#StopAsianHate.
That's the message for Friday's virtual National Day of Action and Healing where organizers are asking people and businesses to spend the day sharing information about the problem - and their own experiences with anti-Asian hatred and to stand up to hate and violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The anti-Asian American sentiment came into national, searing focus after eight people, most of whom were of Asian descent and women, were shot by a gunman in Atlanta-area spas earlier this month.
People are being asked to use the hashtag #StopAsianHate on social media. You can stream the global vigil online at 4:30 pm PST/7:30 pm EST today: https://326vigil.org/
The initiative is spearheaded by California Assemblymember Evan Low and Queens Congresswoman Grace Meng due to the increasing numbers of attacks on Asian Americans and others in New York and across the U.S.
"Business leaders are also encouraged to confront anti-Asian bias perpetuated within their own workplaces, such as including AAPIs in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; disaggregating employee data among AAPIs (which encompasses many ethnicities and experiences in the U.S.) to track recruitment and retention; and supporting AAPI employee resource groups," according to a CNBC story.
According to the Stop AAPI Hate report, which covers the 3,795 incidents received by the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center from March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021, verbal harassment (68.1 percent) and shunning (20.5 percent) make up the two largest proportions of the total incidents reported. Meanwhile, physical assault (11.1 percent) comprised the third-largest category of the total incidents. Nationwide, women report hate incidents 2.3 times more than men. Youths report 12.6 percent of incidents while seniors only report 6.2 percent of the total incidents. Chinese are the largest ethnic group experiencing hate followed by Koreans, Vietnamese and Filipinos, the report said.
Moreover, earlier this month, in response to the increase in attacks against Asian-Americans and Pacific-Islanders, a Torrance-area lawmaker is seeking to create a statewide hate crime hotline.