By Penelope Morris

As Globalize DC’s Japanese Plus program starts up again after two years, we are excited to get back to our #Stop Asian Hate Project that we began in the spring of 2021. The project began as a way for us to give back to a community that we, as DC high school students of Japanese, are interested in. We feel that because Asians and Asian Americans have contributed so much to American culture, it is our responsibility to help fight against the rise in anti-Asian/AAPI hate that has taken place since the start of the pandemic.

So as a group, we reviewed the DC social studies standards and made note of places where Asians were mentioned (unsurprisingly, there weren’t many), and places where we believed more content about Asian/AAPI history could be added in order to increase knowledge and understanding of Asians and Asian Americans among DC public school students. Then, we testified before the State Board of Education in June 2021 to advocate for the implementation of these changes, because we believe that the best way to combat hate in the long-term is to educate others about Asian and AAPI history. Now, as we finally resume work on this project, we are looking to organize programming to connect DC students with experts in the field of Asians and Asian Americans in education, such as Professor Sohyun An of Kennesaw State University and Allister Chang, a member of the DC State Board of Education, as well as other members of the Asian and Asian American community here in our own city. We are excited to continue this very important work!

We hope interested DC students and others will join us. You can learn about our work so far at www.japaneseplus.org/jt-stop-asian-hate-project/.

If you’re interested in learning more or want to get involved, please email sally@globalizedc.org.