Stop AAPI Hate:11,500 anti-Asian incidents over a span of two years; no signs of a slowdown of attacks

Two years of being the target of hate has done little to slow the attacks aginst Asian Americans. According to a new report, since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 11,500 hate incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate.

Stop AAPI Hate released a new report, Two Years and Thousands of Voices, which provides deeper insight into the racism and discrimination the AAPI community has faced since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

“Our self-reported data shows that if you’re only watching the news, you aren’t getting the full picture of what AAPIs are experiencing,” said Russell Jeung, Ph.D., co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. “AAPIs are verbally harassed in grocery stores and shops, on the street and on public transit. We have a right to be treated with dignity and respect.”

The incidents of hate which coincided with the start of pandemic increased as officials in the Trump administration used ethnic slurs to link the coronavirus with China. Historians and social scientists point out the anti-Asian hate has been part and parcel of American history but in recent years the bias appeared to die down because of the growing awareness and the social stigmas associated with racism and discrimination.

The pandemic and the Trump administration lifted the lid on the tamped-down bias and emboldened racist to unleash the anti-Asian sentiment.

The report released Wednesday (July 20) looks at the nearly 11,500 hate incidents reported to the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center between March 19, 2020 and March 31, 2022, and includes findings from a 2021 national survey Stop AAPI Hate conducted in partnership with Edelman Data & Intelligence.

"Key findings of Two Years and Thousands of Voices" include:

• Non-criminal incidents comprise the vast majority of the harmful hate incidents that AAPI community members experience.

• Harassment is a major problem. Two in three (67%) of nearly 11,500 incidents involved harassment, such as verbal or written hate speech or inappropriate gestures.

• AAPI individuals who are also female, non-binary, LGBTQIA+, and/or elderly experience hate incidents that target them for more than one of their identities at once.

• One in three (32%) parents who participated in the Stop AAPI Hate/Edelman Data & Intelligence survey were concerned about their child being a victim of anti-AAPI hate or discrimination in unsupervised spaces and on the way to school.

• Hate happens everywhere — in both large cities and small towns, in AAPI enclaves and in places where AAPI communities are few and far between.

The more serous incidents resulted in physical attacks that caused the death of someone such as the mass shooting at Asian spas in the Atlanta area, the vicious attacks against elderly AAPI that knock them unconscious; or crimes resulting in robbery or assault but not legally called a hate crime but seen as crimes of opportunity.

However, most of the reported incidents were in the form of harassment, such as a report from Marin County, California:

“I was emptying my trash into a public trash can at a rest stop and a man walked towards me asked me where my mask was, shoved me back and said if anyone should be wearing a mask it is people like you. He mocked by pulling his eyes back to resemble slant eye and bowed to me.” 

Incidents that witnesses might shrug off have traumatic impacts on the victim such as a Connecticut report: “I walked into a discount store where I saw a woman conversing with another person; when she got in line at a register to purchase her food, she was stopped and the person working the register called her slurs, then a virus, and then refused to check her out.” 

Recommendations

The report also lays out Stop AAPI Hate’s approach to addressing anti-AAPI hate: education equity, community-driven safety solutions and civil rights expansion.

“Even as people move on past the COVID-19 pandemic, AAPIs continue to be harassed because of their race,” said Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance. “The AAPI community is tired of being afraid. We want solutions that actually make a difference and focus on prevention.”

“While our focus is understanding hate against AAPI’s, we know that hate is on the rise for many groups including the Black, Latinix, Muslim, LGBTQ+ communities,” said Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. “It is why we need to work together to address root causes of racism and prevent incidents before they happen.”

Stop AAPI Hate is calling on elected officials to further their efforts to: 

• Stop the harassment of AAPIs and protect our civil rights by introducing legislation like No Place for Hate California, which will address hate where it happens: in spaces open and accessible to the public;

• Educate the public about AAPI histories and cultures by making ethnic studies a standard part of the K-12 curriculum; and invest in community-based programs to support the healing of victims and survivors, and to prevent violence before it starts.

• Hate incidents included in the report point to the prevalence of harassment, and the need for elected officials to take action. Incidents have been edited for grammar, length and clarity:

The Stop AAPI Hate coalition encourages any member of the AAPI community who has experienced hate during the pandemic to report the incident at: https://stopaapihate.org/reportincident/.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

New York state awards $10 million to AAPI community to combat virus and hate

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announces $10 million to the Asian American community.

The State of New York is awarding $10 million to Asian American organizations that were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and surge of anti-Asian hate. It is the largest investment in the Asian American community in New York history.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on so many vulnerable and marginalized communities across New York State,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul Feb. 20. “The Asian American community was especially hard hit, not only by the virus, but by an increase in hate and violent crimes."

