Dear Friends of ACV,
Asian CineVision stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Please join us and our API entertainment and media collaborators as we pledge to become better allies, holding our leaders, systems, and selves accountable in the fight for systemic change.
Asian CineVision was founded in New York City over 40 years ago with the mission of “promoting and preserving Asian and Asian American media expressions.” A race-based arts organization like ours could not exist if not for decades’ of labor by Black cultural workers, fighting for space, equality, and equity in national and local media spheres.
Our community—creatives, art enthusiasts, staff, volunteers—is primarily made up of Asian Americans. Many of the rights we hold now were won by Black Civil Rights activists (legal immigration, voting, interracial relationships, and beyond). Even the redefining of our community as “Asian American” was inspired by the Black Power Movement.
Asian Americans have benefitted from proximity to white privilege, as well as from the harmful model minority myth, at the expense of Black safety, wellness, and livelihood. Internalized anti-Black sentiment has riddled our communities, and our privileges have come at deep and terrible cost to Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities.
We are living in a particularly complicated moment. The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the nation, and communities of color are suffering at disproportionate rates. Our small, family-owned businesses struggle financially; our communities bear higher rates of infection with diminishing access to healthcare; our loved ones serve as essential workers, risking their lives to keep the economy moving and hospitals open. Asians and Asian Americans particularly have been the target of xenophobic attacks during this time.
We are tired and we ache deeply, but we do not let this moment detract from a fundamental truth: Black Lives Matter, and we must stand against systemic racism—the structures that harms and profits off of Black lives every single day.
To move forward, it is not enough to be not racist; we pledge to be actively anti-racist through our work, and to be critical of ourselves and our own communities. We are committed to transparency regarding our staff, jury, and programming. We will interrogate our community’s colorism, classism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. Our programming will aim to examine Asian American history and privilege, and better reflect and empower the beautiful diversity of the API diaspora, including those of mixed heritage. We believe in the power of stories and we will use that power to create positive change.
This is just one piece of an ongoing conversation; ACV actively seeks suggestions as we work to reimagine our programming, practices, and delivery. Here are immediate, concrete actions that you can do right now.
- Vote in the Primaries and General Election
- Hold your local officials accountable and vote for those that support breaking down systems of white supremacy.
- New York State Election Day is on June 23 for both State and Federal Primary Elections. To reduce the spread of Covid-19, submit a request for a postage-paid absentee ballot. The deadline to request for an absentee ballot in-person is June 22.
- Listen and work with Black organizers
- Look for local BLM chapters and mutual aid groups led by Black organizers and see how you can help.
- Donate
- Express solidarity by setting up a recurring donation to Black-led organizations. Solutions should come from those most affected by the problem. Consider Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization.
- Get Counted in the Census
- Take 10 minutes to shape the next 10 years. This short questionnaire is to be filled by everyone living in the U.S., regardless of citizenship or immigration status, and is used to determine Congressional seats available per state and the divvying of federal funding for your community.
Leverage the power you have, amplify the voices of the oppressed, and together we will build a better future. Change is not immediate and it will not be achieved cleanly or perfectly. But we will keep fighting together.
In Solidarity,
The Asian CineVision Team