The recent attacks in our community have left us heartbroken. As a coalition of direct service, advocacy, and grassroots organization organizations, we denounce violence against members of Asian American communities in San Francisco, Oakland, and the greater Bay Area. We stand in solidarity with victims, survivors, and families who have suffered loss and pain.

We know that these violent assaults have made the especially difficult circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic even more painful. Our Asian American communities are traumatized, afraid, and outraged during a time when we are also experiencing disproportionate impacts of the pandemic. These include mass unemployment, safety risks to frontline workers, insecure housing, the shuttering of our local small businesses, and a surge in anti-Asian racism.

We recognize that violence affects all of us and all of our communities. We believe that our strength is in unity, not division, and that our histories and our futures are intertwined. We must invest in long-term community-centered solutions that create spaces for cross-racial healing that address underlying causes and create ways for all to thrive. We are committed to working alongside communities of color to stop the violence in all our communities. It is up to us to imagine what real safety could look like for our people, and to build the future we want to see — one that is grounded in accountability, justice, and care for each other.

In San Francisco, we are calling to:

• Tending to our survivors’ needs- Ensure victims and survivors of all backgrounds and language abilities receive full supportive multilingual multicultural services so they can recover and heal.

• Repair and heal by resourcing cross-community education, dialogue, and healing in Asian American and Black communities that humanizes all of us rather than demonizes or scapegoats any community of color.

• Build and Expand intervention- and prevention-based programs including mental health support and our SF Community Ambassador programs and Street Violence Intervention Program (SVIP), and invest in community-based infrastructure that we know will end the cycle of violence and keep all of us safer.

• Regenerate by investing in communities of color to address long-term systemic racism and extreme inequality - jobs, housing, healthcare, education, and more. To end violence, we must ensure our people have the resources and opportunities they need to lead dignified lives

In Oakland, we are calling to:

• Comprehensive services - ensure survivors of all backgrounds and language abilities receive full supportive services, including connection to restorative justice practices, to promote healing, agency and reconciliation.

• Expand prevention-based programs like our community ambassador programs and to invest in community-based infrastructure that we know will end the cycle of violence and create ways for all of us to feel safe and thrive.  

  • Establish a community safety network that will build city-wide social support to improve service coordination to better assist API families/victims of crime in their long-term healing and recovery

  • Provide specialized crisis response to community violence on street or at school with assessment, intervention, mediation, referral and follow up as appropriate

• Resource cross-community education and healing that humanizes all of us rather than demonizes or scapegoats us

Here are ways you can take action in support of this work:

• Share this form with your friends, family, and communities through this link: bit.ly/loveourpeople
• Donate to the CCSJ victims and survivors fund, click here
• Donate to the Oakland Chinatown Community Ambassador and Victims Fund or Donate to Eastlake/Little Saigon's Peace Ambassador Program
• Oakland specific:
  
  • Learn about the long time work in Oakland Chinatown and join us! - Follow up on social media, join our mailing list to stay informed about various opportunities by emailing oakchinatowncoalition@gmail.com and/or contribute to our Chinatown Coalition Member organizations efforts.
    
  • Come shop and eat in Chinatown and Little Saigon, wear yellow to show our support to our merchants and residents
  • Follow the leadership of existing organizations and be ambassadors to the community with us -- go beyond patrolling and join our Volunteer Strolling efforts to make our streets welcoming, safe, and clean.
  • Share your ideas and experiences about Reimagining Public Safety. Fill out this community survey on reimagining public safety in Oakland (data collected by Oakland Rising)
• Follow and support the organizations on the ground
  
  • Oakland orgs:
    • OCC: @oakchinatowncoalition (IG) / @chinatowncoalition (FB)
    • @apen4ej
    • @aapiwomenlead
    • @asians4blklives (IG & TW)
    • @AsianHealth818 (TW), @AsianHealthServices (IG)
    • @AYPAL (TW), @AYPALPower (IG)
    • @EBALDC (TW)
    • @oaklandvnchamber (FB & IG)
    • @trybe (TW), @trybe1122(FB)
    • @OCAeastbay (FB, IG, TW)
  • SF orgs:
    
    • CPA: @chineseprogressiveassociation (IG); @cpasf (TW); @cpasf (FB)
    • CAA: @caasanfrancisco (IG); @caasanfrancisco (TW); @caasf (FB)
    • CYC: @cyc_sf (IG); @cyc_sf (TW); @cycsf (FB)
    • New Breath Foundation: @newbreathfdn (TW) / @newbreathfoundation (FB)

It takes all of us to redefine safety for our communities.