Against Hate: Responding to Anti-Asian Violence

March 12, 2021

Asian American communities have experienced an alarming rise in racially-motivated attacks since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and experts fear many incidents are going unreported.

No one should have to live in fear of being attacked for who they are. The resources below can help you and your constituencies report, respond, and join in collective action against anti-Asian attacks.

Learn how to intervene and stand against racism

Take action in your state

  • Use examples from other electeds to help model your state's response:
    • NY Attorney General Letitia James launched a hotline for New Yorkers to report hate crimes and bias incidents. 
    • Michigan lawmakers encouraged constituents to report hate crimes to the state e-mail and hotline.
    • The New Jersey legislature introduced a resolution denouncing hate crimes and calling for the governor and AG to provide victims' assistance and enhance security at targeted institutions. Legislators introduced similar resolutions condemning anti-Asian violence in    California and Hawaii.
    • Legislators in Kansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Ohio introduced bills to create state advisory commissions on Asian and Pacific Islander (API) affairs. Existing API commissions in other states have centralized resources for residents and facilitated meetings for the public in the wake of anti-Asian violence.
    • California lawmakers approved $1.4 million in funds to support research on anti-Asian violence and the development of multilingual COVID-19 resources for API communities.
    • Lawmakers in New York introduced legislation to require the collection of demographic information on the sexual orientation, gender identity, and race and ethnicity of both alleged perpetrators and victims of hate crimes.
  • Use your platform to speak out. One horrible aspect of this crisis is the lack of media coverage—we cannot afford to be silent.
  • Access pro bono assistance and other legal responses to hate crimes from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA.)

Document incidents

By sharing what you experienced or witnessed, you can educate the public, empower others, show service providers where help is needed, and strengthen advocacy efforts for hate crimes response and prevention.

Other resources

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