Our hearts are heavy with yet another act of gun violence amidst the Asian community in Half Moon Bay, California. Just days after the tragedy in Monterey Park (and within the same week as gun violence incidents in Fort Pierce, Baton Rouge, Des Moines, and other places), we mourn the loss of the victims, including Chinese migrant farmworkers, in Half Moon Bay.

During this difficult time of grieving, we center the victims’ families and the Half Moon Bay community. We are committed to supporting our communities in finding healing, peace, and comfort.

Act To Change is devastated by the horrific violence in Monterey Park, California, a majority Asian American ethnoburb and major center for the Chinese American community. That such violence occurred during the Lunar New Year holidays in what should be a time of joy for our communities adds to the pain of this tragic incident. We mourn for the victims and grieve with their families who should be centered during this difficult time. As an organization committed to embracing and celebrating our diverse AAPI youth and communities, we condemn violence in all forms.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

May 19, 2022

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Lisa Ling, Olympian Mirai Nagasu, Ambassador Katherine Tai, Congressional Leaders, Mayors to Mark National Asian American and Pacific Islander Day Against Bullying and Hate

With rise in anti-Asian hate, 35 cities and states, 120+ organizations, corporations, celebrities, and community leaders unite for national commemoration to honor legacy of Vincent Chin and promote action, healing, and solidarity

This Wednesday, May 18, 2022, marks the fourth annual Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) National Day Against Bullying and Hate, led by AAPI anti-bullying nonprofit Act To Change. AAPIs have long faced violence, hate, and bullying, and now the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked rising and unprecedented numbers of anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination. 

In recognition of the fourth annual National AAPI Day Against Bullying and Hate, actor, author, and Act To Change co-founder Maulik Pancholy issued the following statement:

“Anti-Asian hate crimes, xenophobia, and racism continue to be reported at an unprecedented level, we must remain united and fight against all forms of bullying and hate. In addition to protecting and empowering our communities, we must also ensure we provide the platform and resources for healing.  Today, Act To Change urgently calls on all leaders and individuals across the country to stand with us on this annual National AAPI Day Against Bullying and Hate, honor the legacy of Vincent Chin, and advocate for a world free of bullying and hate.

Act To Change remains committed to our mission against hate and bullying. Hate must have no place in our country. We are devastated by the violent mass shootings in Buffalo, Orange County, and other racially-motivated attacks in recent days. We decry these tragedies and stand in solidarity with the Black community and others against hate and extremism. Public officials must recognize the urgent need to respond with the resources and leadership to uplift our communities, address the drivers of racism and hate, and support young people in preventing prejudice from taking root.”

National AAPI Day Against Bullying and Hate is observed during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and on May 18, the birthday of Vincent Chin, who was murdered in an anti-Asian hate crime in 1982. This year would have been his 67th birthday. 

A recently released report found that in 2021, the most populous cities across the country experienced a 44% rise in hate crimes, a trend that has continued since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This year’s commemoration is titled “United We Heal,” with May also being Mental Health Awareness Month. Due to a lack of awareness, and linguistic and cultural barriers, the AAPI community has the lowest help-seeking rate of any racial group in the United States. 

Major companies are joining Act To Change to mark this day, including Sephora, Nickelodeon, Disney, Netflix, Paypal, Warner Music Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Meta, and ESPN.

This live virtual event will also precede an in-person community reception at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.

The 35 participating cities and states in the National AAPI Day Against Bullying and Hate include:

• Albuquerque, NM
• Atlanta, GA
• Baltimore, MD
• Boston, MA
• Burlington County, NJ
• Charlotte, NC
• Chicago, IL
• Detroit, MI
• Honolulu, HI
• Houston, TX
• Indianapolis, IN
• Philadelphia, PA
• Phoenix, AZ
• San Francisco, CA
• State of Arizona
• State of Maryland
• Torrance, CA
• Washington, D.C.
• Whatcom County, WA

Participating celebrities and influencers in the May 18 virtual event   (3pm PT / 6pm ET) include:

