Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliates continue in-language bystander intervention training for Asian American community nationwide

THE Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliates in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC continue to offer virtual “Bystander Intervention Training – Stop Anti-Asian and Asian American and Xenophobic Harassment” in 2022 and are now proud to offer trainings in Asian languages for limited English proficient members of the community.

Washington, D.C.-based Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC (Advancing Justice – AAJC) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles (Advancing Justice – LA) offer accessible in-language trainings in Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Additionally, Advancing Justice – AAJC offers trainings in Hindi and Thai, provides simultaneous interpretations along with English facilitations, and uses bilingual slides. Advancing Justice – LA trains directly in Asian languages, accompanied by translated slides as part of the interactive experience. Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago (Advancing Justice – Chicago) provides bilingual trainings in Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hindi, with verbal presentations in both English and the Asian language and slides in Asian languages only.

Since the Advancing Justice affiliates in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. and Right To Be started training in the last two years, they have trained over 150,000 people. Of all people who reported witnessing harassment after completing the training, 75% reported intervening, a best practice in reducing trauma and de-escalating violence.

“The Asian American community has borne heightened discrimination as some have sought to place blame for the pandemic on us,” said Marita Etcubañez, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at Advancing Justice – AAJC. “We have heard from many in our community about the fear and anxiety they are feeling as Asian Americans have experienced increased hate crimes and hate incidents in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. Through our trainings, we share practical, actionable strategies that we hope our participants will be able to use to safely intervene in and stop harassment, and also mitigate the harm for the person who faced harassment.”

“It is a privilege and a testimony to our collective commitment to the Asian American community that we are able to expand and offer these culturally competent, useful trainings with more Advancing Justice affiliates,” said Dax Valdes, Senior Trainer with Right To Be. “We always look for ways to make our sessions more accessible, so we can reach more community members who may be wondering what to do when they see someone else getting harassed, on public transportation or at the grocery store, for example. Offering these trainings in Asian languages is a crucial step in meeting communities where they are.”

In Right To Be’s evaluation and research, they found that 98.8% of those trained reported that as a result of the training, they were able to recognize and intervene when harassment occurred.

According to Christina Yang, General Counsel and Pro Bono Director at Advancing Justice – LA, “It is essential for us to train directly in Asian languages and make bystander intervention trainings more accessible to broader audiences, especially those who are still under attack and scapegoated for the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“As an organization that strives towards racial equity through community organizing, it is imperative that we respond to the requests from different communities and partners across the Midwest. We are excited to be a part of a strong affiliation and movement to make this training more inclusive for so many.” said Catherine Shieh, Anti-Hate Training Coordinator at Advancing Justice – Chicago.

For the Asian language Bystander Intervention Training (with simultaneous interpretation in Tagalog) on March 23 (3 p.m. Hawaii/4 p.m. Alaska/5 p.m. Pacific/6 p.m. Mountain/7 p.m. Central/8 p.m. Eastern), register at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7SDDsr2qS5yLiEmt6PEfFA.

(AAJC Release)