On the night of March 16, a white male killed eight people, six of them Asian women, in a random shooting at three massage parlors in the Atlanta area (opens in new tab). The crime caused further trauma to the Asian American community. The Asian American community had already been the target of a frightening increase in hate crimes (opens in new tab) last year.

According to a new report (opens in new tab) from Stop AAPI (Asian American/Pacific Islander) Hate, between mid-March 2020 and the end of February 2021, the organization received approximately 3,000 reports of hate incidents against the AAPI community, and primarily Asian American women The report noted that it received approximately 3,800 reports of hate incidents against the AAPI community, but that this number is "only a fraction of the actual number of hate incidents that occur." In New York City alone, anti-Asian hate crime incidents increased by at least 1,900% from 2019 to 2020, according to NYPD data (open in new tab).

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a totally unjustified boycott of Chinatown restaurants and stores (opens in new tab) worldwide, as well as an increase in violent hate crimes against the Asian community. These racist fears were further fueled in the United States by the former president and his supporters' continued use of racist epithets to describe the virus.

As hate crimes continue to rise, countless activists, celebrities, and politicians have spoken out against them: in late January, when three people were assaulted by a single man in the Chinatown district of Oakland, California, actors Daniel Day Kim and Daniel Wu received a offered a combined $25,000 reward for information about the attackers. And President Joe Biden announced shortly after taking office that the fight against anti-Asian racism would be at the core of his administration. In a prime-time address earlier this month, he decried the "un-American" increase in "vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans" who have been "attacked, harassed, blamed, and scapegoated" (opens in new tab).

This week's shooting also highlights the violence faced not only by Asian Americans, but also by working-class immigrant women working in massage parlors, which are often associated with the sex work community, according to the grassroots Chinese massage parlor workers' coalition Red Canary Song (opens in new tab) It also highlights the violence faced by working-class immigrant women who work in massage parlors, which are often associated with the sex work community. We cannot remain silent in the face of these attacks, and here are some ways to support the AAPI community:

If you witness or are targeted in an anti-Asian hate crime, or have further information about another ongoing investigation, immediately report it to local police report it, and subsequently file a report with the FBI.

File a damage report (opens in new tab)

While the entire restaurant industry has struggled during the pandemic, Asian restaurants have been hit particularly hard, subjected to racist attacks by xenophobes over the (also completely unfounded) coronavirus The AAPI is a very important part of the problem. Show your support by visiting an AAPI-owned restaurant in your area or ordering takeout.

The anti-harassment organization Hollaback. has partnered with Asian Americans Advancing Justice to offer free bystander intervention training that gives you the tools to intervene if you witness anti-Asian harassment.

register (opens in new tab)

You can help the families of several people killed in the Atlanta attack and the family of Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, a survivor of the shooting: 21]

Hyun Jung Grant

donate (opens in new tab)

Suncha Kim

donate (opens in new tab)

Yong Yue

donate (opens in new tab)

Xiaojie Tan

donate (opens in new tab)

donate (opens in new tab)

Soon Chong Pak

donate (opens in new tab)

Delena Yaun

Paul Michels

donate (opens in new tab)

Elcias Hernandez Ortiz

donate (opens in new tab)

Stop AAPI Hate is a national Asian S. Asian Americans Advancing Justice is an organization that defends the civil rights of Asian Americans and empowers the Asian American community through education, litigation, and public policy advocacy.

Donate (opens in new tab)

Asian Americans Advancing Justice works to defend the civil rights of Asian Americans and empower the community through education, litigation, and public policy advocacy.

Donations can be made to the national chapter (opens in new tab)

Donations can be made to the Atlanta chapter (opens in new tab)

National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum works specifically within the reproductive justice framework and focuses on bringing about political and social change for AAPI women.

donate (opens in new tab)

AAPI Women Lead, through the #ImReady Movement, along with other BIPOC communities, empowers AAPI women to become leaders in politics, business, technology and education, working to combat the discrimination and violence that is all too common against AAPI women.

donate (opens in new tab)

Focusing specifically on Asian immigrant women experiencing domestic violence, Womankind provides resources and information to "overcome trauma and build a path to healing."

Donate (open in new tab)

Red Canary Song is a grassroots coalition of Asian and immigrant sex workers fighting for justice and police accountability in cases of violence against sex workers.

Donate (open in new tab)

The Asian American Advocacy Fund is a Georgia-based nonprofit organization that works for the state's AAPI community. Our vision is a Georgia where the voices of Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Hawaiians are reflected in elected leadership and progressive policies throughout the state."

Donate (open in new tab)

The Asian Mental Health Collective seeks to break down cultural barriers to dematerialize mental health support within the global Asian community. It is clear that "there is a generational and cultural divide in many Asian families that results in mental health being woven through overt conflict and unspoken grievances... AMHC wants to help bridge these gaps."

Donate (opens in new tab)

GoFundMe has compiled a comprehensive list of verified donation pages on its platform to support victims of anti-Asian hate crimes, provide safe resources for the AAPI community, and advance research on the increasing violence (opens in new tab) has been compiled. The site also launched the AAPI Community Fund, which provides grants to AAPI advocacy groups nationwide.

donate (opens in new tab)

While the alarming increase in anti-Asian hate crimes is largely due to racist sentiment surrounding the coronavirus in the past year, anti-Asian racism and xenophobia are not new phenomena. It is crucial to understand how racism has played out in the United States in the past through political policies and social actions. Some educational resources

"What This Wave of Anti-Asian Violence Reveals About America"

read (opens in new tab)

Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White

read (opens in new tab)

The Making of Asian America: A History

read (opens in new tab)

"Self Evident: Asian America's Stories" podcast

listen (opens in new tab)

Asian Americans PBS docuseries

watch (opens in new tab)

"Asian American Stories in the Time of Coronavirus" YouTube docuseries

watch (opens in new tab)

Violence against the AAPI community has been on the rise for over a year, but many people outside the community have only recently begun to hear about it, mainly through social media only recently started to hear about it, mainly through social media. We cannot let this xenophobia go down the drain again and sit back and let the AAPI community do all the work themselves. Alai must keep up to date on policies and movements to address this attack and continue to share information with their community and social media followers to ensure the attention of policy makers and other community advocates.

In addition to the above organizations, social media accounts to follow, amplify, and learn from include NextShark (opens in new tab), Amanda Nguyen (opens in new tab), Dr. Connie Wun (opens in new tab), Hate Is a Virus (open in new tab), Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (open in new tab), #TheyCantBurnUsAll (open in new tab), William Lex Ham (open in new tab), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (opens in new tab).