This post was written by Mary M. Luke, Vice President, PowHerNY and Board of Directors, UN Women USA.

Vilma Kari, a 65 year old Filipino woman was viciously attacked in Times Square yesterday in broad daylight. The attacker kicked her in the stomach and then repeatedly stomped on her head, while shouting  “You do not belong here”. This outrageous attack against an innocent Asian American woman was more appalling because men in a nearby apartment building who witnessed the attack did not intervene.  In New York city alone, there have been 33 cases of  hate crimes reported in the last three months. We are all responsible to help stop this surge of hate and violence against Asian Americans.

Today, we reaffirm the PowHerNY’s Network commitment to fighting for an anti-racist policy agenda and confirm the urgent need to speak out for gender equity and racial justice. We condemn the pandemic of racism, misogyny and xenophobia which intersect to create a culture of hate and increasing violence against Asian Americans, and specifically Asian American women. PowHerNY is committed to creating a post- COVID-19 recovery which is based on values of human rights, equity and social justice, as seen in our Vision for Change and a Roadmap to Inclusive Gender Justice.

On March 16, 2021 eight people, including six Asian American women, were killed in Atlanta. It was the most gruesome in an escalating series of hate crimes targeting AAPI communities. This tragic mass murder and the failure of law enforcement to classify it as a hate crime have galvanized AAPI communities and allies across the country to mobilize and speak out in protest of this flagrant abuse of human rights.

Racism, misogyny and violence against Asian American women can no longer remain hidden in the shadows. Now is the moment to break the silence, protect women, and advocate for anti-racist policies and systemic change. As an Asian American woman, I stand in solidarity with Asian American sisters and brothers and all those who face discrimination based on the color of their skin or their “non-American accent.” Our voices must be augmented and our stories heard to bring attention to the racism and harassment that impacts all aspects of our lives and our families. We must build power through representation at the highest levels and through strategic alliances with other influential groups.

Asian Americans are experiencing a rise in incidents of hate and violence since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, fueled by former President Trump’s racist rhetoric that the pandemic was created by the ”China virus.” Over the past year, Stop AAPI Hate reported 3,795 hate incidents nationwide, victimizing women at a rate 2.3 times higher than men. In New York City, the NYPD documented 29 racially-motivated crimes against people of Asian background in 2020, compared to 3 in 2019.

Over one recent weekend in March, five incidents were reported in the New York Times including a subway passenger who yelled a racial slur at a 68-year-old Sri Lankan man and punched him in the head, an Asian woman who was hit in the face with a metal pipe, and an Asian American woman who was punched in the face while leaving a protest against anti-Asian violence. Until recently, the media has under-reported violence against AAPI communities and often do not report them as hate crimes. White supremacy and the myth of the “model minority” have worked to hide the epidemic of hate and violence against AAPIs, leaving Asian Americans silent and afraid.

Racism against Asian Americans and victimization of Asian women goes back generations.  Federal laws including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred or restricted Chinese immigration until World War II, and Alien Land Laws prohibited Chinese and Japanese from buying land and homes in order to discourage them from settling in the US. During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt ordered 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent, most of whom were American citizens, to be forcibly relocated to government internment camps, losing their homes and jobs.  American service members posted in the Philippines and Vietnam had a history of soliciting sex workers, thus furthering the stereotype of Asian women as hypersexual and submissive sex objects. This has contributed to the fetishization of Asian women. The white man who carried out the attacks blamed “sex addiction” and his desire to “eliminate temptation.” The police have not charged him with a hate crime, but we must call it what it is: a flagrant violation of human rights based on misogyny, racism and violence against Asian American women.

