SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Among the 100 most influential people chosen this year by Time Magazine was San Francisco State professor Russell Jeung, honored for his efforts in launching the ‘Stop AAPI Hate’ campaign and website to end the rising tide of attacks on Asian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the country.
Joining Jeung in the honor was Cynthia Choi, co–executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, and Manjusha P. Kulkarni, executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council.
READ MORE: Berkeley Couple Seeks Answers After Safe Containing $500K In Valuables Stolen From Their Home
All three have played a major role in demanding action to end the attacks.
“The recognition really means a lot,” Jeung said during an interview on the KPIX 5 Morning News. “It’s not necessarily an individual honor, but for me it speaks for the 9,000 people who have reported to our website. ‘Stop AAPI Hate’ collects first-hand accounts of racism. These people were fearsome enough and bold enough to share their stories so we could develop a collective voice and really make change.”
READ MORE: Complete Coverage Of Rise In Bay Area Asian-American Hate Crimes
READ MORE: Berkeley Man Gravely Wounded In Oakland Shooting
He said the online campaign has “grown into global movement of people standing up for justice.”
‘Stop AAPI Hate’ is just the latest episode of Jeung’s decades-long personal commitment to community involvement. He has been an East Oakland organizer for Cambodian and Latino youths since the 1990s.
“What we do (with the website) is we take all these stories, we analyze the data and what we’re trying to do is to really document and hold government accountable for the safety and the public health for Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders,” he said. “We been able to pass (legislative) bills like the AAPI Equity Budget bill in California…So we are using our platform, using our data, to make policy change for the long term.”
The $156.5 million AAPI Equity Budget bill funds actions to end the surge in anti-AAPI hate and violence over the past year.
MORE NEWS: Early Morning 2-Alarm Blaze Damages Cluttered LaFayette Home
Below is a summary of where the state funds go:
- $110 million – a majority of the funding – will go to community organizations who are providing vital victim services and prevention
- $10 million will provide support to Stop AAPI Hate to track, respond, and prevent incidents of racial bias and harm
- $10 million will go to the AAPI Data project to increase accurate data collection and data equity on AAPI needs, challenges, and barriers
- $10 million will go to anti-bias block grant to provide funding to schools to create restorative justice programs to address hate and macroaggressions early
- $5 million will support a peer social media network project addressing bullying and mental health for children and youth
- $1.5 million will go towards a workgroup to address education attainment for low income first generation AAPI college students, and support the Commission on Asian Pacific Islander American Affairs as it coordinates these programs
- $10 million will go to ethnic media outlets to reach AAPI and other underserved communities in California