Contact: Suzen Chu
Director of Marketing and Communications
AIMS K12 College Prep Charter District
(510) 390-1624, suzen.chu@aimsk12.org
AIMS College Prep High School Students to Host Outdoor Paint Night; Bring Awareness to Rising anti-Asian Hate Crimes Across The Nation
What: AIMS Against Hate, an Outdoor Paint and Healing Night
When: Tuesday, March 30, 2021, from 4 PM - 7 PM
Where: AIMS College Prep High School Lakeview Campus
746 Grand Ave
Oakland, CA 94610
OAKLAND, CA – As most Bay Area schools remain closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many high school students have found it difficult to express their concerns about the recent rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. In response, the AIMS College Prep High School’s (AIMS HS) Student Government Association (SGA) will host AIMS Against Hate, an outdoor paint and healing night, this Tuesday, March 30, from 4 PM - 7 PM, at the AIMS HS Lakeview Campus, in Oakland, CA.
“Art night is important for our students to express how they feel about the things that are happening close to home,” said Julia Li, the Head of Academics at AIMS HS. “There’s a lot of anger and fear in the Asian community, and we hope that this event can help relieve some of the tension and pressure from current events.”
All AIMS Against Hate participants will receive free canvases, paint, and paint brushes, to paint or draw inspiring images against all forms of hate. Free custom-designed AIMS Against Hate T-Shirts will be distributed to the first 50-70 students in attendance, and all participating guests will be required to wear masks, socially distance, and be subject to COVID health screenings.
With a diverse student population of nearly 450 students, almost 50% of whom are Asian, AIMS HS senior and SGA President Annie Chiu wanted to create a forum for students to express their concerns against anti-Asian hate in positive ways: “After a painfully long time without seeing my school friends and families, this paint night will safely provide our AIMS HS community with a forum to express how we feel. If words can’t explain how we are doing during these times, what’s better than to express our feelings in creative ways such as art?”
Participating in the arts has long been shown to help increase individual creativity, self-expression, and lower stress levels. According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy can also be used to help “foster self-esteem and self-awareness, cultivate emotional resilience, promote insight, enhance social skills, reduce and resolve conflicts and distress, and advance societal and ecological change.”
Jumari Callaway, a first-year AIMS student leadership teacher, believes that being part of any community means doing whatever it takes to help neighbors in their time of need - an unspoken requirement for all teachers. “It is important to me that my students know I support them, and that they are able to name hatred, how it makes them feel, and also have the tools to combat hatred in all areas of their lives.”
In addition to active campaigns that promote tolerance and acceptance for all, AIMS HS Head of School Maurice Williams believes that revolving door policies that facilitate the release of repeat offenders must be reexamined: “Because of decades of declining community policing, slow police response times, and policies that treat theft, burglary, and violent incidents as ones that can only be reported online by the victim, many of our formerly incarcerated individuals continue to receive a ‘carte blanche’ to prey upon our most vulnerable citizens. We have to be more mindful in how these policies disproportionately impact our communities of color the most.”
As a Black mother to two Asian and Black children, recent anti-Asian hate crimes have hit home in a very personal way to Maya Woods-Cadiz, Superintendent at the AIMS K-12 College Prep Charter District. “We cannot remain silent. We must continue our conversations about race, including examining our practices and removing obstacles that contribute to systemic inequities. I am pleased that AIMS High School is supporting the effort with this important event.”
###
AIMS K12 College Prep Charter District is an award-winning Oakland Public Charter School System and is celebrating its 25th year of existence. AIMS K12 has over 1300 students, averages 97% attendance rates, 100% A-G completion rates, and 100% college acceptance rates for all of its students. For more information, please visit www.aimsk12.org.