LDNFeature
How You Can Support London’s Asian Community Right Now
Donations, new initiatives, and more ways for you to support.
On Tuesday, March 16th, eight people were killed in a series of mass shootings at three massage parlors in Atlanta. Six of those people were Asian women.
This week’s shooting in Atlanta reflects the latest instance of hate crimes and violence against East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) communities, which has been spiking across the UK and the USA since the beginning of the pandemic.
In February, following a series of racist and vitriolic comments underneath a Facebook video posted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson celebrating the Lunar New Year, the Dumpling Shack restaurant group took to Instagram to highlight the discrimination that ESEA communities continue to suffer.
The official figures are shocking. By May last year, racist abuse towards ESEA communities in the UK has risen by more than 400%, and an increase in hate crimes has been recorded by both the Metropolitan Police and the British Transport Police compared to figures from 2019.
How to Help:
Support and donate to End The Virus Of Racism: End The Virus Of Racism is the UK’s first non-profit dedicated to addressing racism towards the ESEA community. They have held community conversations supported by the London Assembly, as well as a roundtable conversation with the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. You can find more information about their goal here. Or you can donate to their crowdfunder here.
Donate to The London Chinese Community Centre: The centre in Chinatown was established in 1980 in order to help Chinese immigrants adjust to life in the UK. As a result of the pandemic it is in desperate need of funding to survive. You can find a link to their fundraiser here, and a link to their Instagram and more details here.
Support and donate to Besea.n: Besea.n is a non-profit, grassroots organisation founded by six ESEA women looking to promote positive positive media representation of ESEA people in the UK and tackle negative stereotypes in the process. Read more about what they do here, find their donation page here, or join their ESEA network here.
Support The Hackney Chinese Community Centre: The HCCC supports ESEA communities in east London. Volunteering information can be found on their website. They also recently shared news of a National Hate Crime Survey from CASVIC (Campaign Against Secondary Victimisation). If you’d like more details, or would like to record any experiences you may have had since the start of the pandemic, you can find more details here.
Follow members of the UK ESEA food community: There are lots of interesting (and better informed) members of the UK ESEA food community who post regularly about these issues on Instagram, including Anna Sulan Masing, Angela Hui, Celestial Peach, and David Paw.
Support Asian-owned businesses and order from Asian-owned restaurants: If you need some direction, here’s our guide on The Best Restaurants In Chinatown.
Sources
The Guardian: Atlanta massage parlor shootings leave eight dead including six Asian women