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Panel discussion on the rise in hate towards Asian American Pacific Islanders in our community.

Between March 2020 and March 2022, Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition that has documented incidents of anti-Asian discrimination during the pandemic, has received nearly 11,500 accounts of anti-Asian hate incidents. 340 of those incidents were reported in Massachusetts. While this wave of hate may be pandemic-driven, anti-Asian attitudes are not new in America. During the era of World War II and the internment of Japanese Americans, everyone from Dr. Seuss to Life magazine pushed anti-Japanese propaganda. Over time the hate was baked into American culture.

“America has a pattern of using Asian Americans as pawns. Historically, you can see it with the Immigration Act and then post-World War II, you see it with the myth of the model minority and the way it’s used to pit Asian Americans against Black Americans and Latinx Americans. Who benefits?" – Michael Tom

The above description includes excerpts from an article by Jenee Osterheldt “There is no antiracist movement without fighting anti-Asian discrimination” Boston Globe, March 4, 2021 as well as data from the Stop AAPI Hate 2 Year Report.

Community Participants: Rep. Tram Nguyen; Anna Choi, Endicott College Professor of Religion; Andy Zhang, Andover Chinese School; Yasmin Padamsee Forbes, AAPI Commission

This virtual panel discussion is a collaboration between Memorial Hall Library and Courageous Conversations and is shared in partnership with libraries in Groton, Rowley and Tewksbury. This program is sponsored by the Friends of Memorial Hall Library.