"With this $10 million in funding, we are sending a strong message that hate has no home here, and we will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with our sisters and brothers in the Asian American community. My administration is laser focused on continuing to help communities that have for too long been forgotten, not only as we recover from this pandemic, but for years to come,” said Hochul.

The funding, allocated in the FY 2021-22 budget, will be distributed to community-based groups through the Asian American Federation (AAF), the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF), and the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), as well as other organizations. 

There will be a focus on community programs and providers that bring services and supportive programs directly to New York's Asian American communities. 

 "With the tragedies that our community has experienced since the start of the pandemic, and painfully so over the last few months, many Asian Americans are fearful for their own lives when stepping out of their homes<" said Executive Director of the Asian American Federation Jo-Ann Yoo.

"Governor Hochul’s leadership shows that our voice is not going unheard as we ask for support to overcome this trauma.”

The award was announced as New York's Asian American community was still reeling from the brutal fatal stabbing of Christina Lee and Michelle Go's death from being pushed into the path of an oncoming subway train.

Hate attacks against New York City's AAPI have risen 361% last year, according to NYPD data. 

The Asian American Federation (AAF) will receive a total of $6.8 million in funding intended to reinforce the community support offered by a network of organizations that have witnessed a sudden increase in demand for services due to the pandemic. AAF will direct the funding to 59 community organizations listed below that provide direct services, case management, and mental health support that serve Asian New Yorkers throughout New York State. 

In addition, the New York State Assembly is directing $1.4 million in Legislative aid to another 40 organizations that serve a wide array of communities in New York. 

“The AAPI community has been the target of relentless hatred, bigotry, and violence for the last two years, and we desperately need resources that would address the root cause of these attacks," said New York state Sen. John Liu.

"While we are grateful to see the implementation of last year’s $10 million budget allocation, the siege against Asian Americans continues unabated, as does our need for additional resources," said Liu. "We must address a range of needs such as community safety, services for youth and senior citizens, mental health support for Asian New Yorkers, and the implementation of AAPI curriculum in public schools.”

The following organizations will receive aid from AAF:

• A Place for Kids
• Academy of Medical & Public Health Services
• Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice
• Arab American Association of New York
• Arab-American Family Support Center
• Asian American Arts Alliance
• Asian American Community Empowerment
• Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
• Asian Americans for Equality
• Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs
• Bridges From Borders
• Brooklyn Chinese-American Association
• Brooklyn Community Improvement Association
• Burmese Community Services
• Caribbean Equality Project
• Center for the Integration and Advancement of New Americans
• Chhaya Community Development Corporation
• Chinatown Partnership LDC
• Chinatown YMCA
• Chinese American IPA
• Chinese American Social Services Center
• Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association
• Chinese Progressive Association
• Chinese-American Family Alliance for Mental Health
• CMP
• Council of Peoples Organization
• Damayan Migrant Workers Association
• Desis Rising Up and Moving
• Garden of Hope
• Hamilton-Madison House
• Homecrest Community Services
• Immigrant Social Services
• India Home
• Jahajee Sisters
• Japanese American Association of New York
• Japanese American Social Services, Inc.
• Karen Society of Buffalo
• Korean American Family Service Center
• Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York
• Laal NYC
• Mekong Center NYC
• Midtown Utica Community Center
• Migrant Center
• MinKwon Center
• Refugees Helping Refugees
• Sakhi for South Asian Women
• Sapna NYC
• Sikh Coalition
• South Asian Council for Social Service
• South Asian Youth Action
• Turning Point for Women and Families
• United Chinese Association of Brooklyn
• Womankind (formerly NYAWC)
• Women for Afghan Women
• YWCA of Queens

The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families will receive over $1 million, and they will be partnering with a host of organizations -- including Apex for Youth, the Arab American Family Support Center, Asian Americans for Equality, Chinese-American Planning Council, South Asian Youth Action! Korean American Family Service Center, MinKwon Center for Community Action, and Mekong NYC -- to enhance youth and young adult services targeting Asian American communities by focusing on social emotional development and mental well-being.

Anita Gundanna and Vanessa Leung, Co-Executive Directors of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families said: "Through this crisis intervention funding, CACF with eight of our organizations have collaboratively developed a curriculum to support young people’s healthy sense of self, community connection and belonging, and self-agency.”

The Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), a social services organization that creates positive social change, will receive almost $700,000 to help empower Asian American, immigrant, and low-income communities in New York City by ensuring they have equitable access to the resources and opportunities needed to thrive. 

