Sadly, hate bias incidents such as verbal harassment and physical assault against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in the United States have risen during the Covid-19 pandemic due to misconceptions and misinformation about the spread of the virus.
I stand with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and all Americans against racism, xenophobia, and intolerance.
There is much to learn about becoming an anti-racist and you may find Dr Ibram X. Kendi’s chart below on how to become an anti-racist, adapted by Dr Ibrahim and Jo Chrona, very helpful in this regard. This is an updated version to the chart that appeared in Black Lives Matter: Anti-Racism Resources for Social Workers and Therapists.
To assist in the endeavor of becoming anti-racist, this post provides some steps we can all take to help break the cycle of racism and violence, and a round-up of various anti-AAPI racism resources to help us become better informed about our AAPI communities. These include resources especially for individuals experiencing Anti-Asian/American harassment, as well as webinars, books, articles, anti-racism guides/toolkits, videos, podcasts, and worthwhile organizations to support.
Please feel free to share any additional helpful finds in the comments section of this post.
Graphic adapted by Jo Chrona based on the work of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Andrew M. Ibrahim MD, MSc’s adaptation
Free Anti-Asian Racism Webinars/Trainings
- Bystander Intervention – Hollaback! and Asian Americans Advancing Justice/June 3 at 1 PM EST and June 8 at 6 PM EST or June 16 at 5 PM EST – “five strategies for intervention: distract, delegate, document, delay, and direct; and how to prioritize your own safety while intervening…”
- Bystander Intervention 2.0 – Conflict De-Escalation Workshop – Hollaback! and Asian Americans Advancing Justice/May 12 at 5PM EST and May 27 at 3 PM EST or June 18 at 12 PM EST or June 28 at 1 PM EST – “deeper than above-mentioned bystander intervention… how to identify potential conflict before it escalates using our “pyramid of escalation” and how to assess whether intervening is the right action for you…”
- #StopAsianHate Panel: Advocating for Our Elders – AARP/May 6 at 3 PM EST – “learn more about the work of AAPI community-based organizations and how they are currently advocating for AAPI elders in the areas of policy, community support, and communications…”
- The State of Asian America Today May 8 at 8 PM EST, Where Have We Come From? on May 15 at 8PM EST, Where Are We Going? Part 1 on May 22 at 8 PM EST and Where Are We Going? Part 2 on May 29 at 8 PM EST – “series of online town halls from Rise: Asian Pacific America to respond to the anti-Asian hate we’re all seeing throughout our diverse communities… where we are today, where we’ve been as a community, and where we need to go, to rise up to the challenges we face in the near and remote future…
- Understanding the Impact of COVID and Social Injustices on the Diverse AA, NH & PI Communities – Stanford University/May 10 at 2 PM EST – “challenges including historical trauma due to immigration, being a refugee, colonization, and being seen as forever foreigners, as well as fighting against the myth of the model minority…”
- Navigating Prejudice and Internalized Prejudice – AAPA/May 12 at 8 PM EST – “experiences of being discriminated against and oppressed affect our overall well-being and sense of agency… differentiate unhelpful collective messages such as colorism and “gender inequality is cultural” from cultural identity, so we can restore wellness and justice in our minds, homes, and communities…”
- White Supremacy Characteristics – SURJ/May 13 at 8 PM EST – “We are all swimming in the waters of white supremacy culture. And we are not all affected in the same way… The good news is that while white supremacy culture informs us, it does not define us… It is a construct, and anything constructed can be deconstructed and replaced.”- Tema Okun… article
- API Heritage Month: Narratives on History, Belonging & Activism – CSSW/May 17 at 6 – 7:30 PM EST – “personal stories, perspectives on history and belonging, and strategies for sustaining activism and healing…”
- NASW-NYC B.O.L.D Talk: Mental Health & Racial Trauma – May 19 at 6 PM EST – “historical implications of racism, the mental health impact of racism on communities of color, and social work’s role in being both complicit and effective in addressing white supremacy and the ensuing trauma…”
- Eradicating AAPI Hate – NASW/May 27 at 1 – 2:30 PM EST – “During the COVID-19 pandemic, violent attacks against and harassment toward Asian Americans have spiked… how current challenges and threats can be understood in the broader context of systemic racism in America…”
- Racial Trauma within Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Communities – McSilver Institute/June 10 at 12 PM EST – “historical and contemporary examples of racism and discrimination within these communities and explore their impacts on mental health and well-being…”
- Channeling Healthy Anger As a Leader – AAPA/June 16 at 8 PM EST – “Anger is often perceived as an unhealthy and unwelcome emotion. This myth of anger may block us from using this powerful emotion in healing trauma, building resilience, and lifting up the community…”
Anti-Asian Racism Webinars on Demand
- Anti-Asian Racism and COVID 19: A Teach-In – PEN America – ” teach-in will situate the alarming rise in hate against a longer historical context and feature discussion of how Asian Americans have turned to literature, poetry, and activism to push back on this scourge and fight for equality, inclusion, and justice.”
