Asian Culture and Media Alliance and Asian Americans Advancing Justice Call on People to Have A New Thanksgiving Conversation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 24, 2020
Contacts:
Jasmine Nauta, Asian Culture & Media Alliance, 562-303-4820
Jasmine@acmasocal.org
Michelle Boykins, Advancing Justice | AAJC, 202-296-2300 x0144
mboykins@advancingjustice-aajc.org
Liza Ameen, Advancing Justice – Los Angeles, 213-977-7500 x258
lameen@advancingjustice-la.org
Asian Culture and Media Alliance and Asian Americans Advancing Justice Call on People to Have A New Thanksgiving Conversation
Groups Urge All To Talk About COVID-19 Racist Attacks Against Asian Americans And To “Stand Against Hatred”
SAN DIEGO AND WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Asian Culture and Media Alliance (ACMA) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (Advancing Justice) call upon people across the country to talk about COVID-19 in a new way. The groups urge all of us to talk about the Coronavirus related hate crimes and racial discrimination incidents occurring against Asian Americans while they gather with friends and family in-person or virtually this Thanksgiving.
In response to the unwavering attacks in the Asian American community, ACMA and Advancing Justice have partnered to lead a national “Stand Against Hatred” Public Service Announcement video campaign to encourage awareness and reporting about this social injustice. The PSAs feature community activists and leaders of Asian American and multicultural civil rights organizations including The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and NAACP.
CLICK HERE to view the PSA videos.
Statement from ACMA:
ACMA is honored to be partnering with Advancing Justice in producing this important project as part of their “Stand Against Hatred” initiative. This is the result of a cooperative of voices across partnering organizations to bring better awareness about COVID-19 related verbal and physical hate crimes targeting our Asian American communities. We encourage anyone who has been directly affected or has witnessed an incident to report it.
Statement from Asian Americans Advancing Justice:
The Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliation stands against this insidious racism. The Stand Against Hatred website captures individual reports of hate crimes and incidents against Asian Americans related to Covid-19 as well as earlier incidents going back to the 2016 election. Since early this year, we have been working to raise awareness about increased racism and discrimination against Asian Americans who are being wrongly blamed for the coronavirus and COVID-19. This discrimination is taking many forms from hostility and suspicion that Asian Americans are carriers of the coronavirus; to verbal abuse, harassment, and even physical violence. Prominent elected officials have been using terms including “Chinese virus,” “Wuhan virus,” “Kung Flu,” and “China plague,” labels that lead to stigma and cause real harm to our community members who are targeted by hate and harassment. Since language barriers can be a hurdle for limited English proficient Asian Americans, the site offers reporting in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. Visit StandAgainstHatred.org to report hate incidents.
About Asian Culture and Media Alliance
Asian Culture and Media Alliance is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2013 to create a voice of unity, awareness and empowerment for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities through Media Arts, specifically Television, Film and Online Media. ACMA’s core media programs include Asian Voices TV show, Asian Pacific Community Connection online business listings directory and Take One Vocational Youth Media Internship Program. Visit www.acmasocal.org to learn more about ACMA.
About Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national affiliation of five, independent organizations advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities to promote a fair and equitable society for all. The affiliation’s members are: Advancing Justice – AAJC (Washington, DC), Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus (San Francisco), Advancing Justice – Los Angeles, Advancing Justice – Atlanta, and Advancing Justice – Chicago. Visit www.advancingjustice.org
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