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jennymanrique · 2 years

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Asian American Women Reflect on How to Move Beyond Hate Attacks

Asian American women are experiencing a fresh wave of violent, hate-related attacks. According to the web portal Stop AAPI Hate, since March 2020, there have been over 10,000 attacks, 16% of which have been physically violent. Elders were the targets in the majority of incidents. A poll commissioned by The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum found that 70% of AAPI women voters experienced some sort of racialized harassment or discrimination between June 2019 and January 2021.

Panelists convened by Ethnic Media Services on Feb. 25 discussed the significant happenings in the history of the United States that created an unsafe environment for AAPI’s, long before the pandemic, and how communities have responded to keep their people safe.

Sung Yeon Choimorrow, Executive Director, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum :

“While the pandemic and the rhetoric of the former president blaming China and Chinese people for starting the virus, may have dramatically increased incidences of hate against AAPI’s, it’s certainly not something new. As Asian American women, many of us felt this living in the United States long before COVID… we are targeted both for our race and our gender.”

“The first Chinese immigrant woman in the United States was brought over by a New York businessman who put her on display so that Americans could watch her eat, look at her small feet, look at her skin color or hair, and the way she talked. From the get go of the Asian immigrant women’s experience, we were seen as entertainment or an experience to be consumed.”

“Asian women are also depicted as submissive, and terms such as “geisha girl”, “china doll” and “lotus blossom” are not favorable terms, but rather a way to hyper sexualize Asian women that makes them easy targets for sexual and other forms of harassment.”

Marita Etcubañez, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ) :

“In terms of education and awareness, we now have more voices speaking out to help people understand the harm that racist rhetoric have on our communities…Since launching our joint bystander intervention trainings in the spring of 2020 (with Hollaback Stop Harassment), AAAJ affiliates in Illinois, California and DC, have trained about 150,000 people.”

“We marked a victory in May, with passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, a federal bill that requires the Justice Department to formulate guidance for law enforcement agencies and others on creating online reporting systems for hate crimes and hate incidents. It includes making those systems accessible for people with limited proficiency in English.”

“We need greater investment in our community, including in social services, improving education, so that we can better create the conditions where people not only feel safe, but are able to thrive.”

Michelle Kang, General Secretary of the Atlanta Korean Committee against Asian Hate:

“AAPI’s have become louder during the pandemic in response to the rise of Asian hate, especially after the March 16 Atlanta shooting massacre. We were furious and frustrated over the attacks and killings of eight innocent people and six Asian women.”

“In Georgia, the first generation of Korean Americans formed the Atlanta Korean American Committee Against Asian hate on March 17… The committee created a space where black, brown, and other people of color gather to heal and support each other.”

“During the 2021 elections AAPI’s made a tremendous effort to elect representatives who pushed the country in solidarity to stop hate crimes and to achieve inclusion and racial equity… Georgia AAPI is making a historical record having 12 progressive Asian American candidates, including young candidates in their 20s to represent all Americans.”

Sasanna Yee, inspirational speaker and yoga teacher whose grandmother was fatally attacked at a San Francisco Park in 2019:

“My grandmother immigrated here in the late 80s. She was unfortunately physically attacked across the street from her home when she went for a walk in the park in the neighborhood that I grew up in and I still live in. It’s called Visitacion Valley.”

“The young man that hurt her was 17 years old at the time… My grandmother’s brain was bashed, she fell on her face with her broken ribs. She was in very bad condition… What happened to this young man that caused him to do such a thing? He must be in so much pain. I know because when I’m in pain, I also hurt people.”

“My own journey of healing chronic pain, anxiety, and depression has really helped me to be more compassionate towards others…My practice of yoga, Qi Gong, and meditation, have helped me relate to my own suffering and the suffering of other people.”