• The Honorable Miguel Cardona, United States Secretary of Education
• The Honorable Amb. Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative, White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) Advisory Council Co-chair
• Lisa Ling, journalist, television personality, and author
• Poorna Jagannathan,  actor and producer
• Jeremy Lin, NBA champion
• Michelle Li, journalist, co-founder of the Very Asian Foundation
• Mirai Nagasu, Olympic figure skater
• Nik Dodani, actor, comedian, and writer
• Ivy Kwong, LMFT, speaker, author, coach, and licensed psychotherapist
• Vanita Gupta, Associate Attorney General
• Congresswoman Judy Chu, CA-27, Chairwoman, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC)
• Congresswoman Grace Meng, NY-06
• Congressman Andy Kim, NJ-03
• Congressman Ted Lieu, CA-33
• Congressman Jimmy Gomez, CA-34
• Congressman Mark Takano, CA–41
• Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, WA-07
• Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland, WA-10
• Congresswoman Young Kim, CA-39
• Mayor Michelle Wu, City of Boston
• Mayor Farrah Khan, City of Irvine

Fast Facts:

• AAPIs have the lowest help-seeking rate of any racial/ethnic group, with only 23.3% of AAPI adults with a mental illness receiving treatment in 2019.
• About 1 in 5 students report being bullied during the school year
• 40% of AAPI LGBTQ youths have considered suicide in last year, report says 
• Fifty percent of Asian American students report bias-based harassment
• Two-thirds of Sikh American students report being bullied
• Half of Muslim American students report being bullied due to their religion
• 1 in 4 Asian American youth has experienced COVID-19-related bullying

If you are a company, organization, or individual interested in becoming a sponsor or partner for National AAPI Day Against Bullying and Hate, visit acttochange.org/2022dayagainstbullying .   

To join the conversation on social media, use #DayAgainstBullying and #ActToChange. 

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Originally launched under President Obama’s White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Act To Change is a national nonprofit organization working to end bullying among AAPI youth. It envisions a world where all youth can grow up feeling proud of and supported in who they are. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: APRIL 25, 2022

LOS ANGELES – Act To Change, a national nonprofit organization working to address bullying, is rallying the nation around the 4th Annual National AAPI Day Against Bullying + Hate on May 18th, in recognition of Vincent Chin’s birthday, a victim of a fatal hate crime 40 years ago. 

Act To Change will bring together Asian and Pacific Islander American business leaders, activists, elected officials, and youth together at the Act To Change Community Reception at the historic Japanese American National Museum in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles. This Community Reception will take place on May 18th, 2022 from 6pm to 9pm.

Last year, Act To Change released their Asian American Bullying Report, in partnership with NextShark and Admerasia, to reveal new groundbreaking data on the bullying realities that Asian American youth are facing. This year, the work continues at the Community Reception, where individuals and organizations will be honored and recognized for their contributions and actions in working against bullying and hate. 

Bullying Facts:

• About 1 in 5 students report being bullied during the school year
• Fifty percent of Asian American students report bias-based harassment
• Two-thirds of Sikh American students report being bullied
• Half of Muslim American students report being bullied due to their religion
• 1 in 4 Asian American youth has experienced COVID-19-related bullying

According to Stop AAPI Hate, from March 19, 2020 to December 31, 2021, a total of 10,905 hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) persons were reported to Stop AAPI Hate. Of the hate incidents reflected in this report, 4,632 occurred in 2020 (42.5%) and 6,273 occurred in 2021 (57.5%).

While the statistics look grim, Act To Change also looks at the positive that has come out of the last year, and will use the Community Reception as an opportunity to meet and connect with others in celebration of not only the work as an anti-bullying organization for AAPI youth, but also the work of AAPI leaders and changemakers across the country. 

