A sign that read “Stop Asian Hate” was posted on a lectern in the middle of Smith Park on Friday in San Gabriel. It was a frightening reminder that hate crimes against Asians have risen in recent years.
Officials from Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles, Asian Youth Center and Chinatown Service Center were on hand at Smith Park for a news conference to discuss the free Bystander Intervention Training Program that could help Asian communities in the San Gabriel Valley defend themselves.
It was launched in the Spring by AAAJ, and is now going to be available in Asian languages such as Cantonese and Mandarin as well as Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog
The system being taught is called the five D’s for distract, delegate, document, delay and direct. Diane Ting of AAAJ explained.
“Of course, recently with this pandemic, with this rise in Asian hate, we really felt the need to respond to continue to help the community in other ways,” she said.
She went into detail about the five D’s, the brainchild of partner Hollaback!, an organization whose mission is to end harassment of all forms.
“Distract — create a little distraction,” Ting said. “It could be dropping something, just something to break the moment, get them to stop looking at or engaging in the activity. Second, delegate — find somebody else to help. That’s why we want as many people trained. If you don’t feel comfortable intervening in a situation, see if the person next to you can help.”
Document could be using a cell phone to record the incident, or perhaps writing down information that could be used against the perpetrator, then giving it to the person who experienced the harassment.
Delay is for checking in with the person who experienced the disrespect.
“Sometimes moments happen so fast, you couldn’t have done anything,” Ting said. “Check in with the person even just letting them you know you don’t agree with that. That can really help them just feel less alone in that situation.”
Direct speaks for itself. For that, the Hollaback! website uses terms like “Speak up” and “Name the behavior.”
“That’s often the one people think about first,” Ting said. “But we’ll talk about ways to keep your safety in mind. That’s very important.”
Although the training is for all ages, seniors seem to be most at risk, said Ricky Choi, board president of AYC.
“What we have seen is, for one reason or another, our most vulnerable have been seniors, obviously. … And they are the ones who are the most defenseless,” he said.
He said often times seniors won’t react in any way when harassed.
“So as young people, we feel responsibility to our elders and to our seniors and so if we see something that’s not right, we should step in and intervene and we are just providing the tools to the public to do that effectively,” Choi said.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, L.A. County — and the nation overall — have seen an upswing in anti-Asian hatred. The virus was first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019 ahead of it being labeled a pandemic in March of 2020.
Hate crimes surged by 20% across Los Angeles County last year, marking the third consecutive annual increase and the largest spike since 2008, according to a report the county Commission on Human Relations released last month.
According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, hate crimes against Asians rose nearly 150% in the country’s 16 largest cities in 2020.
Local leaders gathered at Friday’s meeting to back the Bystander Intervention Training Program and to condemn acts of hate. San Gabriel Mayor Chin Ho Liao was among the dignitaries present, along with Vice Mayor Tony Ding and councilmember Denise Menchaca.
Liao spoke powerfully about hate against Asians and the need to put it to a stop.
“We need to unite together to fight against this crime,” he said.
But, he said, there is more power in unity, thus the importance of this training.
Those wishing to register for training can go to https://advancingjustice-la.org/bystander-intervention-trainings.