As we are officially one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, AIGA Saint Louis recognizes the devastating toll that this crisis has had on our city, country, and world. With the pandemic has come a massive increase in hate speech, hate crimes, and violence against Asians across America. AIGA Saint Louis supports the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, locally and worldwide. In an effort to spread awareness and education, we’ve put together a list of resources to support the AAPI community.
If you, your organization, or institution benefit the AAPI community here in STL and are interested in collaborating with AIGA Saint Louis to help support your cause, please email president@stlouis.aiga.org to begin a conversation.⠀
Organizations
Stop AAPI Hate
In response to the alarming escalation in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University launched the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center on March 19, 2020. The center tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national affiliation of five leading 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 Center for Asian Pacific American Women
The Center strives to nurture our Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities by expanding leadership capacity, fostering awareness of AAPI issues, creating a supportive network of AAPI women leaders, and strengthening community.
Resources
Report a Hate Incident
Safety Tips
Safety tips for those experiencing or witnessing hate (multilingual)
Understanding Your Right To Be Treated Fairly and Without Discrimination in Restaurants, Stores, and Other Businesses
A Survey of Federal and State Laws
Bystander Intervention Training
Offered by Hollaback! and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
Stop AAPI Hate Signs
Download the signs from this folder
Fundraisers
Support the AAPI Community Fund
Together, it is our responsibility to condemn these violent acts and create lasting social change. We must amplify AAPI voices and find ways to uplift, empower, and protect the AAPI community.
The Support the AAPI Community Fund aims to do just that, addressing the urgent issues that face the AAPI community as well as broader, systemic problems. With the donations received through the Fund, GoFundMe.org will issue grants to trusted AAPI organizations working to rectify the racial inequalities in our society.
Donate Here
Documentaries
Asian Americans
PBS’ documentary series Asian Americans is a five-episode saga of the fastest-growing racial/ethnic group in American history.
#AsianAmCovidStories
This unique series of mini-docs presented by Asian American Documentary Network offers a unique perspective of Asian Americans on the COVID-19 pandemic, adopting stories that are still largely invisible.
Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision
Directed by IDA Member and IDA Documentary Awards 2019 Career Achievement Award honoree Freida Lee Mock, Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision explores the life and work of American artist Maya Lin, who created the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. The film tracks her ascent from being a relatively unknown artist, to being selected in a nationwide competition to create one of the country’s most beloved memorials. Her Asian American identity, in particular, plays a strong role in defining her artistic vision and why the memorial was initially greeted with skepticism from the DC political landscape.
9Man
Directed by Ursula Liang, 9-Man is an IDA fiscally sponsored project that uncovers an isolated and unique streetball tournament played by Chinese-Americans in the heart of Chinatowns across the USA and Canada. Largely undiscovered by the mainstream, the game is a gritty, athletic, chaotic urban treasure traditionally played in parking lots and back alleys. 9-Man grew in the 1930s, at a time when anti-Chinese sentiment and laws forced restaurant workers and laundrymen to socialize exclusively amongst themselves. Today it’s a lasting connection to Chinatown for a dynamic community of men who know a different, more integrated world, but still fight to maintain autonomy and tradition.
Podcasts
Self Evident: Asian American’s Stories is a podcast that aims to challenge assumptions about Asian Americans.
Further Reading
“Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning” is a collection of essays published in 2020 about the nuances of the Asian American experience.
“Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White” examines stereotypes, such as the perpetual foreigner and the model minority myth, and tackles issues including affirmative action, immigration and interracial marriage
