How to Be an AANHPI Ally
Be an AANHPI ally.
We probably didn’t need an official number (up 149% in 2021, BTW) to recognize that AANHPI hate crimes were on the rise. While COVID—and the irresponsible rhetoric around it—certainly ratcheted up hateful language and attacks, sadly the history of anti-AANHPI behavior is nothing new. Whether you’re “versed” or just learning, we’ve gathered some ways to join the fight.
A place to report.
We like an org that puts its mission right in its name. Case in point: Stop AANHPI Hate, an alliance of AANHPI Equity Alliance (AANHPI Equity), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University, which tracks and responds to incidences of AANHPI hate, violence and discrimination. People can directly report incidents on their site—meaningful since AANHPI citizens are the least likely to report such things to law enforcement. Beyond donations, the group offers several ways to strengthen your own community to better support AANHPI members and prevent violence and discrimination.
Four steps forward.
While the Southern Poverty Law Center shared this tactic to respond to specific bias around COVID-19, it’s a powerful framework in general to constructively stop racist responses—whether “jokes” or rants—in their tracks. Instead of exiting the conversation, Teaching Tolerance advises that you interrupt (pause the conversation to show that you don’t want to move past what they said), question (ask neutral questions to better understand why they said what they said), educate (help them understand the damage of their rhetoric on others) and echo (support others who are speaking up).
Read all about it.
It’s near impossible to get accurate reporting of AANHPI issues if those voices (and faces) are not central to the news we see. That’s why the Asian American Journalists Association has been working for over four decades to increase representation in newsrooms through professional development, education, mentorship and even a speakers’ bureau. The organization also holds existing media outlets accountable when they don’t depict AANHPI issues accurately. Donations help to support aspiring AANHPI journalists.
