Safety Tips for Those Experiencing or Witnessing Hate
From Stop AAPI Hate Crimes

5 Things to Consider When Experiencing Hate

1. Safety First: Trust your instincts and assess your surroundings.  If you feel unsafe and you are able to, leave the area.

2. Stay Calm: Take a deep breath, limit eye-contact, and maintain neutral body language.

3. Speak Out (If you can do so safely): In a calm and firm voice establish physical boundaries, and denounce their behavior and comments.

4. Seek Immediate Support: Ask bystanders for support or intervention.

5. Seek Emotional Support: Once you feel safe, take time to recover and reach out to someone to talk about what happened.  Remember this is not your fault, and you are not alone.

5 Ways to Help If You Witness Hate

1. Take Action: Approach the targeted person, introduce yourself, and offer support.

2. Actively Listen: Ask before taking any actions and respect the targeted person’s wishes. Monitor the situation if needed.

3. Ignore Attacker: Using your discretion, attempt to calm the situation by using your voice, body language, or distractions.

4. Accompany: If the situation escalates, invite the targeted person to join you in leaving.

5. Offer Emotional Support: Help the targeted person by asking how they’re feeling.  Assist them in figuring out what they want to do next.

FORJ (Families Organizing for Racial Justice) is a coalition of school-aged families in Newton coming together to teach our children – and ourselves – how to stand up for racial equality. Our Lincoln-Eliot FORJ contact is parent Lanni Isenberg: lanni_harris@yahoo.com