By Ta’Leah Van Sistine, community reporter/editor
The L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library will host an online Bystander Intervention training session at 7 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 7) in response to the rise of harassment directed at Asian Americans.
A press release from the library said this training was specifically requested by members of Eau Claire’s Asian American and Pacific Islanders community. It is open to all community members but registration is required. That can be done at https://bit.ly/37kUhOq.
Thursday’s training session will be the final event in the library’s annual “One Book, One Community” series. That series is a community-wide reading initiative that encourages Chippewa Valley residents to read a single book on a social justice topic in order to understand how the book relates to their community and to discuss what positive steps they can take toward change.
Thursday’s interactive training session will be about an hour long, according to the press release. Instructors will teach participants five strategies for intervention in a situation where harassment is taking place: distract, delegate, document, delay and direct.
Instructors will also talk about the types of discrimination members of the AAPI community are currently facing, including microaggressions and violence. Participants will learn what signs to look for, the positive impact of bystander intervention and how to prioritize one’s own safety when intervening.
Advancing Justice-Chicago has partnered with the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Chicago and Hollaback! to offer local online bystander intervention training, help people identify hate incidents and guide individuals on how to take safe, effective action. Advancing Justice-Chicago is a group dedicated to collective advocacy and organizing to achieve racial equity for marginalized communities, especially Asian Americans.
Hollaback is a nonprofit that works to end all forms of harassment. Its website states its belief “that everyone deserves the resources to respond, prevent and intervene in instances of harassment.” A Zoom link to attend the Thursday training session will be emailed to everyone who registers for it.