Movement Hub, a website developed by the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, will serve as a centralized platform to amplify on-the-ground activism and organizing by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Movement Hub’s resources facilitate connections between people’s experiences and data. For example, the hub offers more than 500 resources that can help victims of hate incidents or those looking to challenge racism, and people can identify additional organizations and agencies that respond to hate incidents. The website also offers resources for and by Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations to promote cross-racial unity.
“It’s our hope that this site will be a useful tool to raise awareness on the intersectional issues impacting the AAPI community and other communities of color,” said Paul Ong, research professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and director of the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge.
From March to early August 2020, more than 2,500 hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were reported to Stop AAPI Hate, which tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning and child bullying.
“The digital resource hub has been revamped to include new materials by community groups and thought leaders working to address the alarming spike in anti-Asian violence, which has been spurred by race-based scapegoating during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Silvia González, the center’s senior researcher, who developed Movement Hub in conjunction with the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund. “The public is welcomed to submit resources via our online submission button. The hub also includes a new story map with information on policy protections, news and multimedia stories.”
Bo Thao-Urabe, senior program strategist at the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund, adds: “Anti-Asian rhetoric in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to violence and hate crimes against our communities, repeating historical racist and xenophobic patterns. We have to find ways to participate in the global uprising for justice and radical transformation. Our anti-racism response network and the Movement Hub are resources to help AAPI organizations do that.”
