| Hi everyone. Tom here, weighing in on a heavy topic. Acts of violence and other forms of harassment against Asian people in the U.S. have surged in the past year, a reflection of misplaced blame over the spread of the coronavirus. While corporate America has begun speaking out, the response from the tech industry—which employs a high percentage of Asian professionals and bestrides the region where much of the bigotry is concentrated—has been tepid at best, according to some leaders in the Asian American community. Since March 19, there have been more than 3,000 reported instances of racism and discrimination targeting Asian Americans in the U.S., according to Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition of researchers and advocacy groups that began tabulating data on anti-Asian hate as the virus spread across the country a year ago. These acts, which range from verbal abuse to physical assaults, are often fomented by media images and leaders, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, who falsely portrayed people of Asian descent as responsible for the spread of Covid-19, said Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, an advocacy group. "The former president racialized Covid-19," she said. That, combined with white nationalist groups spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories "fed into this scapegoating of Asians for this horrific pandemic." She said the numbers are very likely under-reported but still "astronomical" compared with prior years. Around the Lunar New Year, harrowing images and video of assaults were caught on surveillance cameras and circulated in the media. In one clip, an elderly Asian man is walking along a sidewalk in Oakland's Chinatown when a person wearing a mask and hoodie approaches him from behind and pushes him violently to the ground. Another man died after a brutal attack captured on film in San Francisco. These and other reports finally galvanized some tech companies. Airbnb Inc. employees condemned anti-Asian hate and listed ways people can combat discrimination and ally themselves with the Asian community. Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook decried "rising violence against the Asian community" and said Apple will donate to groups providing support to those affected. Peloton Interactive Inc. spoke out on social media. Leaders in the Asian community say they welcome the support, but that too many other companies are still regrettably silent. They want the tech industry in particular to be more vocal and take sustained action, owing to the outsized power and influence it wields, its large Asian employee and customer base and its dominance of the San Francisco Bay Area, home to a large Asian population. "There has been a really heartening response from all sectors," said Choi. "But what I would say is there could be so much more that could be done." Eric Toda, global head of social marketing at Facebook Inc., recently penned an impassioned article about his grandfather, a World War II veteran who was the victim of a violent hate crime in the late 1990s. The executive lamented a lack of attention to the recent wave of bigotry against Asians and attributed it to what's known as the model minority myth. That's the idea that Asian Americans are perceived as more successful than other minorities, resulting in stereotypes that sow divisions between Asians and other groups, blur differences within the Asian community and lead non-Asian people to play down or ignore Asian oppression. "The myth has turned other communities against us as we have been inappropriately placed on a pedestal," he wrote. "It's due to our `heads down, don't speak' characterization, a sweeping over-generalization as an immigrant community that has achieved the socioeconomic American Dream. It's a characterization placed on us by oppressors, not ourselves. So when we scream, we're screaming at backs turned to us." Businesses and brands can help by encouraging staff to take time off to volunteer in their communities, and channeling donations to Asian advocacy groups such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Toda added in an interview. Choi, from Stop AAPI Hate, recommends that when corporations take action, they include members of the Asian American community. "Talk to us, engage us," she said. "Invite us to roundtables. Before coming up with a campaign, make sure it's in alignment with the forces that are doing this work every day."—Tom Giles | 
Post a Comment