Blue Shield of California Denounces Violence Against Asian Americans

Blue Shield of California unequivocally denounces the recent surge of violent, racist attacks against Asian Americans in the Bay Area and around the country. Our company has a long-standing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we stand against racism in all forms.

Negative sentiments against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) were inflamed months ago when China was irresponsibly blamed for the coronavirus pandemic. We are horrified by the violence being inflicted in our communities because of racism and xenophobia. The attacks against vulnerable Asian American seniors are particularly reprehensible.

We support the calls by many Asian American organizations to stand up to these injustices and act during this time of crisis. And we are lending our support. We have made several financial contributions since the new year to support to community-based groups, including:

$20,000 to Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, the nation’s first legal and civil rights organization serving the low-income Asian Pacific American communities; the organization focuses on housing rights, immigration and immigrants’ rights, labor and employment issues, student advocacy, civil rights and hate violence, national security, and criminal justice reform.
$20,000 to support the Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center, which tracks and responds to incidents of discrimination, hate, and xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

$10,000 to Asian Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL), whose mission is to empower Oakland’s low-income Asian and Pacific Islander immigrant and refugee families to be leaders for school reform and neighborhood change); our BlueSky initiative also provided $20,000 to AYPAL last year to support youth resiliency.

During 2020, we also made donations to nonprofits that support the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, including Asian Health Services and the East Bay Asian Youth Center (both located in Alameda) and San Diego-based Union of Pan Asian Communities.

Take Action

Here are resources to help you take action to support AAPI organizations and neighbors around California:

Lend your voice

Sign and share these petitions to raise awareness and stop anti-Asian racism:

Make a donation

Stop AAPI Hate aggregates and responds to incidents of hate and harassment against Asian American/Pacific Islanders. Stop AAPI Hate received 1,843 reports of anti-Asian discrimination due to COVID-19 in its first eight weeks of reporting (March 19 to May 13).
Hate is a virus started as a grassroots movement to combat racism and xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders fueled by COVID-19.
Act To Change is a national nonprofit organization working to address bullying, including in the AAPI community. They published “The Racism is a Virus Toolkit” to support the community in combating racism.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus is a national nonprofit organization that focuses on housing rights, immigration, civil rights, and labor rights for Asian Americans.
National Council of Asian Pacific Americans is a nonprofit organization that serves to represent the interests of the greater Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander communities through a coalition of 37 national Asian Pacific American organizations around the country.

Paul Markovich is president and chief executive of Blue Shield of California. Todd Walthall is executive vice president and chief operating officer.