PIHMA Stands with the AAPI Community

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant rise in hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Asian American communities across the United States are struggling to stop the rise in AAPI hate crimes. San Francisco saw 18 attacks against Asian Americans in February 2020 alone. New York City police have recorded 28 hate crimes in 2020 compared to three in 2019 (Hohman). According to Stop AAPI Hate, over 6,600 incidents have been reported to them from March 2020 through March 2021 (Stop AAPI Hate).

While these types of actions are not new, they have increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. In our own PIHMA community, some of our members and their families have felt and experienced this directly or through secondary trauma.  We stand with our PIHMA community and the community-at-large against these injustices and all forms of racism, discrimination, and hate.

PIHMA encourages everyone to reach out and support anyone who may be affected. Please watch for the safety of others and defend when possible. For training on how to safely interfere, visit advancingjustice-aajc.org/events for virtual bystander training. If you need to report an incident on behalf of yourself or someone else, visit stopaapihate.org/.

 

Asian American Contributions

Now more than ever it is important to recognize and appreciate AAPI’s contributions to the world.

 

Traditional Medicine

At PIHMA, we teach Traditional Asian Medicine. This medicine has been around for over 5,000 years and is the most used form of traditional medicine in the world. It has helped millions of people who were suffering from numerous ailments. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends Acupuncture as an effective treatment for the following:

• Abdominal pain • Acne vulgaris • Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy • Alcohol dependence and detoxification • Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever) • Bell’s palsy • Biliary colic • Bronchial asthma • Cancer pain • Cardiac neurosis • Cholecystitis • Cholelithiasis • Competition stress syndrome • Craniocerebral injury, closed • Dental Pain • Depression • Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent • Dysentery • Dysmenorrhea • Earache • Epidemic hemorrhagic fever • Epigastralgia, • Epistaxis • Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection • Facial pain • Facial spasm • Female infertility • Female urethral syndrome • Fibromyalgia and fasciitis • Gastrokinetic disturbance

• Gouty arthritis • Headache • Hepatitis B virus carrier status • Herpes zoster • Hyperlipidemia • Hypertension, essential • Hypo-ovarianism • Hypotension, primary • Induction of labor • Insomnia • Knee pain • Labor pain • Lactation, deficiency • Leukopenia • Low back pain • Male sexual dysfunction • Ménière disease • Morning sickness • Nausea and vomiting • Neck pain • Neuralgia, post-herpetic • Neurodermatitis • Obesity • Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence • Osteoarthritis • Pain due to endoscopic examination • Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans • Periarthritis of shoulder • Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein–Leventhal syndrome)

• Postintubation in children • Postoperative convalescence • Postoperative pain • Premenstrual syndrome • Prostatitis, chronic • Pruritus • Radicular and pseudo radicular pain syndrome • Raynaud syndrome, primary • Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection • Reflex sympathetic dystrophy • Renal colic • Retention of urine • Rheumatoid arthritis • Schizophrenia • Sciatica • Sore throat (including tonsillitis) • Spine pain, acute • Sprain • Stiff neck • Stroke • Temporomandibular joint dysfunction • Tennis elbow • Tietze syndrome • Tobacco dependence • Tourette syndrome • Ulcerative colitis, chronic • Urolithiasis • Vascular dementia • Whooping cough

If you or someone you know is suffering from any of these diseases or ailments please schedule an appointment at the PIHMA Clinic by calling 602-274-1885.

 

YouTube

YouTube is the most used video watching platform in the world, and it was created by Jawed Karmin, a Bangladeshi-German American, Taiwanese American Steven Chen, Chad Hurley (Yuko). They created YouTube as a fun way to share videos with friends and turned it into a multibillion-dollar juggernaut.

 

Atomic Science

Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-born physicist who played a major role in the Manhattan Project, which was American research into atomic weapons to be used during World War II.” Specifically, she improved existing technology for the detection of radiation and the enrichment of uranium in large quantities” (Yuko).

 

Medicine

In the 1940s, a method to formulate erythromycin was discovered by Dr. Abelardo Aguilar. A doctor from Iloilo in the Philippines, Aguilar worked for the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company as a researcher. Then in 1949, he submitted samples of his work to the company’s research team who in 1952 declared the discovery of a new kind of antibiotic capable of treating several kinds of infections minus the common side-effects of antibiotics and could be given to those who were allergic to penicillin. ^{(www.filiiknow.net)}

 

Civil Rights Movement

Japanese American Yuri Kochiyama was a civil rights activist whose work focused on Black, Latinx, Indigenous People, and Asian Americans. Her work was fueled by the two years she spent in a Japanese Internment Camp during World War II. Kochiyama and her husband moved to New York after World War II and housed many civil rights activists, including Malcolm X. Malcolm X and Kochiyama were close friends, and she continued his work after his death. In the 1980s Kochiyama campaigned for reparations and a formal apology from the United States government for the Japanese Americans who were in internment camps during World War II. Her efforts resulted in President Ronald Regan signing the Civil Liberties Act into law (Yuko).

 

The USB

Most working Americans have had experience using a Universal Serial Bus or USB. The USB was invented by Indian American Ajay Bhatt in the 1990’s and has since become one of the most popular ways to transfer data (Yuko).

 

Rights for Sexual Assault Survivors

Amanda Nguyen, a Vietnamese American, and Harvard alumna wrote legislation on” establishing consistent rules, rights, and protections for individuals who have experienced sexual violence,” after realizing there was no national legislation on the matter (Yuko). The Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act of 2016 allows survivors of sexual assault free access to a rape kit, as well as the right to have the rape kit preserved for 20 years. Nguyen was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for her efforts in passing bills related to Sexual Assault (Yuko).

 

There are many other contributions made to the United States and to the rest of the world by Asian Americans. It has never been more important to recognize and support this community. Please support Asian-owned businesses as they are likely suffering from the increased racism against them. At PIHMA, we will continue to teach and treat students and patients with Asian Medicine. We also stand with everyone who is against violence and hate.

 

References

Hohman, Maura. Anti-Asian violence has surged in the US since COVID-19. But it didn’t start there. 6 March 2021. 12 May 2021.

Stop AAPI Hate. n.d. 12 May 2021.

Yuko, Elizabeth. 8 Groundbreaking Contributions by Asian Americans Through History. 31 March 2021. 12 May 2021.