On April 10, Saturday, Chinese American Friendship Association of North Carolina CAFA and United Chinese Americans UCA organized a webinar “ The Safety of the Asian American Community: A dialog between law enforcement agencies and the Chinese American Community”.

Almost all the registrants (96%) of our self-defense training indicated that they want to learn how to deal with anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents.

Thankfully, Hollaback is hosting several upcoming free online bystander training: “The one-hour, interactive training will teach you Hollaback!’s 5D’s of bystander intervention methodology. We’ll start by talking about the types of disrespect that Asian and Asian American folks are facing right now — from microaggressions to violence — using a tool we call the “spectrum of disrespect.” You’ll learn what to look for and the positive impact that bystander intervention has on individuals and communities. We’ll talk through five strategies for intervention: distract, delegate, document, delay, and direct; and how to prioritize your own safety while intervening. We’ll have time at the end for practice, and you’ll leave feeling more confident intervening the next time you see Anti-Asian/American harassment online or in-person.”

Please register at their website: https://www.ihollaback.org/bystanderintervention/

On the afternoon of Saturday, April 3, UCA and CAFA co-hosted a virtual Self-Defense and Empowerment Training featuring instructor Mary Amato. Mary is a second-degree black belt in karate and a seasoned self-defense instructor, having taught people of all ages. She demonstrated important self-defense techniques, including breaking out of chokeholds, using one’s own strong areas such as the palms, elbows, knees, and feet to defend oneself, and targeting weaker areas on the attacker’s body (eyes, diaphragm, and groin, as well as temples, kidneys, knees). She also answered all of the audience’s concerns graciously and comprehensively throughout the session, moderated by UCA WAVES Youth Ambassador Jennifer Tu. Afterwards, Mary and UCA WAVES consulting psychiatrist Dr. Sen Xu stayed for a Q&A, during which participants got to learn more about coping with anti-racism and applying self-defense techniques in real life. 

After the webinar, Mary said, “Thank you all so much for giving me this opportunity. I am honored to be able to be a part of something so great.” As a UCA community, we are also honored and grateful for her humility, empathy, and generosity, as well as that of the team who organized the event.

Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a highly esteemed American newspaper, published an article by our UCA member Lily Chen (陈健). In the article, Lily introduces her life and work as a U.S. citizen and community member, and denounces the current acts of hate and violence towards Asians. Thank you and congratulations to Chen Jian and other members for speaking out for our Asian community!

Many other members of our UCA community are also actively writing their testimonials and contributing articles to local newspapers. In case you are interested: the “Letters to the Editor” (“Letters to the Editor”) and “Op Ed” ​​(“Reader Comments”) of American newspapers are reserved pages. These two columns are places for readers to comment on current affairs and express their opinions, and they are a good platform for discourse. 

Using it to introduce ourselves in local newspapers and participate in discussions is a very effective way to make waves in mainstream society.

In order to cooperate with this work, UCA is organizing an upcoming webinar, where we will invite experts and community representatives in this area to guide us on how to write such manuscripts and deliver them to local media.

This is an article published by Lily in AJC (please visit page 11): here

这段长达一分钟的视频中，亚裔男子起先还企图想回击，但没过多久就被非洲裔男子打倒在座位上。即使亚裔男子已经用手臂护住头部，但非洲裔男子也没有就此停手，而是连续握拳挥打近30下，而后又用手臂锁住了受害者的喉咙十余秒，结束时又推撞了其头部，而后泰然走下地铁，至视频结束，亚裔男子已经满脸是血的倒地昏迷。

还有近期的亚特兰大6名亚裔女性被暴徒枪杀，奥克兰唐人街91岁的老人在路上行走而无故遭袭，旧金山反击暴徒的老奶奶等等，这些针对亚裔族群的犯罪事件仅仅是冰山一角，目前全美国的针对亚裔族群仇恨值已经达到了一个历史高峰。