Five simple (but impactful) ways to be a stronger ally

Amy Shearn
Forge
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2 min readMar 18, 2021

❤️ Today’s tip: Show up as an ally with your words and actions.

This week’s violence against Asian Americans is, as My Tam H. Nguyen writes on Medium, “another opportunity for intersectionality.” She suggests these five ways we can all step up — no matter what our own backgrounds or ethnicities — to be better allies:

Step in, show up, and call what the killings are — a hate crime.

Check-in with your co-worker, friend, neighbor. Ask how they’re doing, ask what they need, send them a love note.

Support your local businesses in your respective Chinatown/International Districts. A great way to support Chinatowns/Little Saigons/Japantown/Koreatowns across the country is to donate to their economic development organizations.

Read Asian American authors, and read up on Asian American history.

Subscribe and follow Asian American media, journalists, authors, organizations, accounts.

If you want to get more involved, Nguyen has listed some great additional resources. And remember that even if you only have the emotional bandwidth for some or one of these, something is better than nothing.

More from Forge on being a better ally:

Performative Allyship Is Deadly (Here’s What to Do Instead)
Read more >>

Don’t Be an Ally, Be an Accomplice
Read more >>

Five Books to Educate Yourself on Anti-Asian Racism in America
Read More>>

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Amy Shearn
Amy Shearn

Written by Amy Shearn

Formerly: Editor of Creators Hub, Human Parts // Ongoingly: Novelist, Essayist, Person