Making the invisible visible: Collecting intersectional stories and data all year round

During Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month this past May, I attended and participated in panel discussions, author interviews, cooking and art shows, movies, town halls and more. Each event elevated some of the diverse experiences of people of Asian Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian origin.

After each event, attendees agreed that such efforts must continue all year. But in reality, after May, our collective focus turns to the important task of elevating other invisible groups — for example, via Pride Month, and National Immigrant Heritage Month in June. And we should focus on LGBTQ and immigrant issues all year too, along with issues faced by other diverse groups.

Making the invisible visible 365 days of the year is critical because real people are impacted all year round. Invisible issues remain unsolved and invisible groups are harder to support. Invisibility leads to silence, which leads to more invisibility.

So how do we convert these special monthly observances into a year-round focus?

One approach to maintain a focus on all groups year round could be to use the power and reality of intersectionality in our lives. During June, as we focus on LGBTQ communities and immigrant communities, let us continue to tell the stories of BIPOC individuals, those with disabilities, the aged, the poor, the disenfranchised, and more, within these communities.

We can pursue these intersectional realities using the power of both individual stories and numbers.

This approach has been used by “Stop AAPI Hate,” a national US coalition formed to address anti-Asian racism in March 2020. The three co-founders of this coalition serve many intersectional groups.

One co-founder, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON) represents more than 40 community-based organizations serving 1.5 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in Los Angeles with a focus on low-income, immigrant, refugee and other vulnerable populations.

A second co-founder based in San Francisco, Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), was founded in 1969 to advocate for Chinese Americans, and has a history of national advocacy for the larger AAPI community, including for systemic change, data desegregation, language diversity, civil rights, and racial and social justice.

A third co-founder is Prof. Russell M. Jeung of San Francisco State University’s Asian American Studies Department (AAS), which is the oldest and largest academic program of its kind in the U.S., committed to student activism, social justice, and community self-determination.

Between March 19, 2020 and March 31, 2021, “Stop AAPI Hate” received 6,603 reported incidents of racism and discrimination targeting Asian Americans across the U.S. The data and stories collected have shown us the extent of anti-Asian hate, and how it is affecting the young, the old and the middle-aged. We have learned that actions of hate and bias range from shunning to name calling and bullying, to physical violence and road rage, and that no place is safe.

The group’s May 27 Mental Health report revealed that Asian Americans who have experienced racism are more stressed by anti-Asian hate than by the pandemic. But they found that the act of reporting the racism — to an organization, law enforcement, or to some supportive group — significantly lowered the negative mental impact.

In workplaces, schools and communities, let us create these kinds of channels that receive, analyze and amplify stories and data from currently invisible groups. This step of creating a safe reporting channel will show people they matter, leading to more equitable experiences.

Let us also make sure the collected data is disaggregated and can be analyzed to find more nuanced stories within them. Such analysis will allow the impacted group and others to understand reality and take action.

If everyone embraces this role, the designated special celebratory months will soon become superfluous, and the shared mantle of activism will be lighter for all.