Level Up Your Commitment to Learning About the AAPI Community

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! This is the perfect time to not only recognize Asian and Pacific Islander culture, achievements, contemporary impact, and historic contributions; but to jumpstart your continued learning and commitment to allyship and understanding.

What is the AAPI Community?  The Asian Pacific Institute defines the AAPI community as "all people of Asian, Asian American or Pacific Islander ancestry, who trace their origins to the countries, states, jurisdictions and/or the diasporic communities of these geographic regions." This is however complex, incomplete, and built on Eurocentric identifiers. To further understand the complexity, we encourage you and your students/kids to read more about API Identities here.

In April we highlighted many ways that individuals and families can Level Up to Stop AAPI Hate. Please read this blog post to learn how to become a stronger ally for the AAPI community.  Part of allyship is understanding. During Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month we encourage families and classrooms to learn about the contributions and diverse cultures present in the AAPI community.

Exposure - watching and listening to raise your and your children’s understanding of who Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are; stepping outside of your own experiences to learn about new ideas, narratives, and perspectives

Resource lists, book lists, and history curriculum to raise your historical awareness about the experiences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Engagement - participating in acts that push back against the negative stereotypes and tropes placed on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and AAPI culture

Music, art, food (restaurants and recipes) to assist you in appropriate appreciation of the diversity of Asian American and Pacific Islander cultures.

Understanding - realizing the systematic barriers that have and still prevent Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders from full access, while realizing the long history of joy, beauty, and innovation that developed in response to these challenges

Podcasts and other first person accounts to help you listen for deeper understanding.

Alignment - seeing the Asian American and Pacific Islander struggle for liberation tied to your understanding of justice and how your own justice is and is not realized in the United States

Articles, documentaries, and other resources to reveal how people can build coalitions to support the Asian and Pacific Islander community.

Impact - engaging in acts that, actively move to assist in the liberation of Asian and Pacific Islander people everywhere

Resources and donate links that facilitate participation in movements for elevating Asian and Pacific Islander people.
Expand your circle by following awesome AAPI people and accounts on social media. In no particular order, these are a few (not all) of our faves:
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