"How did we get here": Awareness campaign launched to educate public about anti-Asian hate
SACRAMENTO- Community leaders and lawmakers revealed a campaign Friday to educate the public about anti-Asian hate and provide resources for victims.
"How did we get here." That is the question Megan Sapigao with the Asian American Liberation Network presents. Her organization is part of efforts to address anti-Asian hate through a public awareness campaign organized by the Laban Group, a Filipino ethnic media collaborative. Laban in Filipino means to stand up, fight, or combat.
Their goal is to "figure out how our community can respond and how we can address the issue of public safety," Sapigao says.
Two years ago, an incident at a south Sacramento butcher shop was investigated as a hate crime after surveillance video showed a man dumping a dead animal in the store's parking lot. A partner in that store is Chinese American.
From 2020 to 2021, California experienced an alarming 32% increase in reported hate crimes. Anti-Asian hate crimes jumped 177% to 247 incidents, one-third of which occurred in a public place.
Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is Filipino American, says the state has stepped in to help. "It's not going to happen on its own. It requires agency and action and leaning in and people power and communities rising up, and that's what we're doing today."
Bonta says there are new law enforcement resources to assist in identifying hate crimes that are now available. These include a statewide coordinator and local roundtables.
Sacramento Mayor Pro Tem Mai Vang says there are approximately 6,000 Asian American and Pacific Islander owned businesses in the city. She says finding ways to report Asian hate, bigotry, bias or discrimination are key to addressing the issue. "But it's also about the multi-racial conversation, the collective healing spaces that are also needed in our community to make sure we can really address the different causes of anti-Asian hate," said Vang.
Friday's press conference and panel that followed took place on the 93rd anniversary of the anti-Filipino Watsonville riots in 1930.
The Standup to Asian Hate hotline is 833-866-4283.
There is also a link to report hate crimes on the state's website.
