SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As the stories of hate against Asian Americans increase locally and across the country, Sacramento leaders are asking, “What’s the solution?”
It’s not a question or task with an easy answer, but some are finding empowerment in vocalizing the discrimination they have faced.
Joy Yip, of OCA Sacramento Asian Pacific American Advocates, says while racism against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities is nothing new, these increasingly visible news stories have been keeping her up at night.
“It certainly eats away at your soul and your heart and, you know, creates an anger and a fear that you know I don't like," she explained. “Our own parents are the ages some of the victims”
As an advocate within the AAPI community, she has seen too often, elder generations scared to report discrimination or crimes committed against them. They often, feel shame, or don’t want to make a fuss, Yip said. She too has struggled to decide what to do when her Chinese American husband was on the receiving end of anti-Asian hate.
Though a majority of reported incidents seen on traditional news media have occurred in the Bay Area and New York City, hate crimes and incidences have been reported in Sacramento. In late 2020, an Elk Grove Japanese restaurant was vandalized with derogatory language towards Asians. Police are looking for a man suspected of leaving a mutilated cat last month at The Mad Butcher, a Chinese American-owned shop. A Grant High School teacher was under fire in February for making racist depicting the shape of eyes of different Asians.
"Folks would say to me, Mai, this is not Sacramento. and I would tell them that this is Sacramento,” said Sacramento City Councilmember, Mai Vang. She said one of the first steps in stopping AAPI-Hate is addressing the reality of it.
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Vang added that the "model minority myth" perpetuates divisive stereotypes.
"It ends up masking, hate incidents and trauma and disparities within our own communities,” she said.
So too are some generational practices among older Asian Americans who prefer to lay low, and keep silent.
But Yip says she has seen empowerment in speaking up, especially younger AAPIs who have created a groundswell of awareness through sharing videos of the attacks, many of which the victim was initially hesitant to share.
"Without the numbers, without the data, there won't be the resources in order to justify that, so reporting is crucial,” Yip said.
To confront anti-Asian hate and build solidarity across cultures, Yip and Vang say there are difficult conversations to be had, but they say speaking up is a vital first step in confronting historical traumas against the culturally diverse Asian demographic.
As OCA Sacramento works on a formal forum to discuss resources and solutions, Yip says there are challenges to work through. She said it’s important to remember AAPIs are not monolithic.
“We may appear to look the same, but in reality, all of our cultures are so diverse so different," explained Yip. "And, you know, the way we react to different things is different.”
To get a better picture of the community's needs, Yip and Vang encourage people to report any hate incidents they may experience, whether to law enforcement, or organizations like STOP AAPI HATE, which has been collecting reports since the onset of the pandemic.
Councilmember Mai Vang introduced a resolution to condemn anti-Asian hate to be voted on March 9 in Sacramento. OCA Sacramento says its network can serve as a resource for the community in addressing anti-Asian hate.
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