Starting with taking big steps

In my previous SLATE post, I talked about the recent hate crimes going around, affecting the AAPI community during the Pandemic. I gave awareness by talking about the sources that I used to help me give off this information, gave some of my opinions on recent hate crimes, and why these hate crimes are happening towards the AAPI community. But overall, giving knowledge to the readers that there is a major issue that is not being taken seriously.

Now, in my journey of making my website, I came across sources that helped me a lot to make the way my website looks and the information that lies in it. The first source that I used to make my website was NextShark. I couldn’t have made any of this without NextShark. NextShark gave me the information and knowledge, that I needed to help me translate the information back to people who didn’t know about AAPI hate crimes, during the Pandemic. The website is just filled with the latest information on AAPI hate crimes or just typical news in the AAPI community. They also talk about the latest AAPI “business, culture, entertainment, politics, tech, and lifestyle.” - NextShark. The second source that I used for my website, is this gofundme page. I talked about if people wanted to help, to stop these hate crimes, they could donate to that gofundme page. And the people who are raising 8 million dollars for the AAPI community will help “organizations that empower and uplift the AAPI community, with initiatives such as increased ​community safety and support for those affected by violence.” - gofundme description. And finally, the third source that I used was SYSTRAN Translator. I used this translator to make my digital flyer in different Asian languages. I translated my English sayings to Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Thai. I translated my words into 5 languages because I didn’t want my digital flyer to just have Asian Americans helping the AAPI movement, but elderly AAPI too. The elderly AAPI are always the “easier targets” for hate crimes. But they have been through the thick and the thin, just to live a good life in the U.S. So, giving them this type of information would help the AAPI movement impact others more quickly.

When thinking about what I could do for my Agent of Change project, I didn’t really think of doing something big. For my topic, I knew it was a big issue to tackle. That is still happening in the world. Then the idea of making a flyer about AAPI Hate, and putting those flyers up around my neighborhood seemed like a great idea to me. Then my sister suggested making a website with a digital flyer instead. I wasn’t really into that idea but as I continued thinking about my sister’s suggestion, I thought that it wasn’t that bad of an idea, and I could add more information about AAPI hate. So, I started my website by not knowing what I was doing and wondering if I should change my Agent of Change idea but pulled through. I first started working on the format of my pages, then settled on good-looking formats and went with that. Afterward, I started working on my page backgrounds, and decorate them with Stop AAPI Hate posters, created by artists: Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, JULIA KESTNER DESIGNS, colorsofhoney, Danielle Chandler, pauline.c.cuevas, Pi Delta Psi, Michelle Wang, Yuk Fun, Lauren YS, evexcristina, Eric Lee, Tika, and Brett Sayles. To make my website have an indie, friendly feel.

Stop AAPI Hate posters by: Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya

Stop AAPI Hate posters by: JULIA KESTNER DESIGNS, colorsofhoney, and Danielle Chandler

Stop AAPI Hate posters by: pauline.c.cuevas, Pi Delta Psi, and Michelle Wang

Stop AAPI Hate posters by: Yuk Fun, Lauren YS, and evexcristina

Stop AAPI Hate posters by: Eric Lee, Tika, and Brett Sayles

And, after finishing with all the requirements that I thought my website needed, I began to notice that this was a good first experience making an actual, professional website. I enjoyed researching this topic because being part of the AAPI community made me passionate about reading victim’s stories. I feel that doing this initiative, making a website to get individual’s attention about Stopping AAPI Hate was a great idea after all. I know for my project, I could’ve joined in Stop AAPI Hate protests in Philly, but since of COVID-19, I decided to make my project virtual. Overall, I hope that I affect many people in the SLA community, to know more about the struggle that the AAPI community is facing.

After looking at the final product of my website for a few days, I felt pretty proud of what I made. Even though the process of making my website was pretty stressful and difficult, I still was fulfilled with the final product. I learned that I am capable of more things than I thought. I would’ve never thought that I was able to make a website that might impact other people’s lives for the better good. And, I learned that other people who are supporting the Stop AAPI Hate movement can really benefit by impacting the world. The Stop AAPI Hate community is very diverse and has a lot of different perspectives from this movement. The movement isn’t just to help the AAPI community but could also help other voices that also need to be heard. For example, “Over 85 Asian and LGBTQ+ Groups Band Together to Oppose COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act” - NextShark. Currently, in NextShark news, the LGBTQ+ and the some Stop AAPI Hate organizations have banded together to support each other in ways society never supported them. By helping each other to spread awareness and support for one another.

Some things that I thought that I could’ve done better for my project was, to try to put more information about the Stop AAPI Hate movement. For my “About” page, I put questions that are very essential to learn about the Stop AAPI Hate movement. But specifically, I didn’t get to tell the stories of the victims that were affected by the hate crimes. I knew that there were things that needed to change for the movement to make the AAPI community feel safe. And the things that we could start with: peaceful protests. It could catch the attention of the news, and make the government think about making a new equal rights amendment or act, that will help affect the AAPI but also communities that are in need of being heard. To fulfill their safety and equality. I know doing a protest sounds like a lot because it is. But this is a big issue that we’re dealing with. So, taking big steps for a big issue may just be an acceptable idea for what we’re dealing with.

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