in order to debunk myths about the vaccine and share information about how to get it through our pharmacy partners. Sign up to volunteer here!

 

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You, Me & White Supremacy Continues: MARCH 10-APRIL 7

4-part webinar series will touch on the anti-Asian violence that has been in recent news, as well as the longstanding history of sinophobia in the United States that has allowed for this escalation. We will also be doing a brief bystander intervention training that will allow participants to walk away from this webinar with some information about de-escalation and non-carceral options for communities to explore when harm or violence does occur.

Register for the event.

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.

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.

DACA Program Reinstated

On December 4, 2020, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to fully reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, allowing eligible immigrants to file new applications for protection from deportation under the program. Read more about the DACA program, who is eligible, how to apply, and resources in multiple languages at https://homeishere.us/.

 

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Protecting Democracy | 2020 Election

Ranging from local to national efforts to increase civic engagement within and representation for AANHPI communities across the country, many of our network partners have initiated their own campaigns and mobilization efforts to provide information and resources to our community members and empower them to engage in political participation through voting in the November elections. Together, we can speak up, inform others, and exercise our democratic rights to get represented and address issues and policies.

  • North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT) is committed to raising the visibility and voice of the AANHPI population in North Carolina through building up and motivating an electorate throughout the state. More work needs to be done to bridge the gap between registered voters and the voting-eligible population in AANHPI communities. One key way they achieve this goal is through voter registration drives conducted in communities with high AANHPI populations with the help of volunteers, particularly individuals from the local AANHPI communities. Read more about how NCAAT actively engages with communities to amplify their voices and join their effort to increase AANHPI representation and voice in North Carolina!
  • Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta’s Election Protection Program is looking for poll monitors and interpreters  to provide vital election protection and in-language help to our communities for the upcoming election. Their Election Protection Program seeks to ensure that all voters can exercise their right to vote through poll monitoring, a multi-language voting hotline, and interpretation services for voters.
  • In California, Hmong Innovating Politics is building people power and seeking volunteers to be part of mobilizing our community members to address important issues and policies that impact them, ensuring they continue to stay informed and ready to vote on November 3.
  • With National Voter Registration day on September 22, 2020, SEARAC launched their 2020 Presidential Election Voter Guide to help get out the vote. Helping to breaking down cultural barriers that stand in the way of civic engagement, this guide is currently available with written and audio translations in: Hmong, Khmer, Lao, Mien, and Vietnamese.
  • As America is facing a record shortage of poll workers this year due to COVID-19, our democracy depends on ordinary people who make sure elections run smoothly and everyone’s vote is counted. You can make sure we have a safe, fair, efficient election for all by partnering with Power the Polls to help recruit poll workers from your community. 
  • Along with phone banking and providing in-language resources, NCAAT in Action’s Get out the Vote outreach campaign help voters in their communities become more engaged by making a pledge to vote and creating a voting plan. Visit the NCAAT in Action website to read more about how can get involved in educating and mobilizing AAPI voices and votes in North Carolina. 
  • To help protect voters and defend our election on November 3rd, VietLead in Philadelphia  is looking for poll watchers and poll site supervisors. Help voters speak up and exercise their rights by signing up to help VietLead Protect the Polls 
  • According to the Ballot Initiative strategy Center, racial justice and criminal legal reform are across the ballot in five states this November. Addressing policing and police brutality, various communities across the country are turning to local ballot initiatives to reform the police.

 

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Action Alert: Drop the Charges Against SEAA Organizers

VietLead’s Executive Director, Nancy Nguyen, and a group of Freedom Fighters were targeted for speaking out publicly against ICE Director Tony Pham for using his Viet refugee status to spearhead their terror campaign against Black and Brown immigrant and refugee communities. As the government frequently criminalizes Freedom Fighters like Nancy Nguyen who speak out against human rights abuses and imprisons them with bogus charges, take action today and stand with movement leaders and groups who are fighting for justice by signing the Nat’l Statement Demanding Commonwealth Atty. Shannon Taylor to Drop the Charges. We call on all who are against injustice to sign on to this Drop the Charges Demand letter. To join the movement to demand to drop ALL charges, use the action tool kit.

Read Nancy Nguyen’s Op-Ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer

 

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Support Community Organizing and Power during COVID-19

Despite the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic have raised, our network partners have adapted and continued to organize and respond to the changing needs of their community members with their community outreach and engagement services, programming, and campaigns.

As our communities of working-class immigrant and undocumented workers and families grapple with the impacts of the escalating COVID-19 pandemic, which will continue to grow into a social, health, and economic crisis, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) has launched the “Building Power & Safety Through Solidarity” Campaign. Offering what they have learned in hopes that other communities will find it useful as they organize, this campaign provides a practical, accessible, and participatory program for building community power while also meeting the material needs of frontline communities that have been under-resourced and targeted by policies of neglect and destruction. Contribute to the “Building Power & Safety Through Solidarity” Campaign by donating to the Campaign & Leadership Development and Emergency Direct Aid Funds

Amid incidents of anti-Asian racism and discrimination during COVID-19, Asian Americans Advancing Justice have launched https://www.standagainsthatred.org/ to document hate and to educate about the environment of hate around the country. By reporting and tracking incidents of anti-Asian racism, you will be aiding the efforts of Advancing Justice and other advocates to monitor hate incidents across the country. By sharing what you experienced or witnessed, you can educate the public, empower others, show service providers where help is needed, and strengthen advocacy efforts for hate crimes response and prevention.

Asian Pacific Environmental Network is collecting donations for their COVID-19 Emergency Community Stabilization Fund. This fund would make sure that the working class Asian immigrants and refugees in our communities have what they need to stay home and stay healthy during this pandemic as inadequate federal and state government assistance has not been enough. Along with supporting our AAPI communities, we must also continue to raise awareness and funds for AAPI nonprofits. Seeking aid to provide general operating support, emergency cash assistance, care packages, and youth programming, Mekong NYC has joined the historic #GiveinMay campaign. Read more about how Mekong NYC is responding to the impact of COVID-19 on low-income Southeast Asian community members in the Bronx and how you can support their efforts here.

 

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Building Power & Safety Through Solidarity Campaign

As our communities of working-class immigrant and undocumented workers and families grapple with the impacts of the escalating COVID-19 pandemic, which will continue to grow into a social, health, and economic crisis, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) has launched the “Building Power & Safety Through Solidarity” Campaign. Offering what they have learned in hopes that other communities will find it useful as they organize, this campaign provides a practical, accessible, and participatory program for building community power while also meeting the material needs of frontline communities that have been under-resourced and targeted by policies of neglect and destruction. Contribute to the “Building Power & Safety Through Solidarity” Campaign by donating to the Campaign & Leadership Development and Emergency Direct Aid Funds