Asian Organizations Across the Bay Area Join Forces to Demand Action Against Violence - FEBRUARY 9, 2021
We, the undersigned organizations, denounce violence against members of Asian American communities in San Francisco, Oakland, and the greater Bay Area. We stand in solidarity with victims, survivors, and families who have suffered loss and pain.
These violent assaults have made the especially difficult circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic even more painful. From our Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese elders to our youth, our Asian American communities are traumatized, afraid, and outraged during a time when we are also experiencing disproportionate impacts of the pandemic. These include mass unemployment, safety risks to frontline workers, insecure housing, the shuttering of our local small businesses, and a surge in anti-Asian racism.
In the past year, we have seen an escalation of violence and other incidents against Asian American communities. The Stop AAPI Hate reporting center documented 2,808 hate incidents in 2020. Over 700 of these occurred in the Bay Area. And while we should not make any assumptions about the reasons behind these recent incidents — whether racially motivated or not — they have profound impacts on our Asian communities across the country and internationally. Our elderly community members, along with their families, are fearful of being in public alone, simply going for a walk, and living their daily lives. And survivors of interpersonal violence and their families have historically not received enough culturally-competent and language-accessible support across government systems.
We recognize that violence affects all of us and all of our communities. We must invest in long-term community-centered solutions that create spaces for cross-racial healing that address underlying causes and create ways for all to thrive. We believe that our strength is in unity, not division, and that our histories and our futures are intertwined. That is why we are committed to working with Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Pacific Islander communities for long-term shared vision and solutions to stop the violence in all our communities.
We also recognize that it is up to us to keep our communities accountable and to holistically respond to generational trauma and violence. It is up to us to imagine what real safety could look like for our people, and to build the future we want to see — one that is grounded in accountability, justice, and care for each other.
As the Lunar New Year approaches, we must all come together to protect the safety of our community members who are feeling vulnerable during what should be a celebratory time. The cities of San Francisco and Oakland leadership must immediately increase culturally-relevant and trauma-informed investments that:
1. Ensure victims and survivors of all backgrounds and language abilities receive full supportive services so they can recover and heal.
2. Expand intervention- and prevention-based programs and invest in basic needs and community-based infrastructure that we know will end the cycle of violence and keep all of us safer.
3. Resource cross-community education and healing in Asian American and Black communities that humanizes all of us rather than demonizes or scapegoats any community of color.
As organizations with a long history of protecting and advancing the rights of communities of color, we know that an over-reliance on law enforcement approaches has largely been ineffective and has been disproportionately harmful to Black communities and other communities of color. We believe the solution to violence is to empower our communities with resources, support, and education — this is how we make all of our communities safe.
See below for a list of the 93 organizations that have signed our statement.
1990 Institute
A3PCON
AACI
AAPIs for Civic Empowerment Education Fund (AAPI FORCE-EF)
AAPI Women Lead
APA Family Support Services
APALA, Alameda County Chapter
APALA, Inland Empire Chapter
APALA, San Diego Chapter
APALA, San Francisco Chapter
APALA, Orange County Chapter
APAPA, San Francisco Chapter
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus
Asian American Women Artists Association
Asian Health Services
Asian Immigrant Women Advocates
Asian Pacific American Democratic Caucus of Alameda County
Asian Pacific Islander Council of San Francisco (API Council)
Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center
API Equality Northern California (APIENC)
Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)
Asian Immigrant Women Advocates
Asian Law Alliance
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Asian Pacific Fund
Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach
Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council
Asian Refugees United
Asians 4 Black Lives
AYPAL: Building API Community Power
Bay Rising
Cal-Nev Philippine Solidarity Task Force (UMC)
Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (CERI)
Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC)
Chinese for Affirmative Action
Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco
Chinese Health Initiative San Mateo County
Chinese Progressive Association
Communities as One
Community Youth Center
CSU East Bay Ethnic Studies Department
Donors of Color Network
East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE)
East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC)
Family Bridges
Filipino Advocates for Justice
Filipino Americans in Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics (FASTER)
Filipino Community Center
Hella Heart Oakland
Hmong Innovating Politics
Japanese American Citizens’ League (JACL), Berkeley Chapter
Japanese American Citizens’ League (JACL), Contra Costa County
Japanese American Citizens’ League (JACL), Eden Township
Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), NorCal-W. Nevada-Pacific District
Japanese American Citizens’ League (JACL), Sacramento Chapter
Japanese American Citizens’ League (JACL), San Francisco Chapter
Japanese Americans For Justice
Inner Eye Arts
Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity
Korean American Community Foundation of San Francisco
Korean Community Center of East Bay
Legal Assistance to the Elderly
The Lunar Project
Malaya Movement SF
Mujeres Unidas y Activas
NAPAWF Bay Area
New Breath Foundation
NICOS Chinese Health Coalition
Nihonmachi Outreach Committee
North East Medical Services (NEMS)
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Oakland Rising
Parent Voices Oakland
Pin@y Educational Partnerships
Pine United Methodist Church – San Francisco
Prism Foundation
Project by Project
Rose Pak Democratic Club
Rotary Club of San Francisco Chinatown
San Francisco Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines
San Francisco Rising
Santa Clara County Asian Law Alliance
SFSU: Department of Asian American Studies
Silicon Valley Rising
SOMA Pilipinas: Filipino Cultural Heritage District
South Bay Youth Changemakers
Southeast Asian Development Center (SEADC)
Stand.earth
Stop AAPI Hate
Tuff Love Self-defense
Urgent Action Fund
West Coast Children’s Clinic