What is the To Know Better Campaign?
So why are racism and discrimination unintended symptoms? To Know Better: an Orange County schools anti-hate multimedia campaign is inspired by the belief that we know better than treating each other badly in crisis, and that we are stronger when we come together through kindness. We need your help in bringing this vision to life through your very own multimedia campaign, and stopping hateful vibes and wrongful bias. The time is now, and the opportunity is yours to encourage your fellow Orange County citizens to do better together.
What is the Problem?
Anxiety around the pandemic has spiked wrongful bias, racism and discrimination to an all-time high in Orange County and across the globe. Some individuals, especially those with Asian backgrounds (due to the virus’ origins in China), have been targeted for discrimination and bias as tensions continue to rise.
We’ll let these recent headlines paint a picture:
- Face Masks No Longer Required In Orange County, Health Officials Still Strongly Recommend Them
- Student Expelled From Orange County Catholic High School After Posting Racist Video
- ‘Chinese Coronavirus’ Trends As Kevin McCarthy Accused of Being Racist Over COVID-19 Remarks
- Reports of Anti-Asian Assaults, Harassment and Hate Crimes Rise as Coronavirus Spreads
March 02 - Orange County, CA: It was reported in an op-ed that in early March,
An Asian-American fourth grade student’s classmates accused him of having coronavirus.
(Source: Los Angeles Times)March 06 - Two students at Bolsa Grande High School filmed themselves
verbally harassing and mocking Vietnamese-American classmates, yelling "coronavirus" at them during an International Week assembly.
(Source: OC Register)April 20 - During a second-grade class held on Zoom, one student told the class he does not like
“China or Chinese people because they started this quarantine.”
(Source: Facebook)May 21 - A flier that read,
“You guys are Chinese Viruses” and “Get out of our country” was posted on a family’s front door and left on their car.
(Source: Reported to ADL)Key Words:
Reports suggest an increase in all of the following in Orange County since the rise of the pandemic.
Hate Crimes: Federally defined as crimes motivated by bias against race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
Bias or Hate Incidents: Acts of prejudice that are not crimes and do not involve violence, threats, or property damage.
Xenophobia: Fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.
Key Stats:
4 in 10 U.S. adults say it has become more common for people to express racist views toward Asians since the pandemic.
About half of younger U.S. adults ages 18 to 29 (51%) say that racist views about Asian people are more com-
mon now since the coronavirus outbreak.
About three-in-ten Asian-American adults (31%) say they have been subject to slurs or jokes because of their
race or ethnicity since the outbreak began, compared with 21% of Black adults, 15% of Hispanic adults and 8% of white adults.
34 incidents of prejudice against Orange County’s Asian Americans were reported between March 19th and April 15th, 2020 alone.
How You Can Help?
Be kind, spread the word about the issue, and report any incidents you see here. Additionally, use your ideas to create a
campaign for the To Know Better multimedia campaign contest. To learn more, view the campaign guidelines here.
Have you been the victim of a hate crime in Orange County? OC Human Relations would like to know. Call our confidential hotline 714-480-6570 or submit here.