Anti-Asian crimes have spiked since the pandemic started, with more than 3,000 incidents occurring all across the country. What is behind this increase in hate crimes, what is being done about it, and what still needs to be done to stop it?
Join us for a discussion with three Asian American leaders about addressing anti-Asian violence in America.
Nikki Fortunato Bas is president of the Oakland City Council and represents District 2, one of the most diverse districts in the city. Since taking office in 2019, she led the passage of the strongest COVID-19 eviction moratorium in the state of California and a COVID-19 grocery worker hazard pay $5 wage bonus covering 2,000 workers in Oakland’s largest grocery stores.
Russell Jeung is a professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. In 2020, Dr. Jeung launched Stop AAPI Hate, a project of Chinese for Affirmative Action, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, and San Francisco State Asian American Studies. It tracks COVID-19 related discrimination in order to develop community resources and policy interventions to fight racism.
Michelle Kim is a queer immigrant Korean American woman writer, speaker and entrepreneur challenging the status quo in tech and beyond. She is the CEO of Awaken, a leading provider of interactive equity and inclusion education programs facilitated by majority BIPOC educators, where she has consulted hundreds of organizations and top executives from Fortune 500, tech giants, nonprofits and government agencies to spark change.
NOTES
The Commonwealth Club thanks Gilead Sciences, Inc. for its generous support of The Michelle Meow Show. 
The Michelle Meow Show thanks Kaiser Permanente for its support of independent LGBTQ media producers. 

SPEAKERS
Nikki Fortunato Bas
President, Oakland City Council
Russell Jeung
Professor of Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University; Author, Family Sacrifices: The Worldviews and Ethics of Chinese Americans
Michelle Kim
CEO, Awaken; Author,The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change (Forthcoming)
Michelle Meow
Producer and Host, "The Michelle Meow Show" on KBCW/KPIX TV and Podcast; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Twitter @msmichellemeow—Host

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on March 11th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.
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