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August 30, 2020
To survive the pandemic SF Chinatown has to adapt — again (SF Chronicle)

While some residents work low-wage essential jobs, many others have lost their income. Chinese for Affirmative Action, a civil rights nonprofit, runs a workforce development program. (Full disclosure: I do some work for the organization.) Many of its clients work…

August 14, 2020
Trump’s WeChat Ban Threatens ‘Lifeline’ for Chinese Diaspora (SF Weekly)

Chinese for Affirmative Action has also been using WeChat as a way to expand their Chinese language digital engagement for residents with limited English proficiency, particularly when it comes to immigrant rights and economic justice.  “We’ve expanded our work on…

July 15, 2020
Activists discuss sustaining quest for racial justice (Bay Area Reporter)

Vincent Pan, the co-executive director of Chinatown-based Chinese for Affirmative Action, said that repealing the state’s ban on affirmative action will help advance people of color.”This is a movement proposition,” Pan said. “This isn’t just some technical water bond where…

July 5, 2020
800+ Hate Crimes Against Asians in California Reported in Past 3 Months (CBS SF Bay Area)

More than 800 anti-Asian American hate incidents related to COVID-19 were reported across in California over the three months between March and June, according to advocacy groups that compile the data. The incidents include physical attacks, verbal assaults, workplace discrimination…

July 5, 2020
‘You started the corona!’ As anti-Asian hate incidents explode, climbing past 800, activists push for aid (LA Times)

The scapegoating of China and people of Chinese descent happens again and again, said Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, a group that co-founded Stop AAPI Hate. “Racist demagoguery matched with anti-immigrant policies have always been used…

July 1, 2020
This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the U.S. On Tuesday, April 21, 2020, (NIAID-RML via AP)
Hundreds of anti-Asian American hate incidents reported in California during pandemic (Mercury News)

Those are some of the 832 incidents of hate, harassment and discrimination against Asian-American and Pacific Islander Californians reported in the past 13 weeks to Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition of advocacy organizations formed to track racism against those communities in…

June 29, 2020
Visa ban does not help in saving US jobs, say industry insiders (China Daily)

The anti-immigrant policies, including bans and restrictions on asylum seekers, Chinese students and academics, green card holders and foreign workers, are Trump’s “intentional and orchestrated tactic” to deflect attention away from his “epic mismanagement of the worst public health crisis”…

June 25, 2020
SAN FRANCISCO CA - FEBRUARY 29: Hundreds of Chinatown residents along with local and state officials take to the streets protest against racism against the Chinese community during a march down Grant Avenue from Chinatown's Portsmouth Square to Union Square in San Francisco, Calif. Saturday, February 29, 2020. Racism against the Chinese community has increased since the discovery of the first coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China has spread globally. (Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
‘We have been through this before.’ Why anti-Asian hate crimes are rising amid coronavirus (PBS)

But Cynthia Choi, an activist who helped create Stop AAPI Hate, attributed the rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric in the U.S. to President Donald Trump’s use of terms like “Chinese virus” and “Kung flu” to describe the coronavirus. He used the…

June 24, 2020
California effort to restore affirmative action divides Asian Americans (SF Chronicle)

Vincent Pan, executive director of the San Francisco civil rights organization Chinese for Affirmative Action and co-chair of the ACA5 campaign, noted that Asian Americans have suffered from systemic racism in the United States for more than 100 years, including…

June 16, 2020
California forges a path through America’s racial divide (CNN)

One notable aspect of last week’s Assembly vote was that eight of the chamber’s ten Asian-American members voted for repeal. Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, says that shift from 2014 partly reflects immediate factors: better organizing…

May 20, 2020
In Brown Type: History repeats as Asians bear the brunt of coronavirus rage (SF Examiner)

“There is a direct correlation when the president and other elected officials talk about this issue,” said Cynthia Choi, executive director for CAA, on the KALW radio show “Your Call” with host Rose Aguilar. “The general public is not immune…

May 18, 2020
Regional: Asians Bear Brunt Of Blame For Covid-19 (SF Gate)

Ting applauded the creation of the Stop AAPI Hate website, citing the importance of collecting data for policymaking. However, he cautioned that reported numbers may not reflect the true number of incidents. “There are probably … more people who decided…