The funding will support CPC’s culturally competent, linguistically appropriate community services and programs to improve the social determinants of health for children, youth, students, families, and seniors. Through this initiative, they will expand public access to resources, expand workforce service, enhance wrap-around case management and expand early childhood development.

 “Our Asian American communities are facing a crisis of anti-Asian hatred and violence. We are frightened. We are angry," said Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou. 

"This is a great start, but we can and must do better. I urge my colleagues in Albany to support additional resources our community so desperately needs."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.

Nurses to hold national day of action Jan. 13 to demand employers, Biden administration protect RNs, health care workers

CALIFORNIA NURSES ASSOCIATION

At the frontline of the pandemic, nurses assert working conditions are unsafe.

Filipino American nurse leaders are calling for safer working conditions as the coronavirus continues to rage across the U.S.

“As we enter year three of the deadliest pandemic in our lifetimes, nurses are enraged to see that, for our government and our employers, it’s all about what’s good for business, not what’s good for public health,” said Filipino American registered nurse Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, who is president of the National Nurses United, the largest union of RNs. 

“Our employers claim there is a ‘nursing shortage,’ and that’s why they must flout optimal isolation times, but we know there are plenty of registered nurses in this country," says Cortez. 

"There is only a shortage of nurses willing to work in the unsafe conditions created by hospital employers and this government’s refusal to impose lifesaving standards. So this is a vicious cycle where weakening protections just drives more nurses away from their jobs.”

Planned actions include 6 p.m. ET candlelight vigil at Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. and1 p.m. ET virtual press conference, featuring stories from frontline registered nurses across the country

Registered nurse members of National Nurses United (NNU), the nation’s largest union of RNs, will hold actions across the country on Thursday, Jan. 13—including a candlelight vigil in Washington, D.C. for nurses who lost their lives to Covid-19, and a national virtual press conference—to demand the hospital industry invest in safe staffing, and to demand that President Biden follow through on his campaign promise to protect nurses and prioritize public health.

After almost two years of the pandemic burnout among the health care workforce is making the nursing shortage even worse. About half of medical workers reported feeling burnout during 2020, according to a study from the American Medical Association. Almost half of ICU nurses said in another survey earlier this year that they were considering leaving the profession.

“The workforce is burnt out. The workforce is leaving,” said Beth Feldpush, senior vice president at America’s Essential Hospitals.

For nurses still providing critical care, the poor protections make working conditions more hazardous.  Nurses assert that in recent weeks, the Biden administration has ripped away critical protections from health care workers and the public, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) weakening COVID isolation guidelines and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announcing that it intends to withdraw critical COVID protections for health care workers—right when the Omicron variant is exploding across the country and hospitalizations are skyrocketing. 

Nurses emphasize that being left unprotected by the government and by their profit-driven hospital employers which have failed to invest in safe staffing and provide critical health and safety protections, has created such unsafe working conditions that nurses are being driven away from the profession.

NNU conducted a survey of thousands of registered nurses across the country from October to December, 2021. Of the nurses who responded, 83% said at least half of their shifts were unsafely staffed, and 68% said they have considered leaving their position. RNs say nurses would stop leaving the profession if hospitals immediately improved working conditions by increasing staffing levels and followed nurses’ advice to grow the pool of available nurses. 

According to the survey of nurses, hospitals must actively hire permanent staff nurses and consider a wider range of educational qualifications; stop canceling nurses; properly cross-train current staff nurses so that they are competent to work in other departments, especially critical care, and institute optimal occupational health and safety protocols to protect nurses, other health care workers, and patients.

An earlier survey by the NNU found that almost a third of the nurses who have died from COVID-19 are Filipino or Filipino American.

Nurses also call on the CDC to strengthen isolation guidelines for health care workers and the public, and on OSHA to institute a permanent COVID-19 health care standard without delay. 

On Jan. 5, NNU joined leading labor organizations and unions representing the country’s nurses and health care workers to petition the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to order OSHA to issue a permanent standard and to retain the emergency temporary standard until the permanent standard goes into effect. Without the protections of a permanent standard, RNs emphasize that the health and well-being of nurses, other health care workers, patients, and the general public is in grave danger.

“Everyone will need medical care at some point in their lives, and when our loved ones are in the hospital, we want nurses to be able to deliver the focused care that all patients deserve,” says NNU executive director Bonnie Castillo, a Filipino American RN. 

“The working conditions that our employers and the federal government are telling nurses and health care workers to endure are both grossly unfair and unsustainable, and we are standing up on Jan. 13 to say, ‘Enough!’  says Castillo, who was named one of the nation's Most Influential People by Time magazine for 2020.

"We need permanent protections based on science, and we need them now because when nurses and health care workers aren’t safe, we cannot keep our patients safe.”

