Amanda Nguyen has been speaking out for most of a decade on civil rights issues, but she did not expect a recent Instagram video to go viral and spark a national conversation about anti-Asian racism in the US.
On February 5, Nguyen posted a video on Instagram in which he called on national media to better discuss the recent spate of anti-Asian violence targeting senior residents of the San Francisco Bay Area to New York City. She tried in vain to report incidents, including 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee, who died of injuries after being pushed to the sidewalk, and Noel Quintana, 61, who was cut in the face during a subway. confrontation in New York.
“I decided, ‘You know what? If we’re locked out of the mainstream media, I’m going to go to social media and I’ll have a call to action for the mainstream media to uplift Asian stories,” Nguyen told CNBC Make It.
The message began. The video garnered millions of views and comment posts on Instagram Twitter and TikTok. She spoke on the issue on news outlets such as NBC, ABC and CNN; and on Feb. 8 senior White House correspondent at CBS News Weijia Jiang White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki asked if President Joe Biden had seen videos, such as Nguyen, about the attacks.
Over the past month, the millennial activist has helped share the work of Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition that documents and addresses anti-Asian discrimination during the pandemic and its efforts to support Asian American communities.
The Harvard graduate has been working in the activation space since 2013, when she became a survivor of rape during her time at university. Following her experience with what she considered to be a broken criminal justice system, she helped draft the first Bill of Rights for Sexual Assault Survivors, which established consistent rules and procedures at the federal level. for the prosecution of sexual assault crimes. Twenty-one states have since passed similar legislation, and Nguyen is working with lawmakers to get legislation passed in all 50 states.
Nguyen then became the founder and CEO of Rise, a national civil rights non-profit organization that helped enact 33 laws and create civil rights protection for more than 60 million survivors of sexual assault through bills.
She has twice appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, was included on Time’s 100 Next list in 2019 and was named a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2019 for her activism.
Nguyen, 29, recently spoke to CNBC Make It about her latest advocacy on racial justice for Asian Americans and Pacific residents during and after the pandemic.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Did you expect your message about anti-Asian racism to go viral?
No, absolutely not. Actually, I thought I would lose followers because every time I post a message about race, I did. And I just thought to myself, ‘You know what, I do not care, because people need to know.’
People just do not know. And I think so much of this happens because of ignorance. The problem here is invisibility. So the solution is visibility.
What kind of response did you get from the video?
We are now in a moment of reckoning. It was both so encouraging and heartbreaking to see the wave of people talking – I am literally sent daily by thousands of people with stories like, ‘My father was killed, can you build the story?’ Or, “My grandmother was assaulted, can you build the story?”
I also received messages like, ‘For the first time in my life, I feel like I can talk about the sadness I experienced or the racism I experienced in this yellow skin.’
Read what was so wonderful and powerful.
Although the video was definitely a first domino, we would not be here without millions of people literally feeling, ‘You know what, it’s OK to be seen and tell our truth.’
Anti-Asian discrimination in the US dates back to the 1800s. How does this moment feel different?
At Rise, we have been working on this for almost a decade. There is now a turning point because we have captured this horrific violence on camera. It’s so hard to turn away from what’s been recorded. It is also because these deeds have increased.
Over Over the past year, 2,800 attacks have been reported on Stop AAPI Hate.
In addition, people say they have been through this experience and ask for help. When people stand together, it helps to create a new space to express themselves.
Social media is a powerful tool for raising awareness. How do you hope to become aware of these platforms?
It’s pretty simple. There are structural, systematic exclusions that have happened to the AAPI community. It’s not just in the news offices; this is also evident in our federal government.
Some federal agencies Do not even include Asians in the definition of racial minorities. This is a widespread failure.
I want to hear from the Secretary of Education why AAPI history is not taught in schools. Why do people not know about internment camps, or how one of the biggest lynchings in American history was against the AAPI community?
I want to know why people do not also learn our contributions?
There are so many things people can do to educate themselves, not only about our history, but also about our culture. Empathy is going to be the solution to this, and visibility builds empathy.
You can start from home. Turn on your computer and find out more about the AAPI community and listen to the organizers of the grassroots level on the ground.
AAPI organization has a long history. Whose work has informed your approach to activism now?
It is important that people not only get to know AAPI history as an elective at university, if it is even offered in colleges. It should start from elementary school, high school and high school. It has to start from the beginning so that we can be seen as part of this community.
I think there has not yet been an Asian American who has not asked the question, ‘Where are you from? No true, where do you really come from? “It seems innocent, but at its core it is different. It’s the idea that you do not belong. If you have this eternal stereotype of foreigners, it’s easy to make a scapegoat. The result was lost lives.
How do you plan to continue this kind of work?
It is important that we focus on education and make people understand where roots of misinformation [around the coronavirus, and related xenophobia] came from, where ignorance can and should be stopped, and then on top of that how people can contribute and uplift Asian-American voices.
At Rise, we build the plane as it flies and pull together a campaign to train people to let people know what the Asian American experience is now. Democracy is meant for all people of the nation. Rise will therefore deliver educational content on black and Asian solidarity, talk about AAPI’s history and celebrate it.
As a community organizer who fell into this job because I needed civil rights and no one would write it for me, what I want people to take away from this is that you can absolutely change the world.
It really matters what you think and your sadness, your anger, your hope, it all matters. I just want people to know that the strongest instrument they have is their voice, and that no one is powerless when we come together and demand to be seen.
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