In the News: Executive Director Yang Chen and Board Director Chris Kwok Featured in The Spectator

AABANY Executive Director Yang Chen and Board Director Chris Kwok were recently mentioned in the April 28, 2021 edition of The Spectator, the Stuyvesant High School newspaper, in an article titled “Alumni Association Hosts Community Discussion on Anti-Asian Violence.” Both alumni of the school, Chris (’92) served as the moderator and Yang (’83) was one of the speakers in the April 15 community discussion. Other panelists included Joanne Kwong (’93), President of Pearl River Mart; Soo Kim (’93), President of the Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association; U.S. Representative Grace Meng (’93); Seung Yu, Principal of Stuyvesant High School; and current Stuyvesant juniors Christopher Liu, Xiaoshen Ma, Laura Xia, and Alice Zhu. During the discussion, panelists shared with over 200 attendees their personal experiences with race and their opinions on the recent increase of hate crimes and racism against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

Yang presented the findings and solutions outlined in AABANY’s report on anti-Asian violence and spoke about how AABANY is supporting the AAPI community. He stated: “One thing we’re pushing hard on is to make sure the NYPD Asian Hate Crimes task force is being fully funded. We’re very much supportive of any effort by law enforcement to bring attention to this issue and we’re trying to put as much word out as possible especially to the Mayor’s office. Mayor de Blasio denounced Asian-American violence a year ago but we’re still waiting for someone who is arrested for the crime to actually face criminal sanctions for it.”

To read the full coverage of the program on The Spectator, click here.

NAPABA’s Virtual Lobby Day

In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM), please join NAPABA on May 24-27 for NAPABA’s first ever virtual Lobby Day.

Lobby Day is an opportunity for NAPABA members from across the country to educate members of Congress and Congressional staffers on issues of importance to the AAPI community.

This year’s Lobby Day has never been as important as it is now. NAPABA is operating at the intersection of anti-Asian hate crimes and hate-based incidents, all set against the backdrop of the COVID-pandemic, a pandemic for which our communities have been falsely scapegoated. This year, NAPABA’s Lobby Day is not only about supporting important legislation, but ensuring that your voices and advocacy for justice, equity, and opportunity for all AAPIs are heard from your home districts to the halls of Congress!

REGISTER NOW

Schedule Coming Soon

Questions? Contact Edgar Chen , Policy Director

In the News: AABANY Board Director Chris Kwok Interviewed (Again) on the Rise in Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

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On April 26, Chris Kwok, AABANY Board Director, AABANY Issues Committee Chair, and Co-Executive Editor of AABANY’s report on anti-Asian violence, was featured on PBS’s Metrofocus program. Host Jenna Flanagan interviewed Chris and The City reporter Christine Chung on the surge in hate crimes against Asians in the United States as well as steps to take to prevent these crimes. In the interview, Chris explained that, oftentimes, the circumstances of the incident make it very difficult to prosecute a perpetrator for a hate crime. As a result, Chris stated, hate crimes against Asians are severely underreported and that the incidents are often classified only as assault or harassment. Chris also emphasized the universality of the issue of hate crimes, while noting that perpetrators were not of a single race. Chris also explained the importance of the wider community’s role in combating hate crimes. Towards the end of the interview, Chris noted that “I think we need to get to a point where we care for each other as New Yorkers, have each others’ back. You know, get back to a sense of the city where we take care of each other a little more.” Watch the full segment here.

On May 1, Chris was quoted in FOX 5, which echoed his sentiments regarding the importance of reporting hate crimes and incidents of racially-motivated harassment. As Chris said, “[h]aving an official record of these things is useful for tracking the sentiment of anti-Asian hate and harassment.” Read the full news story here.

Please also take a look at previous blog posts from February 19, March 1, March 8, and March 15, and March 29, highlighting news stories about our report. If you have come across a news report or article about our report that is not listed above, please let us know at [email protected].

More public awareness about our report and the rise in anti-Asian violence is needed. Please share our report widely. If you have ideas or thoughts about how we can combat anti-Asian violence, please share them with us at [email protected].

NAPABA Partners With Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum to Address COVID-19 Through CDC Grant Funding Opportunity

For Immediate Release:        

Date: April 27, 2021

Contact: Priya Purandare, Executive Director

WASHINGTON – NAPABA is proud to announce that the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) has awarded it grant funding under the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Engaging AANHPI Communities in Adult Vaccination (EVAC) program. Under this award, the first received in its history, NAPABA will leverage its nationwide network of nearly 90 affiliate organizations and its expertise at the intersection of language access and anti-Asian hate violence to enhance vaccine confidence and uptake of COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations.

“The nearly 4,000 reported incidents of anti-Asian hate, and the countless acts of hate that go unrecorded, has had an impact on our communities to live safely, including getting vaccinated for COVID-19. Community members are scared to leave their homes and are not making appointments for the vaccinations for fear of being targeted,” said Priya Purandare, Executive Director of NAPABA. “In this environment, we especially want to ensure that the most vulnerable AANHPI persons are able to receive the vaccine: the elderly, those with limited English proficiency, recent arrivals, undocumented persons, those on the unconnected side of the digital divide, and others who lack access to COVID-19 information and vaccinations. We are honored to collaborate with APIAHF and over 20 partners nationwide to ensure vaccine confidence, access, and equity.”

In recognition that vaccine messaging will be conducted in the same communities experiencing increased threats and attacks based on the falsehood that AANHPIs are responsible for the pandemic, NAPABA and APIAHF have developed a ground-breaking collection of Combat Hate Crimes Toolkits translated into 25 different AANHPI languages – the largest compilation of its kind. These toolkits provide critical information for victims, community-based organizations, and community leaders on how to report attacks to law enforcement and how to help AANHPI communities deter future threats. NAPABA supports vaccination efforts by deploying these legal and advocacy educational resources in tandem with COVID-19 vaccine information so that AANHPI community members feel safe to leave the house, obtain their vaccines, and return to normalcy without suffering the additional threat of bias motivated attacks.

“NAPABA and its membership has THE largest nationwide boots on the ground reach of any AANHPI organization in the country, including in discrete and hard to reach areas where little infrastructure exists for the community,” said Juliet K. Choi, President and Executive Director of the APIAHF. “This historical and innovative strategic partnership with NAPABA will increase COVID-19 vaccination education by leveraging their members who are trusted civic leaders in their local communities that work to address community needs across a wide spectrum of issues.”

NAPABA plans to mobilize its nationwide network of nearly 90 affiliates and our members’ substantive legal expertise across a range of areas, drawing especially on its innovative work in linguistic access, and will be hiring an Education Coordinator for COVID-19 Vaccination Equity to help fulfill this mission.

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The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) represents the interests of approximately 50,000 legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local Asian Pacific American bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting Asian Pacific American communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of color in the legal profession.

NAPABA | 1612 K St. NW, Suite 510 | Washington, DC 20006 | www.napaba.org