AAPI Victory Alliance Rallies Against Guns, Takes On Wells Fargo

India-West News Desk

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The AAPI Victory Alliance launched its anti-gun campaign last week in the heart of Chinatown aiming its comments specifically on Wells Fargo, the bank with its headquarters here, to snap ties with the gun industry.

Mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay which had targeted the AAPI community was in the back of the minds of the 50-odd protestors.

“Banks must pledge to end political donations to NRA-backed and endorsed lawmakers or political candidates,” said the Alliance.

“We’re supporting efforts around their campaign to essentially call out Wells Fargo for funding the gun industry and really emphasize they stand in solidarity with the AAPI community yet they’re funding the same weapons that impact folks in that community,” Zeenat Yahya, Director of Policy, March For Our Lives, the youth led group, told the media.

While Wells Fargo has been saying its ties to the gun industry is tapering off, anti-gun activists are not convinced. In 2018 Bloomberg News had reported Wells Fargo as the gun industry’s top financial backer.

“We are standing up today to say no more. That we will sever our ties with Wells Fargo if they don’t stop these practices,” said Varun Nikore, Executive Director  of AAPI Victory Alliance. He said, “As Asian Americans, we have the power to stop a lot of this. We have a choice in where we invest our dollars and where we invest dollars and where we deposit our paycheck.”

He pointed to the irony of the situation. “If guns kept us safe, we would definitely be the safest country in the world.”