Click here to see a list of NNU local Jan. 13 actions across the United States.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.

Are America’s schools safe for AAPI students?

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. 

By  Charissa S. L. Cheah, Aggie Yellow Horse and Kevin A. Gee,

As schools reopen and students return to their classrooms after 18 months of homeschooling because of the coronavirus virus, AAPI parents worry about safety for their children from that other virus -- hate.

The rise in anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic has prompted many Asian American parents to enroll their children in remote learning out of concern for their child’s safety at school. Asian American youths are enrolled in remote learning at much higher rates than other racial groups. 

Federal data show that 78% of Asian American eighth graders attended school virtually in February 2021, whereas just 59% of Black, 59% of Latino and 29% of white students attended school virtually.

Below, three scholars address school safety for Asian American students.

Are America’s schools safe for Asian Americans?

AGGIE J. YELLOW HORSE
Assistant professor of Asian Pacific American Studies at Arizona State University

Data show that many Asian American youths have experienced anti-Asian violence in the past year.

Asian Americans have experienced a great deal of racial harassment amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent survey found that 1 in 8 Asian Americans reported experiencing anti-Asian hate incidents in 2020. The victims of that harassment aren’t just adults – they include students.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 3,800 hate incidents targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been reported to the Stop AAPI Hate National Reporting Center. Among the incidents early in the pandemic, 16% percent of the targets were Asian American youths ages 12-20.

The majority of the young victims, about 80%, reported being bullied or verbally harassed. In over half the incidents, the perpetrator used anti-Asian hate rhetoric. About 1 in 5 hate incidents happened at school.

National trends before the pandemic suggested that Asian American students were already more likely to experience racial discrimination, such as race-related name-calling, from their peers at school than other categories of students. About 11% of Asian American students reported being called hate-related words, compared with 6.3% of white students in 2015. A separate study found that bullying and physical violence were less of an issue for Asian American students. Only about 7.3% reported being bullied at school in 2017, compared with 23% of white students.

How common race-based harassment against Asian students is can vary based on different factors, such as where students live, their gender, grades or immigration status. For example, a study from California found that Asian American sixth graders in California reported being bullied and victimized at higher rates than other racial groups.

What are the biggest worries for Asian American youth and parents?

CHARISSA S.K. CHEAH
Professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Many Asian American parents are worried that their children will be the victims of discrimination once school reopens.

Asian American parents are worried about schools reopening. NPR3.38 MB (download)

In one survey, nearly 1 in 2 Chinese American parents and 1 in 2 Chinese American youth reported being directly targeted with COVID-19 racial discrimination in person or online. About 4 in 5 of these parents and their children also reported witnessing racism directed at someone else of their own race either online or in person.

Despite their concerns, some parents may avoid talking to their children about anti-Asian racism to avoid scaring them while they are at school. Even if parents want to have the “race talk” with their children, many struggle with how to talk to their children about the potential racism they might encounter. Some parents may not have been taught these lessons while growing up and are grappling with how to make sense of these experiences.

Anti-Asian racism is also associated with greater depressive symptoms and anxiety in Chinese American parents and their children. A majority of Americans blame China for its mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak. Researchers have found that even thinking that one’s racial or ethnic group is viewed by the general public as a threat to the health of Americans is linked to poorer mental health in both Chinese American parents and youths.

Asian Americans are less likely than non-Hispanic white Americans to seek mental health help. This is due in part to perceived stigma, language barriers and lack of mental health providers of the same ethnicity. These disparities are even greater for Asian American families with fewer financial resources.

Some Asian American parents have also expressed concerns about the ability of schools to maintain appropriate COVID-19-related health and safety measures. They are worried about the health risks that children exposed to others at school might bring home. Asians Americans are more likely to live in a multigenerational household, in which older adults might be at a higher health risk.

Even if parents choose to keep their children home because of one or several of these concerns, they are getting the message that in-person education is superior to virtual education. Being out of physical school could cause Asian Americans to miss out on these opportunities and resources even more. Also, due to the “model minority myth,” which characterizes Asian Americans as successful, the needs of this very diverse group, including a large number of immigrant and refugee Asian families in the U.S., are often overlooked. With 30% of Asian Americans reporting limited English proficiency, these families are more difficult to reach. The fears of being harassed also make some parents reluctant to access educational materials or free meals or even reach out to teachers or counselors for help.

What can schools do to reduce threats to Asian American students?

KEVIN GEE
Associate professor in the school of education at the University of California Davis

Helping students build strong and supportive relationships with each other can reduce their physical victimization and buffer the negative effects of discrimination Asian Americans face.

