The national coalition Stop AAPI Hate launched a national multimedia storytelling campaign called “Spread AAPI Love” for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which seeks to amplify the voices and perspectives of these communities through inspiring personal stories .
The campaign features community-based stories centered around four central themes: resilience, celebration, solidarity and resistance.
Members of the AAPI community can still submit their own stories through video, audio, art, photography or in written form to the campaign microsite spreadaapilove.org where they will be publicly displayed.
Some stories will also be highlighted, such as that of Tiana Liufau, choreographer of the animated film Moana on their social media channels, at in-person events, and in advertisements on public transportation.
“After nearly four years of focusing on the rise of racism and hate against our communities since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders want to share more positive stories about who we are.” and the power we have to create change,” said Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance.
“The bell Spread AAPI Love is intended to illustrate that Asian and Pacific Islanders are not simply victims of hate: we are a very diverse group of people who possess immense joy, power and cultural pride.”
She added that by eliciting and sharing uplifting stories from their communities, we can not only foster collective healing from racial trauma, but also inspire AAPI communities to take action to advance racial justice.
As part of Spread AAPI Lovethe coalition also revealed new findings from a national survey conducted with NORC (a research organization) at the University of Chicago that provides insight into how resilience, cultural celebration, solidarity, and resistance manifest in AAPI communities.
Additionally, the survey examined the impact that positive factors have in motivating AAPIs to take action against racism and discrimination.
Key findings included:
- Half (49%) of AAPIs in the US experienced some form of racial hatred in 2023. But in the face of widespread racism and discrimination, AAPIs are motivated to fight racism, proud of their ethnic identities and engaging in resistance .
- 90% of AAPI communities believe it is important to work together with other marginalized communities to end racial discrimination.
- When it comes to taking action to advance racial justice, AAPIs are more motivated by aspirations, actions, and uplifting feelings than by experiences of hate. The main motivations are: hope for a better future for young generations, collective efforts to combat racism, and feeling connected to their racial or ethnic identity.
- 84% remain optimistic that they have the power to end racial discrimination by taking political action and collective action.
“Outrage is a powerful inspiration to take action against racism and discrimination, but our research shows that so is love: love for our heritage, culture, ethnic identity and communities,” said Stephanie Chan, director of data and investigation of Stop AAPI Hate.
“The new data from the survey Stop AAPI Hate emphasize the need to encourage more positive stimulants for taking action against racial hatred, including promoting messages and acts that inspire hope, galvanize our collective action, and foster strong connections to our heritage, and that is exactly what we hope to achieve through of efforts like our campaign Spread AAPI Love”.
To learn more about this campaign, visit: spreadaapilove.org and for Stop AAPI Hate’s national poll, click.