Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition, launched a multimedia storytelling campaign at the start of Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander month to tackle racism and inspire everyone to take action towards positive change.
“Over centuries and certainly recently with COVID-19 that our communities have experienced a lot of hate, but what we wanted to do is to say we're more than victims of hate,” said Manju Kulkarni, who co-founded Stop AAPI Hate in 2020.
When the nonprofit was founded, its first goal was to document the drastic rise in anti-Asian racism at the start of the COVID pandemic.
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But the continued reports of discrimination across the country in 2024 motivated Stop AAPI Hate to create a visual anthem video, focusing on resilience, celebration, solidarity, and resistance.
In the campaign video, David Rasavong shared how his parents, who immigrated from Laos 40 years ago, were forced to shut down their Thai Restaurant in Fresno in 2022 after racist lies about their business circulated online.
“We actually even received death threats, and that was the scary part for me, because if I'm not there, what then happens? My parents, they're immigrants, so English is still their second language,” said Rasavong.
Rasavong experienced anti-Asian bullying as a child and was devastated to see it still happening decades later.
“It happens again, but now I am an adult. My parents have been here, [as] American citizens, for over 40 years, and we're receiving that same type of hate. And it's not from children,” said Rasavong.
Rasavong did not let hate win; he reopened another restaurant to honor his parents and rich heritage last year called Love and Thai.
“Shifting the narrative, encouraging positive storytelling on how our communities see ourselves and how others see us -- Part of it, too, is the healing. That comes from talking about resilience,” said Kulkarni.
The campaign aims to showcase how people have grown from the racial trauma to inspire actions towards justice --especially crucial after Florida and Georgia recently passed bills that ban Chinese immigrants from property ownership, and 33 other states have similar bills they’re seeking to pass.
“That's why we want folks to hear these messages we want them to know some of the bad and a lot of the good, which is that it's still in our hands to do something and to fight back and to engage in our democracy,” said Kulkarni.
A critical mission that focuses on positive motivation and collective action to ultimately overpower hate with the love and strength of the AAPI community.
Stop AAPI Hate is encouraging people to share their stories as well, for more information on the video campaign and to join the conversation: https://spreadaapilove.org/