- Between the Data: The Unseen Stories of Asian Americans – Pew Research Center – “large data gaps exist about Asians and their experiences in America… recent research on Asian Americans as they explore how to close those data gaps and how better data can serve policymakers, the press, and advocates… presentation slides“
- Healing Communities: Asian/Asian-American Experiences of Mentoring & Social Support – (Part 1) AAPA – “helpful ways to cultivate mutually beneficial social networks, and invest in mentoring relationships…”
- Owning Your Strengths An AAPI Storytelling Panel (Part 2)– how we tell (and who tells) our stories has an important impact on our ability to see ourselves. Themes will include confidence, humility, overconfidence, and navigating cultural and subcultural norms.
- Racializing COVID-19: A 3-Part Series About the Intersections of Race and COVID-19 – University of Illinois/Part 2 and Part 3 – “history of scapegoating minority groups during periods of unrest and how the coronavirus has fueled a resurgence of targeted racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia… how language, such as repeated use of “the China virus,” perpetuates misinformation about how the virus spreads…”
For Individuals Experiencing Anti-Asian/American Harassment
- How to Respond to Harassment – Hollaback! and Asian Americans Advancing Justice/May 21 at 12 PM EST – “what to look for when assessing your safety, and how to determine if responding in the moment is the right action or not. We’ll also take a deep dive into how to build your resilience on an individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and societal front…”
- AAPI community and mental health care – NAMI – information on culturally competent care.
- AAPI Support Group via Zoom – Training Institute for Mental Health – Friday, May 21st – 7:30-8:45PM EST, Sunday, June 6th – 6:30-7:45PM EST, Friday, June 25th – 7:30-8:45PM EST, Friday, August 6th – 7:30p-8:45PM EST and Friday, August 20th – 7:30p-8:45PM EST. For more information about the group and/or to RSVP for a specific date, please email sconverysw@gmail.com or pbuilcsw@gmail.com.
- Anti-Racism Resources for the AAPI Community – from Cornell.
- Resources for Asian Americans learning about anti-Blackness by Asians American Advancing Justice – AAJC.
- Mental health and behavioral services for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Another mental health support site is the Asian Mental Health Collective.
- A Mental Wellness Activity Book for Asian Americans – University of Connecticut’s Asian and Asian American Studies Institute – free pdf includes journals, poetry, literature and more resources to help support Asian American mental health.
Resources for Self Education about Racism Against the AAPI Community
Recommended Children Books H/T Julius Paras
[If you buy something from an affiliate link, SocialWork.Career may earn a commission.]
- 5 Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s Books for Racism and Sexism – @LovingLittleMinds
- Eyes That Kiss in the Corners – [affiliate link] – “New York Times Bestseller and #1 Indie Bestseller… lyrical, stunning picture book tells a story about learning to love and celebrate your Asian-shaped eyes, in the spirit of Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, and is a celebration of diversity…”
- From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea – [affiliate link] – “Miu Lan is not just any child, but one who can change into any shape they can imagine. The only problem is they can’t decide what to be: A boy or a girl? A bird or a fish? A flower or a shooting star?… one thing’s for sure: no matter what this child becomes, their mother will love them just the same…”
- Young, Proud, and Sung-jee: A Children’s Book on Fighting Anti-Asian Racism During COVID-19 – book is free to download.
Recommended Adult Books H/T Constance Grady
- The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority – [affiliate link] – “mainstream America finds it so easy to ignore anti-Asian racism is the idea that Asian Americans are a “model minority”: They may not be considered white, but they’re still considered well-assimilated and upwardly mobile…”
- Contagious Divides: Epidemics and Race in San Francisco’s Chinatown – [affiliate link] – “Trump’s repeated invocation of the false idea that Asian Americans somehow carried Covid-19 into the US has long and racist roots. Early Chinese immigrants to the US in the 19th century were repeatedly demonized as filthy disease carriers by the public health authorities of the era…”
- Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans – [affiliate link] – “Starting in 1848 and continuing into the 20th century, in towns across the American West, Chinese Americans were violently rounded up, driven out of town, or killed in a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing…”
- The Making of Asian America: A History – [affiliate link] – “historian Erika Lee tracks waves of Asian immigration to the United States… Asian Americans cycle between getting labeled “good immigrants” and “bad immigrants,” depending on the mood of the political moment…”
Articles
- 68 ways to donate in support of Asian communities – New Yorker – “this list based on what each organization does, from assisting businesses impacted by COVID-19 to providing legal aid and education…”
- America’s Anti-Chinese Bigotry Has a Very Old Stench: Historical overview of anti-Asian bigotry and how it is written into our government policies and language.
