FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 30, 2021
Contact: media@napawf.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, President Biden announced additional actions to respond to anti-Asian violence. This announcement follows a March 19 meeting in Atlanta between President Biden and Vice President Harris and leaders in the Asian American community, including a representative from the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF). NAPAWF joined other Asian American organizations to deliver a letter, signed by 454 organizations, to the White House calling for emergency safety and relief to Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. 

In today’s announcement, President Biden delivered on the following asks from NAPAWF:

  • $49.5 million for community based, culturally specific services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

  • Re-establish and expand the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders’ initial mandate to coordinate across federal agencies to combat anti-Asian bias and violence, especially anti-Asian violence at the intersection of gender-based violence.

  • Remove language access barriers to hate crime information.

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum Executive Director Sung Yeon Choimorrow issued the following statement:

“We are grateful to President Biden for highlighting the experiences of Asian American and Pacific Islander women and girls in this critical moment and investing in community based, culturally specific services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. The Atlanta spa shootings were acts of racism, sexism, and sexual violence. Asian American women were targets specifically because they were Asian and because they were women. So many of us saw our mothers, our aunts, and ourselves in the victims of this tragedy.

Yet, racialized misogyny long predates the recent spike in anti-Asian hate and violence. NAPAWF’s new poll found that 78 percent of AAPI women had been affected by anti-Asian racism in the past two years. Just yesterday, there was yet another violent attack on an elderly Asian American woman in New York, coming at a time when Asian American women across the nation are still reeling from the Atlanta spa shootings. Now more than ever, the urgency for greater support and leadership for Asian American women and girls nationwide is dire. However, we have been clear that our needs are not addressed by more law enforcement at the expense of black and brown communities and of immigrants. This work is far from over. It won’t be until our communities have what we need to thrive, starting with those who need it most: Asian American women and elders.”

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The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) is the only multi-issue, progressive, community organizing and policy advocacy organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and girls in the U.S. NAPAWF’s mission is to build collective power so that all AAPI women and girls can have full agency over our lives, our families, and our communities.