#stopaapihate
Mom and me
In 2020, we as a world have born the weight of surviving a pandemic in the form of COVID-19 and with it came societal restrictions to mitigate health concerns. During this time, we self-isolated and through that isolation, we tore apart the thin veneer of polite society and revealed the ugly face of human prejudice, discrimination, and dangerous propaganda. We bore it for over a year and during that time, many communities came together in solidarity and support against crimes made more visible – more visceral. There is a lot wrong with the world but the communities that have risen up to combat against these ugly facets of human nature proves that there is hope and life burning bright and strong.
The community I am working to support right now is the Asian community in America. As a Lao-American, I was born and raised in San Diego, CA and all I know is America. This is my home, my country, my hopes and my sorrows. My parents made the brave decision to leave the comfort of knowing their motherland of Laos to come to America to embark on an unknown journey in order to find something better for themselves. They came to America not knowing the language, not knowing the culture, not knowing much but they were so brave and so strong and they raised my brother and I to be high functioning contributing members to American society. They sacrificed so much and navigated so many unknowns and were somehow able to assimilate enough to be able to successfully raise us and I am forever grateful for everything they’ve done for us. They deserve so much and I refuse to let fear hurt them. Please stop hating Asian people because of whatever rhetoric you’ve heard. Please stop fearing a group of people without even knowing the people that make up that group. Please get to know us and realize that in our differences we are also similar and that together we are more amazing than we could have ever been alone.
I am selling the painting of the Dwarf King Fisher & prints to raise money to donate money to the Asian Mental Health Collective which supports and provides places for people of the Asian community to find mental help. Sometimes, in a world so loud with hate, we all just need a place where we can hear support and acceptance.