Anti-racism work is ongoing and inclusive of all. Our founder Gloria, an Asian-American woman, wrote the following letter to our Thousand community.
In the week that Covid began to spread in the US, one of our Asian team members was told to “go back to China." A month later, one of my Asian best friends was harassed on the street for her race, and most recently, my mom, an elderly Chinese woman, was antagonized in a parking lot. But after all of that I didn’t speak up – I just couldn’t find the right words. And culturally, as the daughter of Asian immigrants, my mental default is to “just keep quiet and work hard." After the Georgia killings though, I can’t stay quiet.
To my Thousand community: please include Asian and Asian-American experiences in your anti-racism work. Read up on the long history of anti-Asian racism in this country (like the Chinese Exclusion Act). Advocate to expand civil rights protections that would safeguard Asians and Asian-Americans (the AAPI community has experienced a 150% increase in hate crimes from 2019 to 2020). Be an ally to the Asian-American community and help #StopAsianHate
If you don't know where to start, you can learn from organizations and activists (like @aapiwomenlead, @stopaapihate, and @goldhouseco). Reflect upon the prejudices you may hold. And put in the work to address systemic racism and #StopAsianHate.
