We are beyond honored and a pleasure to speak on the topic of "ERADICATING HATE CRIMES" during the panel for the inaugural Bay Area SwAA (Stand with Asian Americans) general meeting and summer social! SwAA is the remarkable organization started in the height of the thousands of hate crimes against AAPI community this past year. You may remember their viral full page WSJ page. It was a star studded evening with celebs, influencers, and business leaders leading their voice.
It was such an inspirational event meeting our community leaders and learning stories from our own peers/brothers/sisters. Discovered that we all come from the same humble roots, shared the same challenges and encountered the same struggles on our journeys. It’s when we remove “titles” and who we should be… we find common grounds and become more UNITED as one.
The presence and stories of our peers made for an incredible evening filled with laughs, tears and tangible hope for a better future for us all. We found inspiration from meeting each other and meeting our community leaders who have been at the forefront of lifting us -- from CA Attorney General Rob Bonta, who has a strong family tradition of social justice, to Dion Kim and Drue Kataoka, activists raising awareness of AAPI hate crimes, to Martin Yan who was one of the first Asian Americans we grew up with on TV.
We all left motivated, knowing that our movement is about community and that together, we are all stronger and together, we can all impact more change. It’s about each of us deciding to take individual action that together, will create a movement to turn all the negative hate crimes happening to us into positive change going forward!
The start of a national awakening is now… TOGETHER we must stand! Purely will continue to support & contribute to our AAPI community and hope you will join us on this movement. We are donating 5% of proceeds from Purely products to SwAA ~ Shop & Support!
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Here are 2 ways to support the SwAA’s mission and AAPI community:
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Donating to Our Community: your funds will continue to build our community by organizing our next set of events, make grants to underfunded AAPI nonprofits in our 6 impact areas and help tell our stories to inspire action.
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Become a SwAA Volunteer: for those that didn't get to sign up last night, we need your skills now more than ever to make a difference. Tech, design, organizers, fundraising, doers, strategic planners. Everyone has something to offer.
More photos here.