Help us end the virus of racism
During the coronavirus, hate crime towards East and Southeast Asians has increased threefold.
This must stop.
Members of our communities are working as frontline key workers, risking their lives as nurses, careworkers, and cleaners, and many of us have died fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Yet, we have also had to endure racism.
We are being blamed for causing and being carriers of COVID-19. We are bearing the brunt of verbal racist attacks. We are being physically assaulted.
Simply because of the colour of our skin.
This is why we are raising money: To establish the UK's first non-profit dedicated to addressing systemic racism faced by people of East and Southeast Asian heritage.
Donate to help us end the virus of racism.
Who are we?
End the Virus of Racism is a group of activists, artists, business professionals, students, researchers, journalists, nurses, and community representatives. Our team has people from a diverse range of East and Southeast Asian communities, and we are supported by a strong group of allies.
What do we want to stop?
- 23 year old student Jonathan Mok was assaulted because of his skin colour. Describing what happened, he said: "The guy who tried to kick me then said, 'I don't want your coronavirus in my country', before swinging another sucker punch at me, which resulted in my face exploding with blood (from my nose)."
- Another student was assaulted by three men, who "punched, kicked and subjected [him] to racial taunts" before breaking his jaw. Another person had his clothes torn off by attackers shouting "coronavirus" at him. Another man was assaulted by three racists who called out "Get back to your C***** country you C***** cunts with your virus!" before attacking him.
- A woman's Chinese takeaway was vandalised. Another woman was attacked by teenagers smashing up her car and restaurant before punching her in the head and stomach with the metal part of a bike seat. Another take-away owner was spat on by a person demanding to know he if "had the coronavirus".
These few incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. One in seven people in the UK say they avoid people of Chinese appearance or origin. Hate speech on Twitter has increased 900%. And almost three quarters of people of East and Southeast Asian descent have experienced being called a racial slur. This comes as no surprise to those of us who have faced racism for our whole lives.
Why do we need funding?
We are raising money to establish the UK's first nonprofit dedicated to addressing systemic racism faced by people of East and Southeast Asian heritage.
The organisation will:
1. Hold the government, institutions and media to account and ensure it does its duty to protect victims of hate crime with the full force of the law.
2. Mobilise a coalition of organisations across the UK to campaign against hate towards East and Southeast Asians.
3. Create a grassroots movement of people to address racism nationwide through citizen action, media engagement, education and activism.
Funds will go towards:
1. Hiring a full-time campaigner and community organiser
2. Establishing an online reporting system for incidents of hate crime
3. Producing multilingual, accessible education and training materials
4. Organising local and national campaign and advocacy events
What have we achieved so far?
We have organised an open letter calling for the Home Secretary Priti Patel to announce a zero tolerance policy towards racism by the police, and to launch an inquiry. This open letter was signed by over 100 high profile figures, including Baroness Warsi, Lord Simon Woolley, comedian Phil Wang, singer Mutya Buena, writers Benjamin Zephaniah and Afua Hirsch, academic Dr Priyamvada Gopal, and Sarah Owen MP.
We have organised an accountability meeting where we invited the Home Office, the Metropolitan Police, the National Police Chiefs' Council, and the office of the Mayor of London.
We have received responses from the Home Secretary, and have now been invited to propose further actions by the Home Office, police, and Mayor's Office.
Our actions have been covered by national news outlets.
For more information, email [email protected].
Donate now, and help us end the virus of racism.