First-time gun buyers + Relief fund for Sacramento restaurants: Your AAPI Newsletter
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It is Thursday, April 9, and this is The Sacramento Bee’s AAPI weekly newsletter.
Here’s a recap on the stories I recently covered and issues I’m following:
As COVID-19 spreads across the United States, public health orders have been keeping people indoors, causing businesses to struggle and the loss of jobs. Food and supplies have run out in stores regularly. Many worry chaos and violence would ensue in the event of mass panic. Rhetoric from some politicians, including President Donald Trump, fueled the scapegoating of Asians of bringing the virus to the United States.
I interviewed three Asian Americans who are first-time buyers of firearms to learn the reasons why, despite moving to the United States and living here for two or three decades, they felt the necessity to purchase firearms.
With California’s stay-at-home orders in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus, restaurant business has plummeted in several places, including Sacramento. Some have temporarily closed their doors or laid off employees to cut costs. To ease the impact, Sacramento organizations are raising funds to support restaurants along the Stockton Boulevard Commercial Corridor.
The emergency relief funds, a collaborative effort between nonprofits, business chambers and other agencies, aims to bring relief to struggling restaurants and to bring as much awareness as possible.
Twenty-five restaurants will each receive a $1,000 grant. So far around $19,000 of the goal have been raised, and a GoFundMe website was set up in hopes of recruiting more grassroots efforts from the public to meet the goal.
In other news
How to help struggling Asian American communities amid coronavirus pandemic [NBC News]
Asian Americans around the Bay Area and US use social media to mobilize against attacks [The Mercury News]
Japanese Americans speak out against Andrew Yang’s call for Asian American to display patriotism [NBC News]
How community advocates are finding new ways to tackle the spread of xenophobia through hashtags, online reporting centers and patrol groups [City Lab]
The WHO ignores Taiwan. The world pays the price. [The Nation]
Self-care tips for Asian Americans dealing with racism amid coronavirus [Huffington Post]
Why the lockdowns, equipment shortages and overburdened hospitals feel all too familiar to Chinese Americans [The Atlantic]
A California hospital is translating coronavirus information for immigrants [Public Radio International]
US Sikh issue virus guidelines in Punjabi [The Tribune]
Opinion: No matter how bad it gets, it will always be “an honor just to be Asian” [Next Shark]
Are you working on the front lines in some way to help with the containment of the coronavirus, or are contributing to the health and well-being of our community? If so, I’d like to do a story on you. Reach out to me at tyu@sacbee.com.
Finally, what stories would you like to read about? Please send me your tips and suggestions.
That’s it for this week’s newsletter. Thanks for reading, stay safe and hang in there!
