Last week, Cheddar News released a segment with AAPI Victory Alliance Executive Director Varun Nikore celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage month by offering AAPI communities messages of hope amidst the rising hate and violence.

(Photo: Varun Nikore Twitter Account)

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From Cheddar News:

  • "It's heartbreaking, not only do we continue to see crimes perpetrated against AAPI's...on the heels of the horrific shooting in Buffalo, but we also know that our community isn't the only one being targeted by white supremacy and extreme rhetoric."
  • "Specifically in the AAPI community, we are one of the least studied of all the demographics even though we have a long history of being in this country for hundreds of years."
  • "We are making tremendous progress. What we saw last year in terms of elected officials was three mayors or medium and large cities...yet we are still underrepresented politically in the halls of Congress."
  • "We're listening, our hearts ache with you all. Right now we are trying to do our own part to try to bring more insight on how to tackle these large number of issues our communities are facing."
  • "We launched the first ever AAPI think tank in our organization about a year ago when we saw the continued rise of hate. And so we will continue to not only study this, but it can't be enough to just study it: we need to invest in our community on the front end in terms of civic engagement and thinking so that we can do a better job of serving our people."

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