December 2024

Dear Advisors, Friends and Supporters of VCI,

In these challenging times, I’d like to share some positive updates as well as sobering thoughts on the outlook ahead. It’s been a very productive first full year for VCI, during which we could advance with confidence, thanks to your support and good works.

At the same time, we must recognize that many fellow Americans seem to embrace the toxic brew of fear, division and blame—even from within our own communities.

It is imperative that we stay focused and not fall for the divisive distractions. This time around, we know what to expect, with the Project 2025 roadmap as well as experience with the countless lies and flame throwing intended to keep us off-balance and divided.

Vincent Chin Institute anticipates increased hostility towards Asian Americans—and a greater need for all of our efforts—as the designated Cabinet-level China hawks ratchet up the anti-Chinese rhetoric and surveillance of Chinese Americans in the name of national security, along with more alien land laws and other reductions on civil liberties—and more.

A trade war with China and subsequent global fallout will stoke anti-Asian resentment, while military conflicts in the Middle East will intensify the Islamophobia towards Middle Eastern, South Asian and Muslim communities. This political reality confronting both yellow and brown Asian Americans will add to the frustration, vulnerability and lack of safety that our AAPI families and communities have already been feeling.

With the Vincent Chin Institute’s mission to build unity against anti-Asian hate, this past year—VCI’s first full year of operation-- has been focused on creating practical tools to respond to hate crises for AAPIs in areas with little or no AAPI advocacy infrastructure. VCI collaborated with frontline AAPI groups to produce these “how-to” crisis FAQs to provide support before a violent crisis occurs. VCI’s self-help tools and materials are available free of charge at vincentchin.org; we welcome your feedback and requests for copies and support).

VCI is continuing this approach to strengthen our communities by providing practical crisis response tools with the aim of building AAPI networks and advancing narrative change and education.

We are:

  • Building a response network as we disseminate the crisis tools. In 2024, VCI collaborated with a number of AAPI groups to connect the empowerment lessons of the Vincent Chin organizing to Midwestern AAPIs in Wisconsin, Texas and for the launch of a Asian American Project in Indiana; as well as to AAPI activists and national advocacy groups;

  • Conducting educational outreach to public libraries and schools, such as providing the Hawaii Public Library system with of the Vincent Chin Legacy Guide, which teaches lessons on how to build solidarity against hate--in six Asian languages plus English and Spanish, based on lessons from the Vincent Chin civil rights movement that emerged in the Midwest when there was no AAPI advocacy infrastructure;

  • Developing a mobile-friendly app “Find AAPI groups near me” in collaboration with other groups. This is still in early development but we hope to have a beta in 2025 that will help connect families and communities in the less Asian-populated areas that have little access to advocacy groups;

  • Most exciting, as we transition to 2025, VCI is building its own infrastructure with the search for its first executive director, who will lead the next generation to build solidarity against hate and the legacy of Vincent Chin. We are moving forward with the vision to hire a leader for these times, with a salary in the bank to cover about two years. You may have already seen the announcement on VincentChin.org—please share with anyone you feel may be ready and willing to be the first executive director and public face of the Vincent Chin Institute.

In anticipation of volatility ahead, VCI remains committed to counter hate with organizing, education and narrative change by working in collaboration and building solidarity. These times demand the best and highest use we can give, in collaboration, with shared values, and unity together.

With warmest wishes and much gratitude,
Helen and the VCI Team