John,

This month is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. It’s a time to celebrate the many cultural and historical contributions of the AAPI community. But it’s also a time to recognize the injustice and discrimination that the AAPI community continues to experience in so many facets of American life.

In honor of this month, we’re highlighting the stories of four wrongly convicted Asian American individuals who have demonstrated immense resilience and strength in the face of racism and injustice.

Take a moment right now to read the stories of Chol Soo Lee, Han Tak Lee, Frances Choy, and Kin-Jin “David” Wong.

While just 1% of people exonerated to date come from the AAPI community, they have all faced several unique challenges, from overt racism to language barriers to lack of community support. The “model minority” myth — a harmful stereotype that holds that all AAPI people demonstrate high academic and economic achievement — might lead people to incorrectly assume that the AAPI community doesn’t face the same social barriers as other minorities and to overlook the needs of wrongly incarcerated Asian people and exonerees. 

The cases of Chol Soo Lee, Kin-Jin “David” Wong, Frances Choy, and Han Tak Lee highlight some of the unique challenges that wrongly convicted Asian Americans experience.

Please, read these stories and learn about some of the specific obstacles that Asian Americans have to deal with when going through our criminal legal system.

Thank you so much for your support,

— The Innocence Project Team