- American Zenophilia – Humanities – “Buddhists in America are generally divided between ethnic Buddhists, often Asian-Americans who are descendants of immigrants, and convert Buddhists…
- A ‘History of Exclusion, of Erasure, of Invisibility.’ Why the Asian-American Story Is Missing From Many U.S. Classrooms – Time Mag – “anti-Asian racism is directly linked to history, and how members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community are often depicted in U.S. history lessons: as foreigners or national security threats, as opposed to people who have lived and worked in America and have challenged it to live up to its ideals of equality for all…”
- Attacks on Asian Americans Demands New Solutions: Overview of attacks and information on how Asian Americans are used as a tool to wedge and reinforce white supremacists’ beliefs and drive anti-Black racism.
- How to Respond to Coronavirus Racism – “Speak Up” strategies to let people know you’re not OK with racist or xenophobic comments about coronavirus or anything else… Teaching Tolerance recommends a four-step process for speaking up against bias: Interrupt, Question, Educate and Echo…”
- How to stop the dangerous rise in hatred targeted at Asian Americans – USA Today – “Racism against Asian Americans is longstanding and complex, and requires a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach…”
- The inadequacy of the term “Asian American” – Vox – “label aspires to unify a wide range of communities with common cause and shared experiences. But many feel it flattens and erases entire cultures…”
- In a Role Reversal, Asian-Americans Aim to Protect Their Parents From Hate – NYT – “Generational and cultural gaps make conversations about race and violence difficult with their American-born and raised children and grandchildren, who may not fluently speak the native language of their elders…”
- In the Spotlight: 12 Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Social Workers – New Social Worker – “This past year, anti-Asian violence has been increasing, and some say that dehumanization of Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) in the U.S. is a contributing factor. One way to combat this is to share our stories…”
- Looking at the Rise of Anti-Asian Racism in the Pandemic – NYT – “anti-Asian sentiment tends to rise in times of national crisis…”
- The Muddled History of Anti-Asian Violence – New Yorker – “It’s difficult to describe anti-Asian racism when society lacks a coherent, historical account of what that racism actually looks like… the Asian-American experience doesn’t always fit neatly into conventional understandings of victimhood…”
- This Is What No One Tells You About Being Asian In America In 2021: Personal essay addresses the 1,900% rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic.
Anti-Asian Racism Guides/Toolkits
- Anti-Asian Racism Resource Guide for Families with Children, Young Adults or Elders – “conversations about race should begin near a child’s fifth birthday even though children begin to be aware of race when they are infants…”
- Anti-Racism Resources for Asian Americans – “action items… Anti-Blackness in Asian Communities… Model Minority Myth and Meritocracy Lies…”
- APALA Racial Justice Toolkit – “racial justice trainings… organizations in racial justice movement moments… resources…”
- APALA (Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association) 2021 COVID-19 Anti-racist Resources – “legal assistance, trackers (racial profiling and hate crimes), anti-xenophobia resources…”
- Asian American Racial Justice Toolkit – “15 modules spanning Asian American Identity, Model Minority Myth, Gender & Patriarchy, White Supremacy, Race & Working Class + Immigrant Struggles, For Black Lives, Colonialism, & Islamo-Racism… begin with people’s lived experiences… build structural awareness of why those experiences are happening, and how they are tied to the oppression of others…”
- Asian American Racism & Mental Health Resources – Massachusetts General Hospital -“resources tailored toward students, parents, educators, mental health clinicians, and allies/the general public…”
- Bystander Intervention Guide – Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) and Hollaback! – illustrates what harassment looks like and how to intervene as a bystander.
- Classroom Resources and Tips To Address Anti-Asian Discrimination – “Anti-AAPI racism isn’t anything new in this country. From “yellow peril” to the “model minority,” we need to educate ourselves about the history of anti-AAPI racism in this country…”
- Combat Hate Crime Resources – “APIAHF and NAPABA toolkit translated into 25 different languages… Understanding the difference between a hate crime and hate incident… Working with law enforcement and the media… Checklist for community organizations…”
- #IAmNotAVirus – “an artist led initiative that does impactful work on dismantling racism by guiding individuals to explore their personal stories and think of them through an equity lens so they can make conflict less uncomfortable and become invested in growing in community…:”
- Learning Together – Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center – “Addressing anti-Asian racism and xenophobia… Activities and videos for students, families, and lifelong learners…Resources about Asian American and Pacific Islander voices in literature…
- Narratives by and About Asians and Asian Americans – CSWE – “highly acclaimed contemporary literature… represent nearly a quarter of the 51 countries and territories of Asia. Intersectionality, coming of age, the precariousness of forced displacement, and layered cultural identity are some of the themes…”
- Racial Justice in Education Resource Guide – “Racial justice — or racial equity — goes beyond “anti-racism.” It is not just the absence of discrimination and inequities, but also the presence of deliberate systems and supports to achieve and sustain racial equity through proactive and preventative measures…”
- Toolkit for Addressing Anti-Asian Bias, Discrimination, and Hate – NYC Commission on Human Rights, the Mayor’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes – educates the public about their rights and protections in light of COVID-19-related stigma and hate crimes.