“Black Lives Matter was such a powerful rallying slogan. What is it for Asians? My team and I came up with “Asians belong”. This phrase is affirming. This phrase acknowledges that we have been seen as perpetual foreigners but no longer. We are reclaiming our stories and our voice.”

Originally published here

Want to read this piece in Spanish? Click here

#English #Black Lives Matter #Yoga #Asian American #Hate #Meditation #AAPI #Koreans #Elders #Chronic pain

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ck-17088 · 1 year

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OPINION: Why I think Transformers Earthspark will be remembered as one of the best Transformers shows of all time.

Long story short, Earthspark spoilers. Don't read if you don't want to be spoiled.

I'm delighted to say that Earthspark has again exceeded my expectations. Honestly, when the show was first announced, I expected it to be a TV show meant to pander to young children. It would either be silly or forgettable.

Nope.

The show has blown all expectations out of the water through its bold story-telling and animation. The characters all feel realistic- they have strengths and flaws, which are most apparent when they face difficult situations. Another strength is that this show is not afraid to tackle issues (war, moral issues- "how far are we willing to go for the sake of peace?", discrimination, etc) that have become a part of our society in the present and past several years.

In the new 8 episodes dropped, the central theme appears to be identity. Mainly about finding your identity (ex: finding an alt-mode), making up parts of your identity (ex: finding the right alt-mode that matches each character), and integrating new experiences into your identity (ex: Megatron's decision to gain an Earth-based alt-mode to earn the Autobots' trust)- those sort of topics. These are all important and wonderful topics to discuss and share in a show. However, what surprised me the most was that the writers were not afraid to show the ugly sides of identity-related topics.

The 17th and 18th episodes- "Home Part I" and "Home Part II"- subtly tackle racism and xenophobia. Robbie, Twitch, and Hashtag are visiting Robbie's friend in a skateboard park. While having fun, they stumble upon an anti-transformers graffiti- "Transformers go home". Twitch and Hashtags are shocked and upset over this. Twitch says "This just isn't okay" because they were born on Earth and have lived there for their entire existence. However, Robbie's friend insists that their existence on Earth isn't "okay" since "Invading the Earth wasn't okay either". He's essentially telling them that they exist because of the war, which was unwanted, so therefore, their existence "isn't okay".

That scene honestly emotionally destroyed me. Before I explain why let me say a few things.

I am Korean American. The experiences/feelings I will later talk about are my own and do not fully represent the Korean American and/or East Asian communities. Our community's experiences are varied; thus, one person’s is not enough to sum them all of them.

Throughout my life, especially in the past couple of years- during the COVID-19 pandemic, I have had all of these things happen to me:

- I have been called hateful slurs.

- People have made the slanted eyes gesture to me numerous times.

- A few people have greeted me with "ni hao". (This is offensive because they automatically assume I'm from China because I'm Asian. It supports the idea that AAPI communities are one monolith. Hint: They're not.)

- Many people have asked me if I eat dog meat… (I don't. Never have.)

- Too many times, I have been told to "go back home". (I don't even remember the exact number. That's an indicator of how many times it's happened)

- In college, I have had many academic and career advisors ask if I'm a foreign student. It doesn't appear be an offensive question, but if I were Caucasian, no one would have thought to ask me if I was a foreigner. But no, I am Asian, so there is a huge chance that I might not be American.

The fact that I am Asian, or Korean American, an ethnicity (Korean) not found in the Americas, is enough of an excuse to question my identity and my entire life - who I am, where I'm from, and my own habits. To many, it is an excellent excuse to ensure I feel like an outsider in my own home.

The "Transformers go home" scene destroyed me because it reminds me of the pain that comes from the fact that there will always be people who believe I do not belong in my own country- no matter how many experiences I have had and how ingrained they are in me.

These characters are experiencing that same pain, too, even when they shouldn't be. The insistence from Robbie's friend that their experiences aren't enough to explain their belonging to Earth because they are physically Cybertronian- or transformers- is especially heartbreaking.

