Asian American Educators of
Howard County
Our hearts are heavy in hearing of the eight people murdered at three massage parlors in Atlanta on March 16th, 2021. Six of the people were of Asian heritage and seven were women. In the past year, research from Stop AAPI Hate shared that nearly 3,800 incidents of hate were reported. Of those incidents, 68% were against women.
Disturbingly, youth reported 12.6% of the 3,800 incidents of hate. Howard County enjoys a rich diversity where at least 22.7% of HCPSS students are Asian. It is unacceptable for these or any of our students to feel threatened based on their heritage or race. The AAEHC supports the HCPSS in continuing to develop and implement a more inclusive curriculum that highlights the triumphs and struggles of the AAPI communities in the U.S. Additionally, we support teaching our students about belonging and dignity to counter bias and hate.
We, at the AAEHC, have to acknowledge how racial trauma affects us and other communities of color. Additionally, we as educators, can take concrete actions to build our awareness and agency. Below are some suggestions:
- Recognize this incident may trigger racial trauma responses. Racial trauma is the physical and psychological symptoms people of color experience after exposure to racially motivated incidents. A person does not have to experience the incident or violence first hand to have trauma responses. Examples of trauma responses are:
- Physical symptoms- body aches, tired, insomnia, headaches, stomach aches, increased heart rate,
- Psychological symptoms- fear, hypervigilance (extreme awareness of surroundings, feeling of being in danger), memory difficulties,
- Feelings- guilt, shame, anger, sadness, numbness
If you are experiencing these issues, and want to share in a safe environment, reach out to a friend, family member, a member of the AAEHC, or seek professional help.
HCPSS employees have access to professional, free and confidential counseling and support services to manage their needs. GuidanceResources® provides services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via a toll-free nationwide number, 1-888-532-7874 and (TDD) 1-800-697-0353.
Also a local licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Tam Nguyen-Louie is offering a free support group. Her email is tam@alignedpsych.com and you can click on https://www.alignedpsych.com/support-group to find out more.
- Empathize that people will have various reactions to this event. Not everyone will have the same response, some may want to talk about this, others may shut down, others may focus on issues more relevant to them personally. Understand each person responds differently and respect their response.
- Learn more about the history of hate and discrimination against Asian-Americans. Here is an article to get you started: Anti-Asian sentiment in the United States – COVID-19 and history,(Chen, Trinh, Yang, 2020). Additionally, AAEHC has a folder of related articles, email us for access.
- Recognize and identify the actions motivated by hate. Visit the Department of Justice-HateCrimes
- Become aware of how people can report/react to a hate crime.
- If you see any incident of a hate crime towards Asian American Pacific Islander, gather evidence and report it to StopAAPIHate.org. StopAAPIHate is a platform that’s accessible in multiple languages to help Asian Americans and witnesses to record and track their responses of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying all across the U.S.
- Equip yourself with techniques for handling situations where you or someone near you is being targeted through microaggressions to violence by attending a bystander training session. Hollaback!’s 5D’s of bystander intervention methodology will be offered:
- March 29 at 3:00 PM ET/ 2:00 PM CT/ 1:00 PM MT/ 12:00 PM PT/ 10:00 AM HST. Register Here
- April 20 at 2:00 PM ET/ 1:00 PM CT/ 12:00 PM MT/ 11:00 AM PT/ 9:00 AM HST. Register Here