Fundraising Tag

Side note: I’ve been updating this post over the past couple of days as I’ve found more and more articles related to violence against ESEA people.

Hi All, hope you’re having a restful Easter break however that may look. Myself and Ivy are raising funds for anti-Asian discrimination, especially during this current climate there has been an increase in violent attacks against Asians here in the UK and in the US. It’s really sickening to hear that people are getting beaten up in broad daylight and in public as well.

I have already posted this on my Facebook page, so I’m just going to copy and paste what I wrote on their as it pretty much sums up what we’re doing.

In light of the recent events against East and South East Asians here in the UK, and in the US, we are doing a fundraiser for a community that has been violently attacked throughout the pandemic.

We are raising funds for Besea.n and DCLC Doncaster Central Learning Centre, the donation will be split 50:50 between the two organisations. I’ve worked with Lai before and a while back I ran an Etsy training course for those accessing the service who want to gain some digital skills.

I came across Besea.n via Instagram not so long ago and everything that they do really resonates what was missing until now in terms of providing a platform and voice for ESEA people and marginalised groups. They are a small network of individuals whose aims are to raise awareness and to challenge the misrepresentations of ESEA people and marginalised groups within the media. You can find their mission statement here for more of what they do.

DCLC do an incredible job for the local community as they provide a link for users to access different types of services within the area. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, a lot of their workshops have had to stop. Hopefully, once things return to some sort of normality they will be up and running again. They serve a lot to the Asian and BAME community; my parents for instance were doing some volunteering work for Lai and my mum was taking part in a textile project- something I don’t think she would’ve done if it wasn’t for Lai and my auntie.

ESEA communities are also mis and underrepresented in the media. In the midst of the outbreak, the media were constantly using images of ESEA alongside with their articles- therefore perpetuating and reinforcing the idea that it is/was a ‘Chinese virus’. Even Trump used racist language throughout it. My mum has shared some stories with me about her friends experiencing racism during this time. It is honestly quite shocking to say the least.

Everyday racism exists and is coupled with sexism especially if you are a woman. I experienced this back in January, broad daylight in the early afternoon. A man asked me where I was originally from/did I have a BF and he said my husband was a ‘very lucky man’.

What can we do about it? We need to have an open dialogue about the continuing closed discussion about racism and stigma ESEA face. Do you think it’s okay if your mate asks if you want to ‘order from the Chinky?’ Do you say anything or leave it? To me being British-Born Chinese, it’s casual racism and the language people still use today makes my blood boil. Please, don’t even say ‘well, we used to say it back in the day’.

There is always light at the end of the dark tunnel. Let the positivity and love shine through, we need to stick together and stand up against racism.

For more information about Besea.n and Doncaster Central for Learning, please see below:

Besea.n on Twitter and Instagram @besea.n

Doncaster Central for Learning on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

By
Art

*Edit: The raffle is now live! See link for more details: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/art-for-activism#start. Winner will be announced this week!*

Hi all, I hope you’ve all been okay and that you’re taking care of yourselves in whatever form that may look like. A lot has happened since my last post in terms of what’s happening in the US and here in the UK. I’m sure that everyone has been following the Black Lives Matter movement what with the murder of George Floyd and now Rayshard Brooks. I’m feeling a lot of emotions right now: just utter sadness, grief, anger and it comes in waves. I find it very difficult to express how I’m feeling at the moment, it’s easy verbally, but writing it’s hard for me to string words and sentences together about my thoughts on this.

The Black Lives Matter movement has never been so important especially what is currently happening right now. I have shared my thoughts on this over on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and what gets me is that still there are people out there saying that the UK for instance is not a racist country and not to make those kinds of generalisations. You know, part of the issue is that people aren’t owning up to it and choose to live blissfully in ignorance. Racism is embedded in our society- fact.  Our whole history was and is built on racist ideologies and to exert violence and power over people of colour. I don’t know what it is but if you cannot see if for yourself then I recommend taking some time to educate yourselves and really take the blinkers off your eyes. Even casual racism, like racial slurs, some people say that ‘it’s of it times’ so therefore some words to dehumanise some ethnic minority groups are ok? That’s BS. Excusing racism is like saying, ‘Ooops, sorry that won’t ever happen again’ and putting a fake plaster over it. Then it just becomes this evil and vicious cycle of hate and normalisation of attitudes.

Myself and Ivy Mei, a good friend of mine, are raising money for two organisations which supports children and young people; Kids of Colour and The Literacy Pirates. We feel at this moment in time children and young people are the future of our society and by enabling them to have equal opportunities in life, they will succeed to reach their potential. I think these organisations are the lifeline not only for the young people using these services, but they also serve as a positive benefit to the wider community and beyond. I’ll be donating two prints; one A3 and one A4 print (see photo below).

If you are an artist maker and would like to contribute something please get in touch with us and we’ll send you some more information about the raffle. The deadline is at the end of this month, so that gives us time to organise it. Once we have more people on board we’ll then roll out the fundraising page for people to buy the raffle tickets, which will be in July. The money that we raise from the raffle will be 50/50 split between the two organisations.

 

 

Please feel free to share this post and if you know someone who’d be interesting in making a small donation, please share this post with them.

I’m going to leave it there and wishing you all a wonderful Monday wherever you are in the world.

By
Art

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