The myth that AAPIs are the “model minority” overlooks the reality that Asian Americans are the most economically divided group in the US and that many poor AAPI families are struggling. In New York City, 21.7% of Asian Americans in New York City live in poverty, similar to rates for Black and Latinx residents. The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum reports that Asian American women in some ethnic subgroups earn as little as 52 cents per dollar as compared to White men.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected BIPOC communities and stoked hate against AAPIs, Blacks, and Indigenous communities. Asian American businesses have suffered huge losses during the pandemic, fueled by both unemployment and xenophobia. The Asian American jobless rate in New York City rose from 3.4% in February 2020 to 25.6% in May 2020, the largest increase among all racial groups because so many AAPIs were employed in restaurant jobs. Asian American women, who work disproportionately in service industries such as beauty salons, hospitality, and restaurants that shuttered during the pandemic, make up the highest share of long-term unemployed workers. Additionally, women who work in salons and massage businesses, like the victims of the Atlanta shooting, and domestic workers who are primarily women of color and immigrants, have lost income and their livelihoods.

During the pandemic, gender-based violence spiked, affecting the lives of millions of women around the world, including AAPI women. Violence against women is so widespread affecting 1 out 3 women even before the pandemic, that UN Women has called it “The Shadow Pandemic.” Asian American women, women of color, immigrant and poor women are particularly vulnerable to violence because of radicalized sexual violence, racism and misogyny. Furthermore many AAPI immigrant women are hesitant to reach out for help because of shame, embarrassment and fear of deportation.

The murders of the six Asian American women in Atlanta have mobilized AAPI women and groups around the country to rise up and raise their voices in protest to end racism and violence against Asian American women. AAPI women leaders have been on the forefront in sharing their stories and protests to Stop AAPI Hate.

AAPI leaders cannot and must not walk alone. To change attitudes, stereotypes, norms and behavior, we must stand in solidarity with Black, Brown, Indigenous people and all allies, (men and women). Together, we must condemn racism, sexism, hate, xenophobia and violence for all peoples. We must build on the groundswell for racial justice and civil rights that was started 60 over years ago, and re-ignited by Black Lives Matter, to build a local, statewide global movement that respects the human rights of all people, regardless of race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, age, class, or ability.

The PowHerNY network is committed to build on this tragic moment and turn anti-Asian racism and hate into a broader and powerful movement for a racially just and gender equal world for all.

In solidarity.

Take Action

Advocacy

• Urge Congress to pass NY Rep. Grace Meng’s COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act and VA Rep. Heyer’s Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act, which would expedite the federal government’s response to the rise of hate crimes exacerbated during the pandemic.
• Advocate for Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and state and local legislation on bills to stop hate, sexual harassment and violence against women.
• Promote more AAPI voices in the media to prevent and call out harmful stereotypes of Asian Americans. Learn more from the Asian American Journalists Association  and Stop AAPI Hate.

Support AAPI Organizations and Businesses

• Sign the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum petition to Condemn Hate and Violence Against Asian American Women.
• Donate to the Asian American Advancing Justice Fund for Crime Victims to support victims’ families of the March 17 attack.
• Support AAPI women’s organizations in New York City that advocates and provides multilingual, culturally-services to survivors of gender-based violence. You could consider Sakhi for South Asian Women, Red Canary Song or I Am Womankind.
• Support AAPI community-based organizations in New York City such as: Asian American Federation, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum or Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence.
• Promote local AAPI-owned businesses and restaurants, especially those in Asian communities that have suffered from discrimination and huge financial losses because of the pandemic.

Coalition Building

• Establish or strengthen linkages with diverse community-based organizations fighting racism and misogyny, such as Girls for Gender Equity, Make the Road or Latina Institute New York.
• Reach out to mainstream organizations to form partnerships for advocacy and education on anti-Asian racism policies, including National Organization for Women New York City, American Association of University Women or NYCLU.
• Join the HeForShe Alliance for men and boys to learn how to engage as gender advocates and support women and girls in the fight for women’s human rights.

Education

• Educate yourself and your families on Asian American history through resources such as Museum for Chinese in America (MOCA), and PBS’s series on Asian Americans.
• Sign up for Bystander Intervention Training to Stop Anti Asian Harassment and Xenophobia.
• Advocate for ethnic and Asian studies in school districts and educational institutions to help young people learn how to challenge biases against and Asian and other BIPOC communities, and to open multi-racial dialogue among young people.

Cover Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash.