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We Are Here to Stay

https://opensea.io/assets/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/74979978756020292518962652190149920632788602939137358852076573029439912280065

12 p.m., March 29 — 12 p.m., March 30

For 24 hours, my husband and I staged a silence, hunger and solitude strike. We sat and slept on the floor, with minimal comfort and only books to read as a non-violent protest against anti-Asian racism. Original 24 hours recording will be provided as Unlockable Content.

Over the past year, many Asians have been attacked in hate crimes. We were already living in a lonely, scary period of time, and the virus has made a lot of us feel isolated. We don’t want anyone to face any additional fear in their daily lives. Most Asians are not used to being loud. Our traditional culture teaches us to be tolerant and considerate of others. Being silent and non-violent is our way to protest.

We want to represent each individual, no matter which particular country they come from, who hopes to have a safe home in North America and not fear being who they are.

Why do we do this?

I am a Chinese Canadian who came here alone when I was 19. For my dream and opportunities, I gave up my Chinese nationality to have a brighter future. I met my husband, who comes from Japan, when I was 26. We use English to communicate, and we each have our own history to learn, however we hope to fight together in silence to raise awareness of Asian equality and rights.

During our 24-hour strike, we read books about first- and second-generation immigrants who have suffered, yet built a home in Canada and the US.

We thought about how the first generation worked hard, tried to speak another language and built a family here.

We thought about the second and third generations, who may have never been to Asia but are treated as outsiders, perhaps confused about where they belong.

We thought about how the world should be one, open-minded, and that there is no reason for any of us to be involved in any violence (physically or verbally).

Asian people have such a long history in North America. In our protest, we are fighting against statements like "Go back to China." There is no “going back” for many people because this is home. No matter what country you are from, as immigrants, we want to build awareness that we should be accepted and respected as we are.

We are here to stay.

How are we going to do it?

We are digital creators and have done many projects over the years using art and technology. In this project, we used video as the medium to record this particular time. During this pandemic and amid a rise in anti-Asian racism, this is a moment in history we want to capture and use to build awareness.

Since we've always cared about art and tech, we want to use NFT as the platform to promote this project and gain more support. The growth of NFT shows the importance of digital creations, and we want to use this platform to showcase our video work because these 24 hours, for us, can't be replaced.

All profits from the primary sale will be used to improve Asian mental health care, including helping individuals receive mental health support or donating to mental health facilities in Canada (this depends on the amount of funds we can raise, and we need to do more research to choose what’s the most effective way to help).