Schools can also create supportive environments by implementing a range of evidence-based approaches, such as building teachers’ cultural knowledge and strengthening teacher-student relationships. Activities like engaging students in class discussions about bullying have been shown to reduce bullying.

Alongside initiatives to build supportive environments, schools should also consider partnering with parents. Directly engaging Asian American parents in anti-bullying initiatives can help reduce victimization. For example, schools can collaborate with parents to craft disciplinary policies on bullying. Schools can also hold workshops to teach parents how to handle and prevent bullying.

In order to reduce threats and eradicate harm, I believe schools will need to consider whether they are doing enough to protect Asian American youth. One landmark case underscores this. In the aftermath of violent attacks on Asian American students at South Philadelphia High School in 2009, a Department of Justice investigation revealed that the school district was “deliberately indifferent” to harassment against Asian students that fueled the attacks.

A key takeaway: Harms against Asian American students can be systemic and require broader structural solutions. When South Philadelphia High School began to do more to promote multicultural awareness and improved systems to report and investigate harassment, the school saw fewer violent incidents.

To make Asian American youth feel safe and protected, schools need to track, report and respond to incidents of hate against Asian Americans, especially among Asian American ethnic subgroups. Subgroup data, often lacking on Asian Americans, can be a powerful tool in revealing potential disparities and highlighting groups that schools need to target for support.

I believe schools also need to invest in longer-term systemic changes such as including a more complete history of Asian Americans in U.S. social studies curricula.

* * *

The writers: Charissa S. L. Cheah, Professor of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Aggie Yellow Horse, Assistant Professor of Asian Pacific American Studies, Arizona State University, and Kevin A. Gee, Associate Professor of Education, University of California, Davis

News from the Barbie front: Doll modeled after a Filipino American doctor

Dr. Audrey Sue Cruz and her Barbie likeness.

Good news for AAPI children and their parents who want toys to reflect and affirm their own existence: There is a new Barbie doll with long dark hair and a golden brown skin tone modeled after a Filipino American doctor.

Dr. Audrey Sue Cruz of Las Vegas was the model for a Barbie doll for her work during the pandemic. She along with other Asian American health workers were on the frontline battling the coronavirus.

“I’m so incredibly honored to be a Barbie Role Model, shining a light on the commitment and compassion all frontline workers exhibited over the past year and a half,” says Cruz. “Kids imagine they can be anything but actually seeing that they can, and hearing the brave stories of others, makes all the difference.”

The physician was part of a video last year featuring a series of frontline AAPI medical workers in a viral social media post, #IAmNotAVirus." speaking out against the hate targeting AAPI in the U.S.

When she was contacted by Mattel, “I was like, What?! Me? It was unreal,” Cruz told 8 News Now. “I was just like, ‘Are you sure you have the right person?”

The doll in Cruz's likeness is part of Mattel's #ThankYouHeroes line of dolls launched last year as part of the company’s broader “Play it Forward” platform, focused on leveraging Mattel’s iconic brands to give back to communities in times of need.

“Barbie recognizes that all frontline workers have made tremendous sacrifices when confronting the pandemic and the challenges it heightened,” said Lisa McKnight, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Barbie & Dolls, Mattel. 

“To shine a light on their efforts, we are sharing their stories and leveraging Barbie’s platform to inspire the next generation to take after these heroes and give back. Our hope is to nurture and ignite the imaginations of children playing out their own storyline as heroes.”

Experts in their fields who have shown unprecedented courage during a challenging time, these six role models made a positive impact in their communities, inspiring current and future generations for years to come. Besides Cruz, the global lineup of women honored with a one-of-a-kind doll includes:

• Amy O’Sullivan, RN (United States) - Emergency Room nurse Amy O’Sullivan treated the first COVID-19 patient in Brooklyn at the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, became ill and was intubated, then a few weeks later returned to work to continue taking care of others..
• Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa (Canada)- A psychiatry resident at the University of Toronto, Canada, Dr. Oriuwa has advocated against systemic racism in healthcare, which has been further highlighted by the pandemic.
• Professor Sarah Gilbert (United Kingdom) - As a professor of vaccinology, Professor Gilbert led the development of the University of Oxford vaccine in the U.K.
• Dr. Jaqueline Goes de Jesus (Brazil) - As a biomedical researcher, Dr. Goes is credited for leading the sequencing of the genome of a COVID-19 variant in Brazil.
• Dr. Kirby White (Australia) - A General Practitioner in Australia, Dr. White co-founded the Gowns for Doctors initiative – by developing a PPE gown that could be laundered and re-used, allowing frontline workers in Victoria, AU to continue seeing patients during the pandemic.

