Earlier this week the #StopAsianHate Australia campaign launched in a collaborative effort between the Asian Australian Alliance (AAA) and GoFundMe Australia. Its purpose is to spread awareness and educate the populous that the anti-Asian sentiment in Australia isn’t isolated in Australia and that it is actually a major problem. The #StopAsianHate campaign in Australia was adopted from the campaign of the same name which started in the US with the #StopAAPIHate campaign. Now this campaign has expanded to the UK and Canada in addition to Australia.
The #StopAsianHate Australia is being fronted by some big name Asian Australian celebrities including Chris Pang (Crazy Rich Asians), Remy Hii (Crazy Rich Asians), Pallavi Sharda ( Lion ) and Arka Das (Lion, Mulan). So far both Pang and Hii have fronted The Australian media pledging their support to the campaign and acting as the campaign’s ambassadors.
More information on the campaign can be found by click here: StopAsianHate Australia.
AAA releases some of its most updated data from the COVID-19 Racism Incident Report (please check it out):
- Approximately 60% of respondents reported that their experiences involved racial slurs/name calling – “Go back to China”, “Ching Chong”, “China virus” etc.
- Approximately 22% stated that the perpetrator made the racial slur out as a joke – this was done mostly by acquaintances of the respondent.
- The other top selections were verbal threats at 16%, getting spat and/or sneezed on 13% and physical intimidation 12%.
- Approximately 37% stated that they experienced the racism on a public street/sidewalk
- 21% stated that they experienced it at a supermarket/grocery store and 13% said they experienced racism on public transport.
- Over 66% of respondents identified as female, and this correlates with the percentage reported by Stop AAPI Hate which is 67-68%.
- Almost 90% of respondents stated that they did not report their experience of racism to the authorities.