Supporting the AAPI Community Right Now

We see the injustice, the heartache, the dehumanization, the outrage, and we stand in solidarity with the AAPI community. There are several fantastic educators and organizations working hard to #StopAsianHate, so we pulled together a guide for you, our readers, who want to actively participate. In it, you’ll find suggestions on how/why to voice your solidarity, organizations putting donation dollars to good use, organizations mobilizing volunteers, resources for your own education, and how you could support your local Asian American-owned business neighbors.

With love, Cassy Joy + FF Team

Voice Solidarity

For perspective on this conversation, in 2020, overall rates of hate crimes in the US dropped by 7% while anti-Asian hate crimes increased 149% (CSUSB study). This is not okay. We see the injustice, the heartache, and the outrage. We won’t stand for this. Voicing solidarity with the AAPI Community may feel like a small step, but it’s important and impactful.

Donate Financially

If you are able, consider donating financially to support the AAPI community. Below, you’ll find a list of organizations that are putting dollars to good work:

• Asian Mental Health Collective
• National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
• Hate is a Virus
• Stop AAPI Hate
• Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
• Heart of Dinner
• Asian American Feminist Collective
• Enough is Enough
• Asian Pacific Environmental Network
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus
• AAPI Woman Lead
• National Organization of Asians and Pacific Islanders Ending Sexual Violence

Volunteer

Volunteering your time and privilege can have a tremendous impact. A few organizations mobilizing volunteers below:

• Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) – The AAJC is committed to fighting for civil rights and empowering Asian Americans to create a more just America for all. If you want to get involved, you can look into becoming a community partner, or find your local chapter and volunteer. If you’re in Atlanta, you can sign up HERE to volunteer.
• CAAV Organizing Asian Communities – CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities works to build grassroots community power across diverse poor and working class Asian immigrant and refugee communities in New York City. Sign up to volunteer with CAAV HERE.
• Chinese Progressive Association – Founded in 1972, the Chinese Progressive Association educates, organizes and empowers the low income and working class immigrant Chinese community in San Francisco to build collective power with other oppressed communities to demand better living and working conditions and justice for all people. Sign up to volunteer HERE. 
• Asian American Advocacy Fund – The Asian American Advocacy Fund is a grassroots 501(c)4 social welfare organization dedicated to building a politically-conscious, engaged, and progressive Asian American base in Georgia. Sign up HERE to volunteer. 
• Compassion in Oakland – Compassion in Oakland strives to provide the Oakland Chinatown Community with a resource for promoting safety and community by offering chaperones in Oakland’s Chinatown neighborhood. Sign up HERE to volunteer. 
• Main Street Patrol – Main Street Patrol formed in February 2021 to help combat Asian-American racism and keep the streets of Flushing safe. You can sign up to volunteer HERE.

Educate Yourself

Knowledge is powerful and can be transformative. Learn as much as you can from the AAPI community and about the AAPI experience in the United States. Believe their stories and observe the role you play, paying special attention to dehumanizing language you may use and witness. Consider taking a course, reading a book, and/or watching a documentary to further your education on AAPI racism.

Learn/Read

• CSU Anti-Asian Prejudice Study Fact Sheet
• Bystander Intervention Course

Books

• Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White by Frank H. Wu
• The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee
• Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People by Helen Zia
• Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
• I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita

Watch

Films by AAPI Filmmakers

• Ulam: Main Dish – Alexandra Cuerdo (available on Hulu)
• Every Grain of Rice – Carol Nguyen (available on Vimeo)
• Deported – Sahra V. Nguyen (available on NBCNews.com)

Films about AAPI Oppression

• The Chinese Exclusion Act (available on PBS.org)
• Delano Manongs (available on PBS.org)
• Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (available on Netflix, Amazon, iTunes)

Support Asian American Owned Businesses and Restaurants

Supporting our Asian American-owned business neighbors is one small, but important, way we can embrace the AAPI community (now and always). In an effort to combat the impact xenophobia has had on our AAPI neighbors, ask around and search for restaurants and other businesses in your area that you can patron (even by way of a gift card) right now.