We are appalled and outraged at the surge of violent attacks against Asian American and Pacific Islander members of our community. Anti-Asian violence is as old as the earliest API communities in this state, with documented hate crimes dating back to the 1850s. But the COVID pandemic has brought with it a pandemic of racist response: nearly 2,000 anti-Asian hate incidents have been reported in nearly every state, and nearly a third of Americans have directly witnessed someone wrongly attributing the coronavirus pandemic to and directing blame and hate at a member of the API community.
In Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, cities built and grown with the love and the labor of generations of API community, we have seen people spit upon, harassed, assaulted, and robbed – with sometimes fatal consequences.
OFC stands in solidarity with the leadership and community of local API LGBTQ organizations such as APIENC – Asian Pacific Islander Equality – Northern California, APIQWTC – Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women & Transgender Community, and GAPA – Gay Asian Pacific Alliance, as well as of NQAPIA nationally (NQAPIA – a federation of LGBTQ Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander organizations).
What can we do?
Volunteer and give of our time and/ or money: Compassion in Oakland and the SF Peace Collective in San Francisco have organized to provide Oakland and SF Chinatown community members safe chaperoning and advocacy. We urge folks to volunteer or send your support in whatever way you can.
Share informational resources: below are sites that have aggregated resources available to folks who have witnessed or experienced any anti-API verbal or physical attacks:
- Stop AAPI Hate tracks incidents and offers resources and advocacy
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice has aggregated a wealth of COVID-specific resources, and since 2017 has run Stand Against Hatred as an incident tracker and resource hub
- Stop AAPI Hate tracks incidents and offers resources and advocacy
- AAPI Emergency Response Network, made up of multiple non-profit orgs, compiles resources for tracking hate incidents, but also for COVID-specific health information in multiple languages, and more.
Sign a petition: A petition drive is underway to urge SF Mayor London Breed to create a Chinatown Community Benefits District and place Safety Ambassadors there, and to call for more mainstream news coverage of the violent attacks.
Let us all be moved to act from our hearts and with conviction now, so that when this pandemic dies down – and it will – the deep sense of loss it leaves in its wake will be balanced by an even deeper sense of community.
