Kimberly Fung is a student advocate for the Asian American community. As a Thai-Chinese American, Kimberly has been able to perform leadership roles in organizations on campus such as Vice President of the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers, Student Representative on the Inclusive Culture Council, and what she is most proud of, the Founder of Unmask the Racism.听
is a not for profit LLC which began as a social media campaign during isolation with a group of friends that included high schoolers and college students.听 Our mission was to spread awareness and combat racism against Asian Americans due to COVID-19 through education and action.听
Asian restaurants were hit hard with lower foot traffic due to the fear that all Asians carried COVID19. The team focused our efforts on encouraging folks to order from . They spent the fall semester fundraising over $2500 to order large catering meals from our local partners, China Gourmet and Aloy Thai. Over 150 meals were delivered to healthcare workers and first responders all over the 麻豆影院 area.
While doing their advocacy work, the team was asked by the 麻豆影院 community what more they could do. In spring of 2021, Unmask the Racism introduced our More Than 1000 Cranes project which brought awareness and education. They shared information about the issue, AAPI history, BIPOC allyship and advocacy, and ended the presentations with a reflective crane folding activity. These cranes were collected from these presentations and also around the United States through our mail-in program. Folding a 1000 cranes in Japanese culture allows the creators to make a wish, our cranes would represent unity and healing.听听
Finally in March 2022,听 Unmask the Racism brought over 2000 folded to the Museum of 麻豆影院 for a month long exhibition. The exhibit was seen by over 1500 patrons! The exhibit provided a space for the AAPI community to be and to bring awareness to the Stop AAPI Hate movement.听
鈥淒iversity, Equity, and Inclusion work must be inclusive as stated. What I鈥檝e learned the most is that people truly care about communities that are different from their own and there is real hesitation for knowing how to get involved in the 鈥渞ight way鈥. Bringing these opportunities where folks can choose to learn or create allows them to feel like they are making a difference and taking the action needed to confront racism. While it is small, making people feel like they are capable of doing more is powerful and I hope this is what Unmask the Racism and the Inclusive Language Resource does for the campus community.
听听听听听听听听听听听 When there is a genuine desire to support one鈥檚 community or another that's different from them, there are so many ways to show up. Even if it just means checking in on a friend or doing research to learn more about an issue. Anyone can support the many different people that fill their community!鈥澨