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Threats Trigger Opportunities
We mourn for those who were killed. We sympathize with those who were injured by verbal and/or physical violence. At the same time, we need to seize the moment to create great opportunities for ourselves.
[A] Creating Opportunity 1:
The following are words from Pres. Biden and V.P. Harris, said 3 days ago
at the height of Covid-19 anti-Asian hate crimes. Their words will be most helpful, if and when we ever face the danger of internment or another wave of hate against AsAms.
From V.P. Harris: “Sadly, it is not new. Racism is real in America, it has always been. Xenophobia is real in America. It has always been; sexism too. In the 1860s, as Chinese workers built the transcontinental railroad, there were laws in the books in America forbidding them from owning property. In the 1940s, as Japanese American soldiers defended our nation, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to live in internment camps, an obvious and absolute abuse of their civil and human rights.”
From President Biden: “Hate and violence often hide in plain sight and it's often met with silence. That’s been true throughout our history. But that has to change because our silence is complicity. We cannot be complicit. We have to speak out. We have to act.”
To hear both, click here. First scroll down to the the video. On the video, to hear these words from Harris, go from 1:14 to 2:00. For Biden, go from 7:30 to 8:00.
Please keep & spread these words to turn them into a lasting wall of protection for our civil rights.
[B] Creating Opportunity 2 - Organize Community Watch Teams
What can we do for self-help?
80-20 will finance up to $200,000 to help seed COMMUNITY WATCH teams in our ethnic communities* i.e. Korean-, Indian-, Vietnamese-, Filipino-, Japan-, & Chinatowns. To learn about such teams organized by innovative local AsAm leaders, click here (1, 2, or 3; please wait out the commercials and turn the sound on).
For community leaders interested in working with 80-20 to organize such COMMUNITY WATCH teams, please contact Stephen Lin, Special Assistant to the President, 80-20 EF via stephen.lin@80-20ef.org or 925-548-3882.
Each team is composed of 6 to 10 members, with English and ethnic language(s) capability and a working relationship with the local police. They will be armed only by whistles, pepper spray cans, and members' own cell phones. Each patrolling member will be identified by a bright sash with a team name. The sashes will be switchable to members of the next shift. 80-20 will provide the sashes and whistles. For the next 2 months, 80-20 will also compensate each patrolling member $10 per hour up to 3 hours per weekend evening, provided that a responsible local organization will match the compensation.
The media attention is great but it may also induce copycats with bad intentions. So we urge leaders and leading organizations of ethnic communities to seriously consider setting up such COMMUNITY WATCH teams quickly. 80-20 also hopes that COMMUNITY WATCH teams will become a fixture exemplifying SELF-HELP. No help is more instantly available and reliable than SELF-HELP!
S. B. Woo
President and a volunteer for the past 22 years
80-20 Educational Foundation, Inc, a 501 C-3 organization,
Lieutenant Governor of Delaware (1985-89)
*AsAms residing in suburbs are apparently less subject to hate crimes.