However, Robbie stands up for his family and breaks ties with his friend. He refuses to accept the blatant discrimination his siblings are facing and leaves instead. This is significant because while the writers show the ugly side of human society, they also show how to combat it- by refusing to stand by and accept it.

This scene is likely why Earthspark will become and will be remembered as one of the best Transformers shows ever.

It's not just the animation or the stories/plots. It is the show's willingness to tackle issues that are difficult to discuss in real life.

In a world where Anti- Asian, Anti- Latino, Anti- LGBTQIA sentiments and (basically) any hate toward minority groups are on the rise, Earthspark is not afraid to go head-on with these issues. They are willing to show scenes to demonstrate the harm these ideas and beliefs can cause, as well as solutions on how to fight them.

The show embraces the beautiful sides of humanity- friendship, family, love, and hope- but is also not afraid to fight the ugly parts of it too.

Written by: CK17088

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beautifullightharmony · 11 months

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Taking a moment to honor those who have gone missing for being an Indigenous woman in the US. /srs

#childrensrights #social justice #bruh wtf #seriously wtf #children #pro life #indigenous history #indigenous #bipoc lgbt #bipoc community #black lives matter #stop aapi hate

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humanrightsconnected · 1 year

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Last Thursday marked two years since the Atlanta spa shootings that killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent. As we observe today the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, discover 5 ways to counter racism against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

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thewokecatgirl · 2 years

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less than 2 weeks until halloween, my woke friends! so if you are white, DO NOT DRESS UP AS A POC CHARACTER!!! IT'S WHITEWASHING AND CAN BE CULTURAL APPROPRIATION!!! FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU ARE DRESSED AS MOANA OR MAUI, YOU ARE BOTH WHITEWASHING THEM AND APPROPRIATING POLYNESIAN CULTURE, AND POLYNESIANS ARE UNDERREPRESENTED!!! OH AND PARENTS, IF YOUR WHITE KID WANTS TO DRESS UP AS A POC CHARACTER, DO NOT LET THEM, INSTEAD, SUGGEST WHITE ALTERNATIVES AND EXPLAIN WHY DRESSING UP AS A POC CHARACTER IS PROBLEMATIC!!!

#tw racism #tw whitewashing #tw cultural appropriation #halloween #halloween costumes #spooky season #black lives matter #blm #stop asian hate #stop aapi hate #satire

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themichigangayly · 2 years

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Celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month

How will the Gayly celebrate AAPI Month?

The Gayly is celebrating with graphics of LGBTQ+ Asian, Pacific Islander, and AAPI individuals and their impact on the LGBTQ+ community and/or contributions to the United States!

#the michigan gayly #asian american #Asian American Pacific Islander #aapi lgbtq #aapi heritage month #aapi #aapi representation #aapiheritagemonth #gay #lgbtq pride #lgbtq #lgbtq+#queer #trans lives matter #lesbian #themichigangayly #nonbinary #Pacific Islander

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drpanda99 · 11 months

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Reflections on AAPI May and Fandom Racism

I started this entry when I was still feeling really hurt and angry from some stuff that happened early in the month. I’ve since cooled down and have read the beautiful reflections written by the mods of MXTX Diaspora May, so I plan to write about my experience as a creator instead.

Cut for length!

The What

MXTX Diaspora May was started in 2021 to celebrate Chinese diaspora creators and to elevate own-voice works after a number of fandom racism incidents happened. I wasn’t around MDZS fandom at the time of the initial creation of the collection, but I found some of the works when I was lurking on AO3 and reading.

