Dear LAAC Community:

According to the Stop AAPI Hate National Report, 3,795 hate incidents were reported between March 2020 through February 2021, 45% of which took place in California. These are the reported incidents, with so many others going unreported.

LAAC condemns the harassment and hate crimes being perpetrated against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. We are incredibly heartsick and outraged at the March 16, 2021 murders in Atlanta of Hyun Jung Grant, Xiaojie Tan, Suncha Kim, Soon Chung Park, Yong Ae Yue, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun, and Paul Andre Michels. These murders, along with the increasing frequency of anti-Asian violence across the country, are deeply disturbing. 

Los Angeles is a beautiful and complicated city, with its own fraught history of race and gender-based hate. Racism and sexism aimed at the AAPI community is not new, nor is domestic terrorism. As archival and library professionals, it is essential that we embed anti-racism and anti-sexism into our work and lives, as well as act when it is easier to remain silent. 

This Collective is growing and changing, as it should, and as we grieve together we also hope that we will continue to fight together. We encourage the LAAC community to explore the resources below for ways to take action in support of our AAPI colleagues, friends, families, and neighbors. 

In solidarity,

Los Angeles Archivists Collective Leadership + Founders

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RESOURCES

Historical and regional (Los Angeles County) resources:

• Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) Los Angeles chapter: a membership organization dedicated to expanding and mobilizing philanthropic and community resources for underserved AAPI communities to build a more just and equitable society.
• Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, Los Angeles
• One Nation AAPI
• The Working Lives And Struggles of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in California: Findings from the 2019 AAPI California Workers Survey.

Resources for supporting the AAPI community:

• Asian Americans Advancing Justice 
• Care Package: Poems, meditations, films, and other cultural nutrients for times like this. Curated with love by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
• An extensive list of organizations, small businesses, mutual aid funds, and volunteer opportunities by state.

Active bystander resources and training:

• Hollaback: Free bystander intervention training to stop Anti-Asian/American and xenophobic harassment.
• Stop AAPI Hate: Mechanism for reporting a hate incident. 

Demand accountability from our elected officials:

• Racial Justice for AAPIs: Appoint an Asian American for CA Attorney General #API4AG

How to donate to the families of the March 16, 2021 Atlanta spa shooting victims:

• Suncha Kim (GoFundMe)
• Xiaojie “Emily” Tan (GoFundMe)
• Hyun Jung Grant (GoFundMe)
• Soon Chung Park (GoFundMe)
• Yong Ae Yue (GoFundMe)
• Paul Andre Michels (GoFundMe)
• Delaina Ashley Yaun (GoFundMe)
• Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz (GoFundMe)