The dolls are available for purchase at Target stores for $15. Mattel donates $5 for each eligible Barbie doctor, nurse, and paramedic doll sold at Target to the First Responders Children’s Foundation (FRCF).

Despite Mattel's good intentions, the toy company has hit a few rough patches on the road in their attempt to broaden their product's appeal beyond the blond, blue-eyed original.

Recently, Mattel came under fire when it put out a line of dolls showing the diversity of athletes at the Tokyo Olympics. The toy company was criticized because they left out a doll representing Asians, even though the Olympics was being hosted by Japan.

Prior to the Olympics, Mattel issued a doll in the likeness of tennis star Naomi Osaka that sold for $30. It sold out in a matter of hours and there is now a waiting list for the doll.

Barbie dolls have become a kind of social barometer marking the progress the U.S. is making on diversity.

“For kids, everything is educational… Everything they interact with teaches them what the world is like and in turn what they themselves are like in the world," says Christia Spears Brown, associate professor at the University of Kentucky and author of “Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue: How to Raise Your Kids Free of Gender Stereotypes,” who contends the use of play and toys act as teachers for children and affect their self-image.

"They have to pick all that up on their own and how they do it is through play… And we know that if things are familiar, we’re more comfortable with them," Brown continued. "It (takes) the dialogue about what’s considered mainstream and changes it to say diverse is normal.”

AAPI families would rather go hungry than go out to buy groceries because of hate and pandemic fears

Fear overrides hunger for many Asian Americans

By Daniel J. Perez-Lopez and Lindsay M. Monte 

Census Bureau

Fear of the coronavirus and the possibility of an unprovoked hate rime is overriding hunger for many Asian American households, according to the Census Bureau.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) were twice as likely as non-Hispanic White populations to report not having enough to eat amid the pandemic because they were “afraid to go or didn’t want to go out to buy food,” according to a new analysis by the Census. 

All major race and Hispanic origin groups reported being more likely to experience food insufficiency because of the pandemic in April 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s experimental Household Pulse Survey (HPS).

The non-Hispanic, or AAPI population has generally followed the same trend as the non-Hispanic White population through March: consistently lower rates of food insufficiency than both the non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic populations.

But the causes of food shortages for non-Hispanic Asian and non-Hispanic White households differed.

Why People Did Not Have Enough to Eat

There are many reasons someone may experience food insufficiency, defined as sometimes or often not having enough to eat. The most prevalent is the inability to afford food. But during the pandemic, there were other reasons people were unable to access food.

Of adults who reported food insufficiency in the previous week, the survey asked for the reason. The question offered a choice of responses, ranging from couldn’t afford it and couldn’t get out to buy it, to too afraid or didn’t want to go out, couldn’t get groceries delivered and stores didn’t have what I wanted.

At the end of March, non-Hispanic Asian respondents experiencing food insufficiency were less likely than food insufficient non-Hispanic White respondents to report that they couldn’t afford food, couldn’t get groceries delivered or that stores were poorly stocked.

These households were not significantly different in their likelihood of reporting that they were unable to get to the store.

However, non-Hispanic Asian respondents were much more likely than non-Hispanic White respondents to report going without food because they were afraid or didn’t want to go out to buy it.

Other than the question about fear of going to the store, the HPS did not collect the reasons for the fear that people reported was keeping them from getting the food they need.

There could be many reasons including living in a high-crime area, in food deserts where shopping is inconvenient or in rural towns where drives are long.

Respondents might also face other fears such as racially motivated violence. For example, according to the Department of Justice, anti-Asian violence has risen during the pandemic, including several well-publicized hate crimes.

This may explain why, while fear of going out for food among non-Hispanic White adults declined between the last quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, fear among non-Hispanic Asian adults did not.

However, as coronavirus has killed more than 600,000 people across the United States and infected over 34 million, there is also reason to think that fear of illness would keep people home from grocery stores.

Vaccination Rates

While fear of the deadly virus may be keeping some home from the grocery store, it may also explain the higher vaccination rates among Asians in the United States.

In January, as vaccines began to be widely distributed, the HPS added questions asking whether people had received at least one dose of a vaccine or were planning to get it once available.

Comparing those who in late March had received the vaccine or reported they definitely will get the vaccine, AAPI respondents were more likely (85.6%) than non-Hispanic White (73.1%), non-Hispanic Black (63.6%) or Hispanic respondents (70.3%) to report they’d gotten at least one shot or definitely would when the vaccine was available to them.

As vaccines continue to become more readily available, the HPS will allow us to see whether increased access addresses any of the fears that respondents have reported thus far.

Daniel J. Perez-Lopez and Lindsay M. Monte are statisticians in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division.

