Stop Asian Hate With CAPIS: The Voice of the Younger Generation
Written by Natasha Fernandes
@natasha_xxcc
Thumbnail by Jason Leung on Unsplash
Dragging misfortune at its fingertips, the pandemic has brought with it a significant rise in Asian hate crimes in many of North America’s major cities. Research shows that many people consciously or subconsciously hurl their frustrations and worries over COVID-19 towards the Asian community. In 2020, for example, former US President Donald Trump referred to the virus as the “Kung flu” and “China virus.” Unfortunately, these jabs are often taken as jokes and idle comments with no penalties whatsoever, diminishing our humanity.
Asian hate is not just an American issue. Canada is not the safe haven that it claims to be. The city of Vancouver has the highest number of anti-Asian incidents per capita in all of North America. The city witnessed the most significant increase in hate crimes against Asians since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising 717 percent between 2019 and 2020. The data for 2021 does not seem much different. The University of Toronto published an article releasing a two-year study led by Dr. Weiguo Zhang, a social demographer and an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. The data shows that in April 2020, out of 700 Asian respondents in Canada, 11 percent testified that they had experienced racism and discrimination since the pandemic outbreak. Yet, in 2021, this number tripled, with more than 35 percent of respondents indicating they had experienced racism and discrimination. Even Halifax is no stranger to these acts of discrimination and racially influenced violence.
May commemorates Asian Heritage Month in Canada and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the US. This year’s theme, “Recognition, Resilience, and Resolve,” calls all of us to understand more about Asian Heritage and join hands to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of Asian Canadians that make Canada a great nation. I had the opportunity to interview Bethany Leal-Iyoupe and Julie Anne Dayrit, the President and Vice-President of CAPIS, which stands for the Community for Asian Pacific Islander Solidarity society at Saint Mary’s University. CAPIS is a four-month-old society that seeks to promote solidarity with Asian Pacific Islander communities by being proud of their culture and taking a stand against anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity and xenophobia. Throughout our conversation, we spoke about the reason CAPIS was created, our experiences with racism in Canada, and their collaboration with Dalhousie.
Bethany mentioned that CAPIS creates a space for students to learn about each other, learn about their innate feelings, and embrace one’s culture while focusing on their mental well-being. When I asked Bethany about the resources CAPIS would provide to ensure that a space like this can thrive, she said:
“We want to focus not necessarily on our traumas, but on how we can heal past them or heal through them. Hence, hopefully, we will be able to organize collective meditations. Julie had some great ideas about karaoke nights and potlucks and all that good stuff. So we do not have to be serious every second; we can wind down and have fun once in a while.”
CAPIS began its journey just when the global pandemic was at its peak in 2021. Starting a new society entirely from scratch online is not an easy task. Therefore, I was curious to know about their decision to start operations virtually and the fallbacks and advantages of this decision. Bethany mentioned that they had difficulty recruiting members for the founding committee. She also spoke briefly about how the global pandemic creates division among humans and makes it harder for international students to cope with the daily news of violence. She said:
“Starting the society amid a global pandemic was mainly to create a space for students who feel isolated. To be honest, I wake up, eat breakfast, and then go on my phone to see attacks on attacks directed towards not just the Asian community but also the Black and Indigenous communities. This can be very distressing. I know for me, I struggle with [my] mental health, and during the pandemic, it can be challenging for people to just get out of bed and connect with others. The hope with CAPIS is to unite all those people and to create a space where we can let them know that we have their backs.”
Julie had a similar view about CAPIS’s value as well. Julie became the Vice President of CAPIS because she saw Bethany do a live workshop on Instagram and resonated with Bethany’s stance on racial hate crimes and rebuilding the communities marred by these atrocities. It is essential to recognize that instead of trying to “fix” or find solutions to the problem, we must first name and highlight it. Julie mentioned how these incidents affect the fragile mental state of students. She said:
“The reason I got involved with CAPIS is because I was looking for a society where I can be actively open about issues. You see acts of racism on the news every day, but you don’t know how the same information affects others very differently. It is incredibly detrimental. When dealing with systemic racism, it is necessary to get to the root to get to the fruit. We need to understand the root of these acts to understand what needs to be taken out immediately.”
I liked Julie’s analogy of getting to the root to reach the fruit. Unless we know what has been sown, we will not understand the product plaguing us since the age of colonialism. On experiencing racism, I asked Bethany and Julie if they encountered exclusion because of their race in Halifax or as an international student at SMU, to which Bethany expressed:
“There is a huge lack of representation for Asians and Pacific Islanders at SMU. Julie and just one professor on campus were the only two Filipinas I met at SMU. That alone says a bit about what SMU or Halifax, for that matter, attracts. The Maritimes are predominantly white and cater to white institutions and systems. Because of that, there is such a drastic release of microaggression. People have called me the ‘Chinese lady’ before and used the phrase as if it were something derogatory to say to somebody. That is a culture, and it is not my culture to claim because I am not Chinese, so don’t call me that. There are a lot of slurs that people in Halifax use. In my study group, some people spoke very negatively about Asian people and labelled them as the reason for COVID. It is a lot of verbal aggression. There is a need for more cultural competency in Halifax. These situations are extremely harmful as we go home and think about these underhanded remarks not just for a day or two, but for years to come.”
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
I was saddened but not surprised by the covert way racism sinks its claws into Halifax. It is essential to realize how our words and actions bear consequences and can drastically affect a person’s well-being. With this in mind, CAPIS is spreading its wings by expanding its message beyond SMU students to provide a safe space for everyone across Canada. CAPIS has already taken the first step of broadening its influence by collaborating with the Dalhousie Southeast Asian Nations Society (DSEANS). I received an invite to attend their meeting, which focused on hosting a new collaborative Asian Heritage Month Event for Asian Pacific Islanders looking to connect to their community. The meeting included executive members of DSEANS, namely Tiffany Tsui, Diem Pham, and Harinesh Rajendran. Before the session could end, I asked DSEANS about why they chose CAPIS and how this collaboration came into existence, to which Tiffany Tsui said:
“CAPIS reached out to us, and we let them know that we have an interest in collaborating with them. It was when Asian hate crimes were finally being recognized and receiving media attention. So we thought we could use this chance to educate the public on certain stereotypes they have in mind. CAPIS represents a community that can be a beacon of change, and we want to be a part of that.”
The Asian Heritage Month Event will take place on May 28th, 2021, at 3:00 pm AST, and you can register here. I would encourage everyone to attend and learn more about the #stopAsianhate movement with CAPIS and DSEANS. Bethany and Julie both expressed that CAPIS is not just for Asians but also for everyone who believes in the cause. CAPIS is still welcoming students interested in joining as general members or founding committee members (Treasurer and Secretary). To apply for the executive committee, you need to send your resume and reason for interest to SMU CAPIS. More than it being a fantastic student leadership experience, it is a much-needed individual experience, especially during these times. As Julie said, “we are here to be the next generational leaders that do not function as individuals but as a community.” I wish CAPIS the utmost success and hope that it becomes not just a local but a national haven of unity in diversity.
P.S: If you are a member or an executive of a campus society at Saint Mary’s and would like to feature in the SMU Journal, you can email me at fernnash15@gmail.com. I want to know more about your experience with societies here at SMU, so please reach out!