Amanda Nguyen has been talking about civil rights issues for most of a decade, but she didn’t expect a recent Instagram video to go viral and spark a national conversation about anti-Asian racism in the United States.
On February 5, Nguyen posted a video on Instagram calling on the national media to better cover the recent wave of anti-Asian violence targeting elderly residents from the San Francisco Bay Area to New York City. . He tried to find reports of incidents, including those related to Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84, who died of injuries after being pushed onto the sidewalk, and Noel Quintana, 61, who was cut in the face during a subway clash in New York.
“I decided,‘ You know what? If we stay out of conventional media, I will go on social media and call for action for conventional media to elevate Asian stories. ”Nguyen tells CNBC Make It.
The message took off. The video garnered millions of views and response posts on Instagram, Twitter i TikTok. He has spoken on the subject on news such as NBC, ABC and CNN; and Feb. 8, CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki if President Joe Biden had seen videos, like Nguyen’s, 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 activism space since 2013, when she became a rape survivor during her time in college. After his experience with what he considered a broken criminal justice system, he helped draft the first Sexual Assault Survivor Rights Charter, which established consistent rules and procedures at the federal level. to prosecute crimes of sexual assault. Twenty-one states have adopted similar legislation since then, and Nguyen is working with lawmakers to get the legislation passed in all 50 states.
Nguyen became the founder and CEO of Rise, a national civil rights nonprofit organization, which has helped pass 33 laws and created civil rights protections for more than 60 million survivors of sexual assault through state-by-state bill approval.
She has twice appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, was included in Time’s 100 Next list in 2019 and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her activism in 2019.
Nguyen, 29, recently spoke with CNBC Make It about his latest work advocating for racial justice for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during the pandemic and beyond.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Did you expect your message about anti-Asian racism to go viral?
No, absolutely not. In fact, I thought I would lose followers, because every time I posted about the race, I did. And I just thought to myself, “You know what, I don’t care, because people need to know.”
People just don’t know it. And I think so much goes on through ignorance. The problem here is invisibility. Therefore, the solution is visibility.
What kind of response did you get from the video?
Right now we are in a time of calculation. It’s been so exciting and heartbreaking to see the wave of people talking: literally every day they send me messages from thousands of people with stories like, ‘My dad was murdered, can you elevate the story?’. Or, “My grandmother was assaulted, can you elevate the story?”
I have also received messages like, “For the first time in my life, I feel like I can talk about the pain I’ve experienced or the racism I’ve experienced living in that yellow skin.”
Reading has been so amazing and powerful.
While the video was certainly a first domino, we wouldn’t be here without literally millions of people feeling like, “You know what, it’s okay to watch and tell our truth.”
Anti-Asian discrimination in the United States dates back to the 19th century. How is this moment different?
At Rise, we’ve had people working in the field for almost a decade. Now there is a turning point because we have been captured on camera by these horrific acts of violence. It’s so hard to stray from what’s being recorded. It is also because these acts of violence have increased.
Finished 2,800 attacks have been reported to have stopped the hate API over the past year.
In addition, people say they have lived this experience and ask for help. When people come together in solidarity, it helps to create a new space to talk.
Social media is a powerful tool for raising awareness. How do you want consciousness to become an action outside of these platforms?
It’s pretty simple. There are structural and systematic exclusions that have occurred in the AAPI community. It’s not just in the newsrooms; it is also clearly in our federal government.
Some federal agencies not even including Asians in the definition of racial minorities. This is a widespread omission.
I want to know from the secretary of education about why the history of AAPI is not taught in schools. Why don’t people know about internment camps or how one of the biggest lynchings in U.S. history was against the AAPI community?
I want to know why people aren’t taught our contributions too?
There are so many things people can do to educate themselves, not only about our history, but also about our culture. Empathy will be the solution to this and visibility generates empathy.
You can start from home. Turn on the computer and learn more about the AAPI community and listen to the base organizers on the ground.
The organization of AAPI has a long history. Who do you work with has reported your approach to activism right now?
It is important that people not only be able to learn about the history of AAPI as an elective faculty at the university, even if it is offered at the universities. It has to start from primary, secondary and secondary school. It has to start from the beginning so that we are seen as members of this community.
I don’t think there has been any Asian American who hasn’t been asked the question, ‘Where are you from? Not really, where are you really from? It sounds innocent, but it’s fundamental. It’s the idea that you don’t belong. When you have this perpetual stereotype of an alien, it’s easy to be an atoner. The consequence of this has been life lost.
How do you plan to continue this type of work?
It is important that we focus on education and that people understand where it is roots of misinformation [around the coronavirus, and related xenophobia] they’ve come, where ignorance can and should be stopped, and how people can contribute and elevate Asian-American voices.
At Rise, we’re building the plane as it’s flying and putting together a campaign that will educate people to let people know what the Asian American experience is. Democracy is for all the people of the people. So Rise will provide educational content talking about black and Asian solidarity, talking about the history of AAPI and celebrating it.
As a community organizer who fell into this job because I needed civil rights and no one was going to write them for me, what I want to get out of people is that you can change the world absolutely.
It really, really matters what you think and your pain, your anger, your hope, it all matters. I just want people to know that the most powerful tool they have is their voice, and no one has the strength when we come together and demand that they see us.
Take a look at:
“The mythical model of minorities is killing us”: Facebook executive calls on public to confront anti-Asian racism
How to support Asian American colleagues in the midst of the recent wave of anti-Asian violence
Do not miss it: The Best Credit Cards for Buildings of 2021