Yellow whistles handed out by Asian communities in New York to protect elderly from racist attacks

‘We would like to turn this colour around and call this not yellow peril, but yellow pride’, says chair of Asian-American nonprofit

Lilly Cheng, Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs of San Diego (KPBS)

Yellow whistles have been handed out to elderly members of New York’s Asian community in an attempt to combat racist attacks.

More than 100 of the whistles were handed out on Thursday at the Chinese-American Planning Council’s Open Door Senior Centre in Chinatown as part of the Yellow Whistle Campaign, according to Resonate.

It comes amid attacks targeting the Asian American community in New York and across the US.

As part of the Yellow Whistle Campaign, a total of 500,000 yellow whistles are being handed to members of the Asian American community in New York, where in some neighbourhoods, one in three residents are reportedly Asian.

People are encouraged to blow the yellow whistle when in danger, and to call 911 when you hear a whistle.

“It’s the colour of hope and of daffodils, the coming of spring,” Oscar Tang, the co-founder of the Yellow Whistle Campaign, told Resonate. “But for Asians, this has been used against us.”

Lilly Cheng, Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs of San Diego, told KPBS that she is hoping elderly members of the community will feel protected and seen by the yellow whistle.

“Yellow has been used and has been weaponized as a way to get rid of the yellow people. We would like to turn this colour around and call this not yellow peril, but yellow pride,” Ms Cheng said.

“It does not have a language barrier,” added co-founder Dr Agnes Hsu-Tang of blowing a whistle to signal danger. “It does not require battery operation.”

According to Resonate, the words “we belong” are printed on the whistles.

Statistics from Stop AAPI Hate suggest that there were 6,603 incidents between March 2020 and March 2021 where Asian-Americans were attacked, both verbally and physically.

In February, that figure stood at 3,795 – indicating a significant rise in anti-Asian attacks in recent weeks