British celebrities are uniting for a campaign to stop the growing Asian hate in the United Kingdom.
The details: Gemma Chan joins fellow Marvel actor Benedict Wong, actress Jessica Henwick, “Crazy Rich Asians” co-star Henry Golding, and others in launching the East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) Community Fund, according to The Observer.
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- In her post, Chan, 38, said she worries about the Asian community and gives details on how her parents were subjected to verbal assaults since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The fund, in partnership with GoFundMe, aims to “help uplift and protect” the ESEA community in the country.
- The money raised from the campaign will also be distributed to grassroots organizations like Besea.n, End The Virus Of Racism, COVID Anti Racism Group and Kanlungan UK.
- GoFundMe also launched a similar effort in the United States.
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Other details: Chan said she felt “deeply concerned and disturbed” by the police data showing crimes against ESEA community members have tripled over the past year in London.
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- “The number of recorded hate crimes towards ‘people of East Asian ethnic appearance’ in London by the Metropolitan Police in March 2020 was 2.79 times greater than the number reported in the same month in 2019,” besea.n said. “This is an increase of 179%.”
- Portrayal in the media had also become problematic as 33% of the images used to report on the COVID-19 pandemic showed people of Asian descent, even though the pandemic is affecting other countries as well, Chan told Harper’s Bazaar.
- The fundraiser has raised nearly £40,000 ($56,542.00) of the £50,000 ($70,683.75) goal as of this writing.
Featured Image Screenshot via @gemma_chan (left), @henrygolding (right)