After reading one of the fics, I felt like I was coming home for the first time. Up until that moment, I had not experienced seeing my own experiences and struggles mirrored in fic at all. Many of the works dealt with the idea of feeling “not enough” to be any of our identities - not Chinese enough, not North American enough, not anything enough. I had never felt as seen as I had reading those fic. In days, I read through as much of the collection as I could and I managed to find the Danmei Diaspora Creatives collection and the discord server. Up until then, I felt like I was a single lurker awash in the vast ocean of fandom - there were so many fics and so many creators of such talent that I felt like I my own voice wouldn’t make a difference or perhaps, that it wouldn’t matter. I was someone who spent years being in love with writing, but never feeling like I could ever be good enough - I had felt like a lost a part of my creativity and my mind felt empty of fiction. That’s part of why I started with podfic - it felt better reading someone else’s words rather than my own.

I lurked around the Diaspora discord for quite a while before I felt comfortable talking. But once I did, I realized that there was a whole group of people out there who were like me - normal people with normal lives who had lived through the experience of being forever tied to our motherland through our appearance despite being separated for years or even generations. The Diaspora collection means so much to me because it was a chance to see people like me in the works I consume, something that was incredibly rare and entirely absent as I was growing up.

The Why

I can’t really reflect about fandom without talking about my own life and how I got here.

I found fandom initially when I was very young and feeling very isolated. I was a visibly Chinese kid in a school full of white kids and I had only been in North America for about 3 years. My English was bad and I didn’t have many friends except the other Asian kids, partially because that was expected of me. I think I was pretty quiet and internally focused - I was really struggling with family stuff, but I never had the words to tell anyone else. In the end, I turned to fandom as an escape when I was feeling the most lost and alone. I remember spending many days and many nights reading through as much as I could find voraciously so I could feel and be someone else. Fiction became a magical place that could transport me into any life or any story in an instant. The endless nature of fan fiction kept me coming back for more; some days, the only thing that kept me going was knowing that the fic I was reading wasn’t finished, that I would never know the conclusion to some stories that I loved.

I was probably unhealthily hyper focused on fanfic, but I got through that bit and, as I became more well-adjusted, I had less space in my life for fandom.

Then, in 2021, I got into a pretty serious car accident that derailed my entire life. I became unable to work in the career that I spent over 10 years training to do. With Covid restrictions at its most limiting, I became a recluse at home who could hardly do anything. I became extremely depressed as I started to wonder if my life could ever get back to how it once was. Up until that point, 110% of my energy and focus had gone into my career and it was suddenly gone. Luckily, I had watched CQL and started reading fic just before the accident. Soon, it became the only thing that helped me pass the time.

I don’t know how much I read, but I know that for many days, all I did was lie in bed and read fic in small bursts. Without the ability to do much else (and with limited ability to read at all), it felt like my life was falling apart and I was becoming a useless person.

Fandom helped to pull me out. I started to make podfic because I wanted to make things more accessible (since I also had lots of trouble reading). I was thrown by some of the pronunciation in some podfic since it was so different than what I had heard in the show. There were certainly lots of people who tried their best and I appreciated it each time. I finally had the confidence to add my voice to the mix and the rest is history.

Fandom became the focus of what limited energies I had, whether it was consuming works or making podfic. At some point, as I started to recover, I was able to write again and I started penning some of my first fanfic. For the months that I was completely off work, and the months where I was starting to increase my hours, fandom became an escape and a purpose. My life was uncertain, but I had fic to write and pods to do and each thing I made was another accomplishment.

I’ve been lucky that fandom found me in some of the toughest times in my life and I’ll always love fandom for that.

The How

I participated in Diaspora May 2022 by contributing some podfic. It was all I could manage at the time, but I felt so lucky to be able to participate with a group of people who touched me so much with their fic. I was still nervous to be around fandom spaces since I’d never participated in the community before, but everyone was lovely and welcoming. I had a great time and I received a beautiful gift fic from @dragongirlG. I produced my longest podfic. I read lots of incredible stories in the collection.

This year, I chose to produce podfic instead of writing fic again. I chose to pod works of other diaspora creators so that every work I created would help to make more own-voice stories accessible. I would’ve loved to do a lot more, but time didn’t always allow for it. I’m just a single creator, so I know I don’t make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things, but I told myself that if I helped a meaningful story to reach even a few more people, I would’ve accomplished what I set out to do.