Tokyo Olympics: Two Chinese American gymnasts quarantined after one tests positive for COVID-19

U.S. GYMNASTICS

United States gymnast Kayla Eaker tested positive for COVID-19.

Chinese American Kara Eaker, an alternate on the U.S. women's gymnastics team, tested positive for COVID-19.

Eighteen-year old Eaker tested positive after traveling to Japan with the rest of the team. In an interview on June 27, the Kansas City gymnast told KSHB 41 News she was vaccinated. 

“In a week she hasn't had contact with any of the six athletes and she only had brief contact with Leanne. As soon as that happened, they moved Leanne into another room. Leanne (Wong) and Kara are not even seeing each other," said Al Fong, one of the coaches accompanying the team. Wong tested negative but was quarantined out of caution.

Eaker's father said that his daughter was not exhibiting any symptoms. Under Olympic guidelines, both Fong and Wong could be released from quarantine after eight days if no symptoms occur.

Both of the athletes are two of the four alternates for the women's gymnastic team.  The others are Filipino American Emma Malabuyo and Kayla DiCello. 

There are 61 COVID-19 cases linked to the Olympic Games, according to Tokyo 2020 on Monday.

U.S. Gymnastics report that before Eaker's test results were announced, the teams had already arranged to move to separate training facilities, to prepare for the Olympics, which kick off this Friday

"I know she's disappointed, but at this point she says she's kind of bored because she's stuck in her room not being able to do anything, can't practice or anything like that. She says she's bored and just looking forward to coming home," Mark Eaker told KMBC. "The biggest disappointment is that this takes her out of it completely."

Report: AAPI women suffering the most from COVID-19 job losses

Asian American and Pacific Islander women have experienced the highest rates of long-term unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans due to increased morbidity, mortality, and unemployment rates. Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women in particular, have been significantly disproportionally impacted by the pandemic, facing an alarming increase in race/ethnicity- and gender-based discrimination, violence, and job losses.

Government data reveal that AAPI women experienced the highest rates of long-term unemployment of any racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. in 2020, concludes a report by the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, NAPAWF.

 

Almost half (44%) of all AAPI women who experienced job losses in 2020 have been out of work for longer than six months. This staggering statistic is likely a result of the intersectional effects of a number of factors such as race- and gender-based discrimination, immigration status, and working in jobs that make them more susceptible to both workplace harassment and job losses. 

AAPI women are overrepresented in both the front-line and low-wage workforces: they make up 3.8% of the front-line workforce, despite only making up 2.9% of the overall workforce, and are typically paid less than their white male counterparts in the same occupations, says the NAPAWF analysis.

UCLA 

These "essential" frontline occupations include, but are not limited to, restaurant workers, salon workers, retail workers, and personal care aides, that includes nurses and caregivers to the elderly. Not only were the aforementioned jobs disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but working in such jobs also makes AAPI women increasingly susceptible to anti-AAPI violence and discrimination. 

Among the employees in who have continued to work, they often having to take health risks by continuing to interact with customers, patients and the public, says a study by UCLA. Among non-essential workers, many were able to work remotely from home. This is particularly true for white-collar employees and professionals. The group hit the hardest economically were non-essential workers who could not work remotely or worked for a fIrm that shut down. 

Racist incidents targeting AAPIs increased by 150% between 2019 and 2020. A staggering 70% of the incidents reported in 2020, the height of the coronavirus pandemic, were by women or gender nonbinary individuals with many of these incidents happening in workplaces and in places of business.

The NAPAWF-conducted national survey found that nearly 78% of AAPI women have been affected by anti-AAPI racism in the last two years. A fear of facing violence and discrimination at the workplace, especially in low-wage jobs, further reduces AAPI women’s ability to re-enter the workforce. 

In December 2020, the economy lost 140,000 jobs – all of them women’s jobs, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

"Many times Asian women have an especially high burden of domestic work and child care responsibilities in families, and with all the children at home, it's just been harder," Alexandra Suh, executive director of the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance in Los Angeles, told USA Today. "They also have more involvement with elder care. There's so many pressures with the pandemic."

AAPI women’s immigration status also plays a significant role in their employment, especially during the pandemic. From March 2020 through February 2021, immigrant women experienced the largest unemployment rates of any group in the United States, including US-born men, US-born women, and immigrant men.

In May 2020, the unemployment rate for AAPI immigrant women increased to 17%.

Disaggregating data

Given that nearly 70% of adult Asians in the U.S. are foreign-born, with many being recent immigrants or refugees, the AAPI community’s workforce participation was again disproportionately impacted, this time due to immigration-related job losses. 

