Authored by: Jocelyn Lo, Associate Marketing Director & Asian Employee Resource Group, TADA Lead
May is Asian Heritage Month. While it should be a time for remembering and celebrating Asian culture, this year has felt very far from a celebration.
The past year and half has been a challenging time for all. Most poignantly, for the Asian community who have been impacted by the unfair blame of “starting Covid” and have had to deal with the disease even being coined as the “The China Virus.” The repercussions of this narrative have been felt across every part of our community.
Over the course of 2020, Asian-owned businesses not only saw a decrease in business from lack of people wanting to eat out during the lockdown, but they saw even less support compared to other businesses. Chinatowns all around the world that were once flooded with excited patrons soon became ghost towns with no visitor in sight. Watching some of our favorite businesses and restaurants shut down due to lack of support has been heartbreaking to see, and unfortunately, this was just the beginning of what our community would soon face.
Fast forward to the start of 2021, reported hate crimes against Asians in the U.S. saw an increase of 164% since the same time time last year*. It has been the hardest on our elderly; not only have they faced the threat of Covid, but now the threat of hate crimes. We saw parents, grandparents, friends, and even children discriminated against and attacked – both verbally and physically – for simply existing. Even something as routine as leaving your home to go to the grocery store came with the fear that you or someone you would know could be the next name on a list of those attacked. Now is the time for us to come together to support the Asian community more than ever. Our community is not only experiencing struggles here in the U.S., but also now across the world in India with the fight against Covid. At TripleLift we’ve made a conscious effort to invest in DE&I to better support one another during these challenging times. Our employee resource groups have launched initiatives to help raise awareness and take action.
This is why I am and proud to share that TripleLift has decided for every client meeting that has taken place in May, we’ll be donating to the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund, and the American India Foundation to provide Covid relief for India as they continue to experience a Covid crisis that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Learn more about the organizations identified by TADA, TripleLift’s Asian Resource Group that we’ll be donating to below.
Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund
AALDEF focuses on critical issues affecting Asian Americans, including immigrant rights, voting rights and democracy, economic justice for workers, educational equity, housing and environmental justice, and the elimination of anti-Asian violence, police misconduct, and human trafficking.
American India Foundation– Covid Relief for India
India’s second wave of Covid is rapidly sliding into a devastating crisis each day. About 1 in every 3 cases of COVID-19 recorded each day in the world is now in India. The capital, New Delhi, recorded the equivalent of one death from COVID-19 every five minutes.*
*Source Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State University San Bernardino.
*Source Zenerations