At a time where conversations around racism in fandom are flying around, it’s even more important for us to highlight the own-voices stories. I would love for these works to reach the other people out there, lurkers like the Panda of 2021 who needed to hear them. I’ve really struggled with some of the conversations around racism lately, partially because some of the most oft-cited voices about fandom have considered Asians to “not count” as POC because of the model minority myth. dragongirlG’s essay addresses it much better than I can. I was also hurt when I saw that creators enthusiastically involving themselves with anti-racism work also posted fic that perpetuated unconscious cultural erasure of the Chineseness of the characters. The worst part is knowing that none of that is on purpose - people really do mean their best. Seeing it happen time and time again is exhausting and trying to correct those assumptions is sometimes a thankless task. I’m grateful whenever I have positive interactions around these topics, but my exhaustion is a big part of why I don’t really do much sensitivity reader work.

The Now

At the end of the day, I hope we can highlight the works of creators of colour in fandom. I also hope that fandom will slowly move to improving inclusiveness. I don’t pretend to be a saint or faultless in any of this - I know that I have held and do hold racially biased assumptions based on cultural stereotypes and my upbringing. I want to constantly challenge myself on these assumptions, but I often flounder and make mistakes. I try to learn from them, but I’ll never be a blank slate of perfect anti-racism because stereotypes and assumptions are impossible to disentangle from my upbringing. I think I’ll feel satisfied as long as I keep trying to learn.

Having seen some of the dialogue around racism and being anti-racist of late, I worry that calling out and shunning of people who are considered “racists” will only make those people become more entrenched in their ideology. LIke the spitefic that people have mentioned in MDZS, calling people racists and kicking them out of the group can result in more hurt rather than solving the issue. The more divisive fandom becomes, the more difficult it is to reach the people on the extremes. LIke with research on the radicalization of youth, the more isolated people become, the more vulnerable they will be to extreme views. If we keep kicking out the “racists” in fandom, they’ll look for community elsewhere - the only places these people will be accepted is with the other “racists,” the people we’ve kicked out of the group. I worry this will result in more of the aforementioned spitefic if not outright harassment or worse.

My personal approach is that people need to be allowed to have the opportunity to change and I don’t have to forgive them for hurting me. I’ve struggled for a long time about how to care for people who have hurt others; some may say this is mental gymnastics, but it’s what I need to do. Part of my real life work is specifically with people who have been incarcerated, sometimes for extremely violent crimes. Despite the things they have done, they still deserve a chance to be rehabilitated into the community. At the end of the day, I still need to be there to help them to change if it means preventing them from hurting others in the future; I’m very proud of that. Isolating them more and giving these people fewer choices only makes them return to things that society does not want them doing. I know fandom is not an equivalent comparison, but I believe the same applies - we need to give people the opportunity and space to change even if the people they hurt do not forgive them. And that’s okay.

So where do my ramblings leave us?

-Isolation and shunning only breeds extremism/radicalization

-Racism sucks and still happens in fandom

-Because of upbringing and culture, I hold racist views and so do you

-Combatting them requires constantly challenging yourself to change

-People who are hurt do not have to forgive those that hurt them

-We still need to keep space in fandom for people who have done racist actions if we want to change their views

This is only semi-coherent rambling, but I hope those take homes are meaningful. I’m definitely feeling less hurt and more proud about the Diaspora May collection. I’m grateful to fandom and fandom is also a source of great angst, often because of cultural erasure or racist actions. But I’ll still be here and I’ll still keep trudging on because of the wonderful and kind friends I’ve made. If I can somehow resonate with even a single person out there, then what I’ve created will have meaning.

#fandom #mxtx diaspora may #aapi month #racism in fandom #reflection #this be real personal

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