Due to the combined effects of immigration, occupational segregation, and gender-based harassment and violence, disaggregating data by ethnicity, immigration status, and gender on employment for the AAPI community is of critical importance.

By lumping data under the umbrella term of "Asian American," the impact of the coronavirus on certain ethnicities are hidden and perpetuate the “model minority” myth. 

The AAPI community is a vast and incredibly diverse group encompassing more than 50 ethnic subgroups speaking more than 100 languages and dialects. There may be critical differences in the rates of unemployment among different ethnicities, and lumping us all together not only fails to acknowledge that, it also erases many of our distinct economic issues that need to be addressed. 

For example, AAPI women working full-time are typically paid, on average, 85 cents for every dollar paid to their white male counterparts. However, disaggregated data from 2015 to 2019 reveal that many AAPI women experience much larger wage gaps, particularly Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander women. Samoan and Tongan women only earn 60 cents for every white male dollar, Nepalese women only earn 54 cents for every white male dollar, and Burmese women earn only 52 cents for every white male dollar.

"They’re serving your food, they’re doing your nails and they’re caring for your children and your elderly," Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the NAPAWF, told USA Today. "There are Asians in these jobs that people don’t often think about."

What can bystanders do when encountering anti-Asian assaults?

So what can you do if see someone attacking or harassing an Asian American or Pacific Islander?

In response to the alarming surge in hate incidents targeting the Asian American community, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles, a leading legal and civil rights organization, is launching its first-ever bystander intervention initiative.

"We know that members of our community are hurt and enraged. One of the most asked questions we hear is, "What can I do?" We believe that bystander intervention empowers every person with actionable ways to make a difference," said Connie Chung Joe, Chief Executive Officer of Advancing Justice - LA.

The effort includes the debut of a PSA narrated by actor Ken Jeong and an ongoing series of free training workshops both designed to promote awareness and usage of bystander intervention methods. 

Intended to prevent verbal harassment from escalating into physical violence, these techniques offer everyday people the chance to assist victims and play a role in keeping their communities safe. For more information, visit: www.AdvancingJustice-LA.org.

The "5 Ds of Bystander Intervention"

Created in partnership with Hollaback!, a nonprofit working to end harassment in all its forms, both the trainings and PSA are based on the "5 Ds of bystander intervention", which are different methods a person can use to help victims of harassment. These are:

• Distract: de-escalating the situation by starting a conversation with the victim or finding another way to draw attention away from them
• Delegate: finding someone in a position of authority and asking them for help
• Delay: checking in with the victim after the incident is over
• Direct: speaking up about the harassment
• Document: recording a video of the incident

A Public Service Announcement was created featuring the work of award-winning illustrator James Yang and the voice of actor Ken Jeong, the animated PSA -- available in :30 and :90 versions -- provides a brief overview of the "5 Ds of bystander intervention". 

The spot will air throughout Southern California on television and radio stations and available online. Recorded in English, the digital version of the PSA will have optional subtitles in five Asian languages: Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese

"Asian Americans are fed up with the growing number of incidents of hate and racism. It's time to turn to solutions that every single person can embrace no matter what walk of life," said Ken Jeong. "As humans, we need to continue to listen, learn, love but now it's time to take action -- safely and together.".

Below is the 90-second English version:

Free Training Workshops

Advancing Justice – LA has begun conducting free 1-hour bystander intervention training workshops. Facilitated by staff of Advancing Justice – LA and other Asian Pacific Islander community based organizations who will be a mix of bilingual and English-speaking, the trainings will serve predominantly the Southern California community. Trainings will initially be offered in English and later this year in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese. Future curriculum enhancements will be made for first-generation immigrants and youth in schools. Trainings will be held virtually and then in combination with in-person training as COVID-19 restrictions allow. Click here to register.

 "We hope that our training and PSA will help as many people as possible stand in unity and to look after each other. This will be one of our answers to that question."

"With this scary new environment, it's important for everyone to know how to prevent a situation from getting out of control. It's an honor to collaborate on a project that's both personal and much needed," said PSA illustrator James Yang. "I'm an optimist and think a better world is not just a fantasy."

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, nearly 4,000 incidents of anti-Asian harassment and violence have been reported. Advancing Justice – LA's anti-discrimination work also includes:

• Legal and victim assistance in multiple Asian languages through toll-free helplines
• Free consultation, advice and representation with licensed attorneys
• Community education with a focus on limited-English, low income, immigrant members
• Policy advocacy for increased Federal and State victim support and community-based solutions to hate and racism
• Demographic data and research critical to understanding the diverse complexities of all ethnicities that comprise the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community as a whole
• Victim advocate review of incidents reported on StandAgainstHatred.org