Not Much of a Reader? Check Out These Anti-Racist Videos/Movies/TV Shows/Podcasts
YouTube/TV/Film
- Asia Rising Forever – recording of a special livestream festival event… a celebration of Asian and Asian American music and togetherness, demonstrating unity due to the pandemic and the xenophobic hate many are experiencing.
- Asian Americans is a five-part PBS documentary series on the history of Asians in America and the ongoing role Asian Americans have played in shaping our nation’s history. The series is told through individual lives and family stories
- #AsianAmCovidStories is a documentary series by the Asian American Documentary Network exploring Asian Americans’ experiences and challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2021 – PBS is offering several new films and shows featuring AAPI stories.
- The Chinese Exclusion Act – 2018 PBS documentary examines the origin, history, and impact of the 1882 law that made it illegal for Chinese workers to come to America, and for Chinese nationals already here to become U.S. citizens.
- Fear, Compassion or Xenophobia: Our Social Responses to Crisis – discussion on creating frameworks to fight xenophobia.
- I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype | Canwen Xu | TEDxBoise – “In this hilarious and insightful talk, eighteen-year-old Canwen Xu shares her Asian-American story of breaking stereotypes, reaffirming stereotypes, and driving competently on her way to buy rice.”
- Let It Not Happen Again: Lessons of the Japanese American Exclusion – “In March of 1942, 227 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes on Bainbridge Island by the US Army…”
- Raising Global Citizens: A Panel for Parents, Caregivers, and Educators – how to best support children to be effective participants in this increasingly complex, diverse, and interconnected world.
- Self-Love through Self-Identity | Eileen Kim | TEDxWoodbridgeHigh – “hopes to break the stigma surrounding mental illness by telling her own story as a source of empathy in order to motivate others to seek help…”
- UNLADYLIKE2020 – series of 26 short films and a one-hour documentary profiling diverse and little-known American women from the turn of the 20th century, and contemporary women who follow in their footsteps.
- What kind of Asian are you? – Scott plays a friendly jogger who is very interested in guessing the heritage of Stella.
- Why Asian Americans are not the Model Minority | Alice Li | TEDxVanderbiltUniversity – “Confined within the boundaries of the model minority myth, Asian Americans are commonly perceived as a mass of indistinguishable overachievers who are all “smart” and “good at math.” However, these seemingly positive stereotypes can have a detrimental impact on not only Asian Americans, but also race relations in general. In this talk, Alice Li draws from research studies and her personal experiences to challenge the two-dimensional identity outlined by the model minority myth…”
Podcasts/Exhibits
- Self Evident: Asian American’s Stories aims to challenge assumptions about Asian Americans.
- “Standing Together Against Hate” – the Smithsonian Asian Pacific Heritage Center’s portal provides links to exhibitions and resources from across the Smithsonian museums focusing on Asian-American and Pacific Islander voices.
Anti-Asian Racism Organizations to Support
- Advancing Justice | AAJC – its mission is to advance the civil and human rights for Asian Americans and to build and promote a fair and equitable society for all.
- APACEvotes – strives to increase access to and participation in electoral and civic affairs by registering, educating and protecting Asian American and Pacific Islander voters
- Asian Mental Health Collective – is working to destigmatize and normalize mental health within the Asian community; Asians face culturally specific barriers when it comes to mental health.
- Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) – dedicated to promoting Asian Pacific American participation and representation at all levels of the political process, from community service to elected office.
- Stop AAPI Hate – tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.
Last updated: June 1, 2021
References:
Asian American Arts Alliance. How to stop AAPI hate
Cornell. (n.d.). Anti-Racism Resources for the AAPI Community
Grady, Constance. (March 18, 2021). A reading list to understand anti-Asian racism in America.
Highline College Library. Anti-Racist Resources: Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Racial Justice
National Endowment for the Humanities. (n.d.). Virtual bookshelf.
NBC News. Anti-racism resources to support Asian American, Pacific Islander community
NCAA Office of Inclusion. (n.d.) Anti-Racism resources to support the Asian American and Pacific Islander community: Websites and videos.
University of Pittsburgh. (n.d.). Antiracism Resources to Support Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Communities