The following individuals and organizations will be awarded and honored at the Community Reception:

• Sunny Vacher (Producer, Writer, and Mentor for Act to Change Youth Ambassador Program)
• Mina Fedor (Youth Activist, Founder, and Act to Change Youth Ambassador)
• Hate Is a Virus
• The Asian American Foundation

For those interested in Act to Change’s program on May 18th, they can tune in at 3pm PT // 6pm ET to watch the virtual program or purchase tickets to attend the Community Reception at 6pm PT in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.

Read our collective statement in-language

Chinese (中文)

Korean (한국어)

Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)

Read last year’s collective statement.

On March 16, 2021, eight people, including six Asian women massage workers, were killed at three spas in the Metro Atlanta area. As we mark the one year anniversary of this tragedy, we honor the victims, the survivors, and their families. We place their healing, care, and peace at the heart of our remembrance. We are grateful to the local and national communities of care that blossomed over the past year and that have centered the families of victims and survivors.

We have centered those most directly impacted by connecting them to critical services, and raising funds for victims and their families. For our broader community, we continue to tend to the process of healing by finding inspiration in the traditions of our elders. We are also continuing to advocate for policies and solutions that address the root causes of violence and hate so that we may all live in safe communities.

We have held our community members close as we navigate loss, grief, and trauma not only in the wake of the Atlanta spa shootings but in experiencing continued violence, misogyny, and racism against Asian Americans in Georgia and beyond. Most recently the brutal murders of Michelle Alyssa Go and Christine Yuna Lee within weeks of each other in New York City have renewed the fears and anxieties of Asian and Asian American women and femmes who are subjected to both gender and race-based discrimination and violence. In Albuquerque, NM, two Asian massage workers were killed during robberies at Asian spas, heightening the fears felt by Asian American and immigrant small business owners.

These highly visible tragedies also call our attention to the everyday experiences that the most vulnerable members of our communities face in the cross-hairs of white supremacy, misogyny, and imperialism: the racial and sexual exploitations wrought by the presence of U.S. militarism in Asia and the Pacific; the resulting geopolitical upheavals that force migration; the daily terrors of a system that criminalizes immigrants, massage workers, and sex workers; housing and financial insecurity; and the ongoing abuses and dangerous conditions that migrant, low-wage, service workers face daily.

To heal we must grapple with these truths and address white supremacy and misogyny as the root causes of violence and hate. To do so requires us to hold uncomfortable dualities. It means acknowledging the pain and fear that motivates some victims and community members to call for carceral solutions such as increased police presence, hate crimes legislation, and other forms of punishment; while at the same time interrogating how these responses criminalize and cause harm in the name of public safety.

Grappling with the truth also means confronting anti-Blackness in our Asian American communities. We cannot allow the tragedy of the shootings in Atlanta to justify policies that expand law enforcement and its disproportionate impacts on Black communities. Rather, alongside our Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Arab, and Pacific Islander allies, we are inspired to reimagine what justice, healing, love, and hope can look like for our communities.

Over the past year, we witnessed messages and acts of community care, empowerment, and solidarity reverberating in streets, parks, and community centers as more people have come together, bound by grief, and committed to radical change.

Together, we commit to push beyond the oppressive boundaries of white supremacy and anti-Blackness and build sustaining communities of care. We can address the needs of victims of racialized and gender-based violence while also holding our elected leaders accountable for creating policies that center our communities. This includes investing in community-based organizations that are often on the frontlines of caring for victims, survivors, and vulnerable communities in the languages they use and with sensitivity to their cultures, livelihoods, and immigration statuses. Our elected leaders must provide long-standing investments and resources for the families of victims and survivors well after the immediate crisis has abated, access to victims’ compensation funds, fully fund violence prevention and restorative justice programs, and public infrastructure and institutions focused on public health and education.

Together, we can struggle in more powerful ways for community safety and healing, for racial and economic justice, for stable housing, for access to quality health care, including mental health and education and a liveable wage, for the right to vote, for the right to organize, and for art and beauty in our neighborhoods. On this anniversary, we remember the lives taken and the families who still struggle without their loved ones, and we recommit to expanding and deepening our community of care for all communities, beginning in Atlanta and spreading throughout the country and the world.