By Louis Chan, AsAmNews National Correspondent
A Zoom bomber this week disrupted a gathering of AAPI women with racist vitriol.
Among those women on the conversation were actress Olivia Munn; CEO Priscilla Tsai of the beauty brand, Cocokind; founder Amy Liu of Tower28 Beauty, and Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.
“We were targeted with by a zoom bombing of horrific, violent, racially charged images and audio,” Munn wrote on Instagram. “While it momentarily disrupted our event, we later resumed because these malicious acts will not stop the conversation.”
The incident only reinforced the importance of the conversation taking place- a discussion among women to stop anti-Asian hate. According to the latest report from Stop AAPI Hate, incidents reported by women make up 62% of all reports.
One of the latest and most publicized victims is Michelle Go who was pushed to her death into an oncoming subway train in New York earlier this month.
“We started our event with beautifully-spirited and powerful members of the AAPI community talking about our experiences and using our voices, and we will continue,” NAPAWF stated on Instagram. “The conversation WILL go on. We are also going to be reporting this incident to the FBI.”
Liu grew up in Minnesota to Taiwanese immigrant parents and says it took her a while to process what happened.
“I grew up 100% aware of my otherness but also proud. I have been on the other side of microaggressions and racism, but never violence or fear. And I never realized until today just how lucky that made me. It was frightening and honestly, I am still processing,” she wrote on Instagram.
Tsai responded with an urgent call for help from those outside the AAPI community.
“We are not seeing and feeling enough non-AAPI support and acknowledgment, she said. We feel like we’re on our own island. The general sentiment is that AAPI is bonding together stronger than ever amidst some terrible, targeted events.”
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