Dallas Has a Handle on Anti-Asian Violence. Meet the Women of Asian Descent Group

Stop Asian HateWBUR

The Dallas Women of Asian Descent is a collective of Asian American and Pacific Islander women born from a desire to discuss race honestly. The community is centered around its members’ feelings and thoughts, all while seeking to educate and empower one another.

The group would not exist were it not for rising levels of anti-Asian violence in Texas and across the US. How serious is the issue? As far as the group is concerned it’s bad enough for them to have gathered in Flag Pole Hill Park on a recent Sunday. They weren't there to protest, but rather to learn a simple skill.

How to defend themselves. 

Paired off with an instructor each from Chamberlain Studios, a local martial arts studio, their clawed punches, elbow strikes, and knee thrusts grew increasingly smooth and self-assured as their first lesson progressed.

Sophia Kwong Myers, left, and Amy Tran-Calhoun, founder of the Dallas Women of Asian DescentBen Torres

Asia-related hate crimes and violence are on the upswing in the US, no doubt fueled in large part by a misplaced association many people have formed between Asians and the coronavirus, a situation further exacerbated by inflammatory terms like “China Virus”. Let's look at national figures and then examine Dallas.

Asian women have reported 2.3 times more hate incidents than Asian men, according to a recent Stop AAPI Hate report of close to 3,800 incidents since March 2020 across the United States. Women make easier targets and they are more susceptible to intimidation and physical violence.

There were around 4,000 hate crime incidents against Asian Americans across the U.S. in the last year. More than 100 of these were documented in Texas, the fourth-highest number in the country. Dallas, unlike other areas in Texas, seems to be getting it right.

In Dallas, police are proactively reaching out to members of the Asian American community to both ensure their safety and peace of mind. Since the start of 2020, only one hate-motivated crime targeting an Asian American has been reported.

In this case, Dallas police Chief Eddie Garica says he believes statistics likely don’t tell the whole story. In a recent statement he offered this;

“We know that hate crime is a very under-reported crime, so the fact that we have only one reported such crime is not as important as the fear our community feels.” 

It's that fear, uncertainty, and a feeling of vulnerability, coupled with a desire to seek out kindred spirits, that has fuelled the growth of The Dallas Women of Asian Descent. It’s also thanks to efforts Dallas has put in place to address race-related violence, that the group exists at all.

The idea for Dallas Women of Asian Descent germinated after a panel hosted by the Dallas Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, a racial equity nonprofit, in September 2020. 

The group started small, with about five women, but has grown through word of mouth. Their conversations range from developing the mission, vision, and values of the group, to unpacking the experience of being both Asian and a woman in America.

It's given them a sense of community within the broader community and allowed them to share their thoughts and opinions. Amy Tran-Calhoun, a lead organizer and one of the group founders puts it this way;

“It’s a space for us to be able to connect over shared values and experiences. Sometimes, you just want to be in community with people who get it.”

Through teach-ins, meals at East Dallas’ Hello Dumpling, yoga sessions, improv comedy workshops, and self-defense training, group members have bonded and healed together. Looking ahead, the group will focus on increasing the political power of the AAPI community.

If you're a member of the Asian community in Dallas and would like to get in touch with the group, you can do so here.

Follow me to see more articles like this.

...

Follow

This is original content from NewsBreak’s Creator Program. Join today to publish and share your own content.