MnCAN Response to Rise in Racism and Violence Against Asian Americans

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March 27, 2021

MnCAN condemns the continuing acts of violence and harassment on the Asian and Pacific Islander communities throughout America.  National conversation about anti-Asian racism was triggered recently following a violent incident in Atlanta and has sparked conversations with members of our own MnCAN community.  We are shocked and saddened to hear about the experiences of our Asian colleagues, students, and participants right here in Minnesota.   

 We echo the sentiment of our national association, ASHA, in their statement 3/19/21: The loss of those innocent lives, as well as numerous other episodes of violence against AAPI people over the past year, underscore what the ASHA community intrinsically understands: Words matter, and words of hate and prejudice can unfortunately translate into violent action. Language that is used to weaponize, target, and perpetrate harm against individuals of a particular race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation is unacceptable—always.

Educate Yourself and Take Action

Stand Against Anti-Asian Discrimination and Violence 

*The following information is excerpted from an article 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. Sadly, this is not new. 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, NBCNews and Airbnb Newsroom for 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

National Organizations

*The above information is excerpted from an article by Julia Li.

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
Julia Li 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. 

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