HAAPIE

“Growing up in a community where only a small handful of people who looked like me, I often felt invisible. When I wasn’t, it often took the forms of jokes about my “slanty eyes,” jabs toward the “weird-smelling Chinese food” I brought to lunch. On my first day of school after immigrating to America, I took a seat in the back of the bus – where the “cool kids” sat. Two people walked up to me and pushed me out out my seat – “get out, you rice eater,” they said. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., I once again felt the blunt end: being called a “virus” by random passersby on the street, “chink” by someone as I stepped off the subway. But perhaps most notably, being told I didn’t belong here and that I should “go back to where I came from."

I am not the only Asian American to have experienced being a perpetual outsider in America. Many others in our community have felt similar experiences. Unfortunately, health issues and real disparities in particular faced by the Asian American community, especially among Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, have historically and continually been left dismissed and invisible.

So, the Health Advancement for Asian Pacific Islanders through Education (HAAPIE) Initiative was born. I wanted to build a new community and a platform which raises the voices of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. I hope that through this process, we all can better advocate for change and improve health outcomes for this diverse population.”

Ming Lin, Co-Founder and Executive Director