A.S.I.A Focus Week + Market 2021

The rise in Anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to an analysis released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, hate crimes in 2020 targeting Asian people has risen by nearly 150% (CSUSB). Stop AAPI Hate, a reporting database created at the beginning of the pandemic as a response to the increase in racial violence, received 2,808 reports of anti-Asian discrimination between March 19 and December 31, 2020, around the USA (Stop AAPI Hate).

Asian Discrimination isn't new. It's just been overlooked for decades. As stated by Tim Soutphommasane, Australia’s former race discrimination commissioner, "Minorities can be made easy scapegoats. And pandemics can unleash underlying hostility that exists towards some groups.” Racial violence against Asians often goes overlooked because of persistent 'model minority stereotypes' about the Asian-American community. The false idea suggests that Asian-Americans are more successful than other ethnic minorities because of hard work, education, and an 'inherently law-abiding' nature. This creates the fallacy that Asian-Americans do not experience struggle or racial discrimination. This could not be farther from the truth.

Asian discrimination is not limited to the US, as many would wish to believe. The UK, Germany, Sweden, France, The Netherlands, and many more countries have seen increases in Asian discrimination as well, and also have a history of Asian discrimination as well.

This is why we wanted to create this focus week, to bring light to an issue that is too often swept under the rug.

The name of our focus week, A.S.I.A, stands for Awareness, Solidarity, Impact, and Acceptance.

Throughout the week, we will be having Asian-Hate and Asian Discrimination-themed talks during PeaCo, SusCo, P6, and WellCo, as well as a Human Library during the Friday HideOut of the focus week.

At the end of the week, we will be holding an Asian Night Market in the Sports Hall and Moondance cafe. The market will include stalls ranging from foods to drinks to games and others. ALL PROFITS from the market will be donated to the Asian Mental Health Collective, Stop AAPI Hate, and various organizations providing relief for the COVID-19 situation in India.