Calling on our Global Community

Strong communities cannot be built in a day and ours at Startup Grind is no different. Over the last decade, we have been fostering connections between people who live thousands of miles apart, connecting people from different backgrounds around their shared love of entrepreneurship. We do this by uniting around our Code of Conduct, acting with integrity, and never losing sight of our values. At Startup Grind, we believe in giving, not taking. We believe in making friends, not contacts. And we believe in helping others before helping ourselves. This allows us to appreciate the vast diversity of our lived experiences. It also reveals a lot of our shared pain.

Our community is hurting.

In 2020, hate crimes against Asian Americans increased by 150% and there has been a 1900% increase since the COVID-19 outbreak began. These senseless acts of violence have created an unstabilizing sense of danger for our Asian brothers and sisters. Even worse, many of these incidents are not leading to arrests or being charged with hate crimes. We need your help.

At Startup Grind, we are committed to using our platform to fight racism, misogyny, and discrimination in all forms. We are outraged and heartbroken by these events, the response, and strongly condemn the visible and invisible acts of violence pervading our communities. We stand in solidarity with anyone who experiences marginalization or bias based on their racial or ethnic identities. We want you to know you are not alone in your fight.

Part of our work to fight discrimination is outlined in our Code of Conduct, which requires everyone in our community to do their part as a bystander or witness.

While the world holds witness to these events, today we are calling on our global community to not only uphold our core values but also demonstrate them through deliberate action and support. Now is the time to educate ourselves, speak up, and stand up to build a safer and more inclusive space for all of us.

Core Value #1: Give, don’t take

Consider protecting the AAPI community today with a donation to the Stop AAPI Hate Community Fund.

Core Value #2: Make friends, not contacts

Friends support each other, contacts ask for favors. One of the best ways to provide support is to do your research to understand what is happening. Our team recommends the following resources:

• Anti-Racism groups lead calls for Urgent Action provides a breakdown of recent events and current news around the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes.
• Asians@Airbnb Allyship Guide provides a detailed list of allyship resources including petitions, articles, videos, and educational materials that will help you get involved and learn more.
• Read about AAPI experiences and stories and support the amplification of AAPI voices that have historically been overlooked, unheard, and unacknowledged.

Core Value #3: Help others before you help yourself

How to speak up when you see racist or discriminatory behavior. 72% of harassment victims report that someone intervening would have helped them. Consider signing up for bystander intervention training to better prepare yourself for the next time you come across it.

Success is Solidarity

It is important to recognize that we, as a community, are still mobilizing change. A little over two months ago, Kamala Harris became the first female to hold the office of the Vice Presidency in the United States. Last week, Katherine Tai was confirmed as the U.S. Trade Representative. They are both the first Asian-Americans, women, and people of color to serve in such positions.

When people band together and use their voice, this is what solidarity across multiple communities looks like. This is democracy in action — and this is another way we can continue to protect each other in the face of injustice.

From our Code of Conduct

DEFINITION OF HARASSMENT

Harassment includes, but is not limited to:

• Verbal comments that reinforce social structures of domination
• Comments that are lewd, lascivious, demeaning, or derogatory
• Unwelcome discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity
• Deliberate intimidation, stalking or following
• Harassing photography or recording (audio or video)
• Sustained disruption of talks or other events
• Inappropriate physical contact
• Unwelcome sexual attention, including any specific activity for which consent was not requested and given
• Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviors

Our commitment

We want to do our best to support our community during these challenging times. Our commitment at Startup Grind is to do our research, fact-check, and continue sharing the most helpful and actionable resources that we think can best help our startup community navigate this difficult landscape. In the coming weeks, we will also be sharing additional information on initiatives and programs at HQ with the hopes that our Chapters and Startups around the world will follow suit. In our effort to lead by example, we ask that you continue elevating Asian voices and standing up against anti-Asian racism when you see it. It is our shared responsibility to keep these destructive issues at the forefront to prompt change and action collectively.