An 84-year old grandfather kicked in the head while waiting for a bus; a 70-year old woman brutally attacked while walking down market street; a 61-year old man slashed in the face with a box cutter. Anti-Asian violence is devastating Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities across the United States.

A non-profit social organization that tracks incidents of discrimination against Asian Americans—called Stop AAPI Hate—has received more than 3,700 reported cases of harassment and assault from across the US between March 2020 and February 2021.

Protect Asian Lives and #StopAsianHate are the movements that have been made to spread the word about the growing violence. “I found out about the Protect Asian Lives movement through TikTok because I follow a lot of Asian content creators that were talking about the recent hate crimes,” Ariel Lebow (9). “It was heartbreaking to watch but I’m glad I am educated about it now.”

In addition to fearing the effects of the pandemic, Asian senior citizens have to fear being attacked. In an effort to support the Asian elders, people have held vigils and protest against the attacks. Black Lives Matter activists have held Black and Asian solidarity protests to show their support as well.  “Whether you’re Black, White, Hispanic, or Asian, to be targeted because you look a certain way, to me is not acceptable,” said ESOL Active Physics teacher Trinidee Baker. “Me being a Black woman my history has been targeted too so I have empathy for Asians.”  

The Protect Asian Lives movement has been largely embraced by many people and other social justice campaigns like Black Lives Matter. Schools have also made the effort to spark conversation about certain issues by teaching about different cultures in class. Our school has made slide presentations each heritage month for the students to see every fourth period.

The leadership class has been posting about the diversity in our school by highlighting AAPI voices within the school community in order to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month. “I think this year with the advisory they are doing a much better job of trying to have conversations,” said Combating Intolerance teacher Colton Fullmer. “They are celebrating different groups of people each month, so there has been a lot of improvement.”