Abstracts for Inflection Point Part II: Coronavirus, Census And Elections For AAPIs
Volume 18, Numbers 1 & 2, Spring 2021
From Discrimination to Mobilization: The Responsiveness of Community-Based Organizations to Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Southern California
By Sara Sadhwani and Manjusha P. Kulkarni
ABSTRACT: With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) face varying rates of infection and mortality as well as a surge in acts of verbal harassment, discrimination, and violence. Ethnic-based organizations play an important role both in the provision of services and as a political resource to AAPI communities. This article takes on two tasks: First, using primary resources and interviews with organizations serving the AAPI community in Los Angeles, this article documents the responsiveness of organizations to hate incidents and domestic violence, the services provided by organizations such as unemployment assistance, and organizational outreach efforts to ensure census participation and voter engagement. Then, we explore the potential consequences of discrimination and a sense of threat on the political participation of Asian Americans. We find that the changing needs and circumstances AAPI communities face push organizations to expand their organizational capacity through the provision of new services and new collaborations. Drawing on prior research that has found that the feeling of discrimination and social exclusion has consequences for AAPI political participation, we argue that with the expanded capacity of organizations combined with the impact of COVID-19–related discrimination, there is an opportunity to galvanize Asian American political participation in 2020 and beyond.