As we close out APAHM and a month of celebrating our heritage, we must recommit ourselves to equitable excellence. As the global majority, we hold a unique imperative to ensure that all voices--including and especially from our community--are building a better tomorrow for all. That means creating safe spaces for the most marginalized, ensuring all truths can stand in the light, donating to essential causes, and more.
As our CEO and Co-founder Bing Chen implored at the close of the #GoldGala on May 11:
We are not here for representation. We are not here to just fight hate or because we’re some punished victims. We are here because of our intrinsic power.
We are not 7% of the nation; we are 62+% of the Earth. WE are the global majority. And with that power comes the responsibility of being more than just great-but good.
That means when DEI priorities D-I-E, it is our community that must hire inclusively and promote equitably.
When voices from any community are silenced-particularly for their stances on Gaza which is in West Asia, which is in Asia-it is our community’s responsibility to make safe spaces for them and everyone else at the table. I don’t expect anyone to have a solution to a centuries-long conflict but the only thing worse than your silence is silencing a truth.
It is our community’s responsibility, because we are the global majority, to know that giving to others means you lose nothing. Because when you die, you take nothing when you go.
And it is our community that needs to remember that instead of begging for a seat at someone else’s table, we now have the power to build our own houses.