Last week, a mass shooting in the Atlanta area took the lives of eight people. CAUSE expresses our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims in this tragedy, a tragedy that comes after a year of rising hate incidents against the APA community. With six of the eight victims being Asian women, we recognize how this is weighing on the APA community. As an organization staffed by women of color, we deeply grieve this loss and understand the impact it has on our shared communities.
Since March 2020, there have been 3,795 incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate, which is likely only a fraction of the number of actual incidents that are occurring nationwide. We encourage you to check-in with vulnerable family and community members, report incidents of hate to StopAAPIHate.org, and get involved in your communities.
CAUSE believes that stopping hate will take a collective effort with multiple solutions. We will continue to do our part through the lens of our mission by empowering individuals to be politically and civically engaged. Together, we will be able to create the solutions that prevent hate and build communities where APA voices are heard, where we all feel safe, and where we always feel welcomed home.
CAUSE’s strategies to stop hate include the following:
Building Solutions with communities outside of the APA Community
CAUSE Multiethnic Statewide Community Poll Series and Race Relations Dialogues are conducted with Hispanas Organized for Political Empowerment (HOPE) and Los Angeles Urban League (LAUL). In 2020, Californians shifted in their belief that relations between people of different races are excellent/good from 57% in February to 44% in July after protests. With numbers falling under 50%, there is a clear need to strengthen relationships across communities and improve race relations in California. With HOPE and LAUL, CAUSE intends to continue the surveys in 2021 and will continue to host conversations about current issues and explore more ways to bring people of different races closer together. This includes our upcoming Building Bridges event on April 7th. Building Bridges is an event series hosted by the Holocaust Museum with panelists from CAUSE, HOPE, LAUL, and the Jewish Center for Justice.
Building Solutions with Elected Officials
CAUSE collaborates with elected officials to ensure the needs and perspectives of the APA community are voiced and that the APA community is informed about resources that are available to them. On April 9th, CAUSE will be hosting an event with Senator Alex Padilla and Representative Ted Lieu to discuss how we can all partner to stop the violence and hate towards APA Communities.
Building Solutions within the APA Community
CAUSE Leadership Institute for Professionals and CAUSE Leadership Academy for students prepares leaders to be civically engaged, advocate for APA community needs, and lead the fight against hate in their communities.
CAUSE VOTE Initiatives educate AAPI communities about the ways they can vote, be engaged with their elected officials, and inform their communities. Through this education, individuals can be confident in expressing their voice and fighting the ignorance that can lead to hate.
If you are interested in taking action, we invite you to:
Join CAUSE and the community of individuals and organizations who are speaking out against violence and hate towards APA communities today. Along with today’s Asian American Day of Action, a national day of action and healing initiated by Congresswoman Grace Meng and California Assemblymember Evan Low, here is a list of ways to get involved today: #StopAsianHate Day of Action Toolkit.
Seek out APA stories beyond these incidents of hate. Our community is diverse and has so many stories. The more we all learn about one another, the more intersections for collaborations we will find.
Support nonprofit organizations and small businesses who strive to create positive change and invest in APA communities. You can donate to CAUSE or explore other organizations. If you need a list to start, here is a member list of the Asian Pacific Policy Planning Council (A3PCON), a founding organization of Stop AAPI Hate