Northbrook Rotary offers training webinar on intervening to stop AAPI harassment
Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the statistics are not good.
According to the Stop AAPI Hate coalition, which tracks violence, bullying and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States, a survey last fall indicated one-fifth of respondents experienced a hate incident over the prior year.
That translates to more than 5 million people. One in three parents responding said their child was the target of a hate incident at school.
The survey also supplied information on how best to address this problem. The top two responses were education and community-based solutions.
On Feb. 17, the Rotary Club of Northbrook - a village where the United States Census Bureau has Asian people making up 17% of the population - is co-sponsoring a presentation to add to that education through problem-solving.
"Rotary has been on point with standing up for people all over the world. Now we're seeing what's happening in our own neighborhoods," said Kathi Quinn, a Northbrook Rotary board director.
The Northbrook Rotary Club, in tandem with Rotary organizations in Barrington, Evanston, Lake Zurich, North Chicago and Carol Stream, has combined to offer a remote program on bystander intervention to stop Asian American harassment.
A key part of the webinar is learning how to successfully - and safely - intervene.
The free, 60- to 70-minute training webinar, suitable for families, will be presented on Zoom starting at 7 p.m. Feb. 17. Registration is available online at bit.ly/BBRC_Bystander.
The workshop is sponsored by Asian Americans Advancing Justice/Chicago, the Muslim civil rights advocacy group CAIR-Chicago, and Hollaback!, dedicated to stopping harassment of any and all people.
After an introduction on the kind of discrimination Asian and Pacific Island people are facing, attendees of the webinar will learn the positive impact bystander intervention has on individuals and communities.
An interactive program, the presenters will teach Hollaback's "5Ds" of strategic intervention: distract, delegate, document, delay and direct, while prioritizing safety. Practice scenarios will be offered with each lesson.
It might help reduce the hateful incidents against AAPI citizens that 58% of the time happen either on the street or in a business, the 2021 survey indicated.
"This particular training is going to work across other issues. It's going to be very useful for any kind of bullying or hate," Quinn said.
"I think that's very important, that people will be able to recognize and react to it. I think we all have to have racial empathy, and sometimes that's not an easy thing to do, and we have to be reminded."