11 ways to support Asian American, Pacific Islander communities

• Hate crimes and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are on the rise.
• On Tuesday, a gunman killed eight people in Atlanta-area spas. Six of the victims were Asian women.
• Here are 11 organizations and funds to support the AAPI community.

Discrimination and hate crimes against Asian Americans have ramped up since March of last year, coinciding with the onset of the spread of COVID-19 and racist rhetoric centered on blaming China for the pandemic.

Then-President Donald Trump insisted on calling the coronavirus the "Chinese Virus" or, the crasser, "Kung Flu" to shift the blame on another country rather than the US response. The rhetoric has spurred a rise in Asian hate and discrimination, leading to numerous violent incidents against people of Asian descent.

Earlier this week, a gunman opened fire on Atlanta-area massage parlors and spas, killing eight people - at least six of whom were later identified as Asian women. The suspect later told authorities that he blamed the attacks on a sex addiction. One day after the shootings, two Asian people - an 83-year-old Asian man and 75-year-old Asian woman - were assaulted in San Francisco, which police have said were "unprovoked" attacks.

Nearly 3,800 incidents were reported between March 2020 and February 2021, according to data collected by the nonprofit Stop AAPI Hate. More than 68% of the reported incidents involved verbal harassment, and 20.5% of reported 'shunning,' defined as the " deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans."

Physical assaults made up 11.1% of the incidents reported to the center, the third-largest category of the total reports.

In light of this surge in discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, here are 11 ways you can help:

Stop AAPI Hate

Created in March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic, Stop AAPI Hate is a nonprofit that runs a reporting center that tracks and responds to incidents of violence, harassment, shunning, and bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Support the AAPI Community Fund

This fundraiser gathers donations and issues grant to AAPI organizations "working to rectify the racial inequalities in our society," according to the GoFundMe page description. The fund has a goal of raising $4 million. It had raised just over $3 million in donations as of Saturday.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC is "an affiliation of five organizations advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans," according to their website. Since 1991, the organization works towards its mission through education, litigation, and advocacy in public policy, according to online news publication CNET. Its Atlanta branch has launched a fundraiser to raise money for the victims and their families in the shootings earlier this week.

Hate Is a Virus

This nonprofit community launched in March 2020 in response to the rise in anti-Asian discrimination and hate crimes due to the coronavirus pandemic. Its newest initiative, "the commUNITY Action Fund," aimed to raise $1 million to disperse to both national and local community organizations offers mental health services, improved safety and care for elderly people, and forging links with other communities of color.

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund is a national organization based in New York working to provide legal services and resources to cases with "major impacts on the Asian American community." According to its website, it offers free multilingual legal advice for low-income Asian Americans and immigrants and educates Asian Americans on their legal rights.

Asian American Resource Center

This nonprofit based in Georgia provides programs, services, and resources to generally low-income and immigrant adults and families, including securing housing for homeless families and creating pathways for them to build towards their future, and offers free English literacy civics classes.

Center for Pan Asian Community Services

This nonprofit organization, based in Atlanta, Georgia, works "to promote self-sufficiency and equity for immigrants, refugees, and the underprivileged through comprehensive health and social services, capacity building, and advocacy," according to its website.

The Asian Pacific Fund

Based in the Bay Area, it serves the Asian American community by raising money and "increasing philanthropy and supporting the organizations that serve our most vulnerable community members," according to its website.

Red Canary Song

Named after massage worker Yang Song, killed during a police raid at her workplace, this New-York-based Chinese massage parlor worker coalition "provides mutual aid to sex workers and advocates for the decriminalization of sex work in New York," Vox reported.

The National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum

With 12 chapters across the US, the group works to "build power with AAPI women and girls in our communities at the grassroots level," including work in reproductive justice, according to their website.

The National Organization of Asians and Pacific Islanders Ending Sexual Violence

The program works to "support local and international community-based programs and governmental organizations in enhancing their services to victims of sexual violence from the Asian and Pacific Islander communities in the US, US Territories in the Pacific, and Asia," according to their website.

The Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project

This organization provides services to Asian American and Pacific Islander survivors of domestic violence in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia, with a mission to "address, prevent and end domestic violence and sexual assault in Asian/Pacific Islander communities while empowering survivors to rebuild their lives after abuse," according to their website.