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AAPI Heritage Month is a time for solidarity amid anti-Asian attacks

Stop Asian Hate rally at the Freedom Center in 2021
Jolene Almendarez / WVXU
Stop Asian Hate rally at the Freedom Center in 2021

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. It’s a time to celebrate diverse cultures and important contributions. But it’s also a month to speak out and debunk myths about Asian communities.

Anti-Asian hate crimes increased 339 percent nationwide last year, according to a study published by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. And many of those crimes were against women. The organization Stop AAPI Hate found that 68 percent of the incidents reported between March of 2020 and March of 2021 targeted women.

Today on Cincinnati Edition we explore how communities are coming together to grapple with the violence, we’ll take a look at the history of anti-Asian discrimination in the U.S. and discuss how elected leaders can combat stereotypes and racism. Joining the program are Greater Cincinnati Chinese Cultural Exchange Association Co-Founder and Co-Chair Felicity Tao; Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval; University of California, Irvine Professor of Asian American Studies Judy Wu Ph.D.; and artist, educator and activist Emily Hanako Momohara who serves on the Ohio Progressive Asian Women’s Leadership OPAWL Cincinnati caucus.

Listen to Cincinnati Edition live at noon M-F. Audio for this segment will be uploaded after 4 p.m. ET.

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