To our community:
Stok’s purpose is to boldly catalyze an environmentally restorative and socially equitable world. Any form of hate or racism is in direct opposition to our core reason for being. In Stok’s ongoing commitment to antiracism, we condemn all hate against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and stand in solidarity and action to pave an equitable way forward.
We are devastated by the recent shootings in Atlanta and Indianapolis that took Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, Hyun Jung Grant, Paul Andre Michels, Soon Chung Park, Suncha Kim, Xiaojie Tan, Yong Ae Yue, and Amarjeet Kaur Johal, Amarjit Sekhon, Jasvinder Kaur, Jaswinder Singh, John Weisert, Karli Smith, Matthew Alexander, and Samaria Blackwell from their communities too soon.
These events were traumatic, intolerable, and rooted in white supremacy—and they aren’t new. From the Chinese Exclusion Act to Japanese Internment Camps, there is a centuries-long history of racism toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. But demands to stop Asian hate have been constantly silenced by the Model Minority Myth perpetuated by the mistakenly monolithic lens that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are often viewed through, and by the classification as victims of only “micro” aggressions.
Through a climate and environmental degradation lens, every year low-income Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are disproportionally impacted by heat waves, extreme weather patterns, wildfires, power outages, and toxic chemical spills. These conditions impact air, water, and housing quality that deepens the inequality that communities of color experience daily. Building sustainable communities means understanding the root causes of inequalities and solving them from their core.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen an appalling rise in anti-Asian violence. A recent report by Stop AAPI Hate discovered that 6,603 hate crimes were reported from March 2020 to March 2021. Of the 6,603 reported hate crimes, 4,193 occurred in 2019 and 2,410 occurred in just the first 3 months of 2021. Reported crimes ranged from verbal harassment, to shunning, to physical assaults, with 64.8% of victims identifying as women.
The rising violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities layers on top of impacts from the global pandemic, which has disproportionately affected Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Front-line essential workers are predominantly Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and from communities of color, and many Asian-owned small businesses have been hit hardest due to widespread xenophobia.
It is unacceptable for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities to continue to be terrorized and scapegoated. When we say we are committed to a radically better world for all, we mean it, and we need to put this commitment into action every day. To do this, we are taking the following action:
#1: DONATING UP TO 2% OF OUR 2021 PROFITS TO THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING AND UPLIFTING ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER COMMUNITIES:
• Asian Pacific Environmental Network – organizing Asian immigrant and refugee communities for environmental justice in the East Bay
• Hate Is A Virus – raising $1 million to give back to local and national community organizations in support of AAPI
• Stop AAPI Hate – raising critical awareness of AAPI hate and how to stop it
#2: MATCHING AND ENCOURAGING TEAM MEMBER DONATIONS TO SIMILAR ORGANIZATIONS EMPOWERING ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER COMMUNITIES.
#3: ELEVATING ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER VOICES THROUGH OUR INTERNAL AND PUBLIC CHANNELS.
#4: PROVIDING RESOURCES TO HELP OUR TEAM MEMBERS AND COMMUNITY BE ACTIVELY ANTIRACIST AND BETTER SUPPORT AND EMPOWER ASIAN AMERICANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS.
See the bottom of this letter for an initial list of resources and feel free to share and add to it.
As we’ve said before, this is a movement, not a moment. We must all continue to do the work every day to create a radically better world for all. Together, we can #StopAsianHate.
In solidarity and action,
Your Stok family
RESOURCES FOR ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER ALLYSHIP
Act:
• Take a Hollaback Bystander Intervention Training
• Report a Hate Crime
• Donate in Support of Asian Communities
Read:
• LA Times Anti-Asian Violence Articles
• The Long, Ugly History of Anti-Asian Racism and Violence in the U.S.
• Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
• The Making of Asian America: A History
Listen:
• Asian Enough
• Code Switch
• Dear Asian Americans
• Rock the Boat
• Self-Evident: Asian America’s Stories
Watch:
• Asian Americans (PBS)
• Addressing Anti-Asian Violence (YouTube)
Follow:
• Arissa Oh – author of To Save the Children of Korea
• Chanel Miller – author of Know My Name
• Connie Wun – co-founder of AAPI Women Lead
• Jenn – Asian American race and feminism blogger
• Kevin Nadal – psychology professor and LGBTQ activist
• Liz Kleinrock – anti-bias and anti-racist educator
• May-lee Chai – author of Useful Phrases for Immigrants
• Michelle Kim – CEO of Awaken
• Min Jin Lee – National Book Award Finalist
• Nancy Wang Yuen – sociologist focused on racism in media
• Sherry Wang – social justice advocate and anti-racist educator
Educate children:
• Parents Together: How to Talk to Kids About Anti-Asian Racism
• Act to Change: Anti-Bullying & Anti-Hate Curriculum
