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On November 20th, 2014, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) held a conference call with community leaders across the country about the bullying of AAPI youth. The call served as a platform to announce the launch of the AAPI Bullying Prevention Task Force and allowed listeners to give feedback on addressing the needs of their communities.
The White House Initiative on AAPIs launched the AAPI Bullying Prevention Task Force in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Kiran Ahuja, the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, said that the new Task Force comes on the heels of a new Interagency Initiative on Hate Crimes launched in early November. The Initiative on Hate Crimes and the Bullying Task Force are two major steps the White House has taken to create awareness about the issues facing AAPI youth, work to integrate cross-cultural understanding, and improve the quality of life for AAPIs.
Ahuja also notes that while bullying is rampant across American youth, in a variety of contexts, “AAPI students who are bullied face unique challenges, including religious, cultural, and language barriers,” which necessitate a special Task Force to deal with these issues.
On call, Alice Yao, the Special Office of Civil Rights Advisor to the AAPI Bullying Prevention Task Force, provided an overview of the obstacles facing AAPI youth and the efforts that must be taken to better those conditions. In dealing with bullying, she noted that outreach to communities and school districts is important, and even though working with U.S. attorneys offices can be helpful, the Task Force stresses the need for local resources to be adequate and involved as well. Additionally, the White House is aware that more has to be done to ensure that federal resources reach the lower-income AAPI families.
In regards to student and faculty advising about bullying, Yao said that training procedures must address root causes of bullying, such as cultural and religious traditions, so that schools and communities can foster a sense of mutual respect.
Maulik Pancholy, a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, also spoke on the conference call. He talked about the creation of coalitions across the nation so that AAPIs can reach their full potential, and focused on the community-building aspect of the Task Force. By striving to decrease bullying of AAPIs, the Task Force can promote solidarity and tolerance. Pancholy also mentioned that while the Task Force largely focuses on AAPI victims of bullying, it is valuable to note that these efforts at bullying prevention can also educate bullies, who are generally more likely to have physical and mental health issues and school problems.
The Bully Prevention Task Force aims to address a range of issues that bullied, AAPI youth are dealing with, and the speakers on the conference call expressed sincere hope that the launch of the program would generate more knowledge about the AAPI experience and lead to a pooling of useful resources across the country in support of AAPI youth affected by bullying.
The website stopbullying.gov was referenced on several occasions throughout the call, and the speakers highlighted the tools available online. While the question and answer portion of the call highlighted the complexities of bullying, for example with intersectional identities and the increasing amount of cyber bullying, the new White House AAPI Bully Prevention Task Force makes a significant stride to start addressing these issues on a national level.
