Policy and litigation updates from Advancing Justice | AAJC
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New Beginnings: The Mission Continues
Advancing Justice | AAJC staff members Terry Minnis and Joy De Guzman pose for The Lily's profile piece on women voting rights activists.

As 2022 began, many of us ushered in the new year with exhaustion and resolve, eager for a fresh start despite many of the continuing civil rights challenges facing our community.

Advocates continue to fight against repeated attacks on our democracy one year after the Capitol riots, from dozens of attempts to restrict voters' access to the ballot box, to the continued blocking of legislation that would promote family-based immigration and provide a pathway to citizenship for all. While these issues are not new, we are emboldened in our fight by initiatives that are making a positive impact on our communities.

We know representation matters, especially within a the highest offices of this administration, which made us proud to support Robert Santos as he was sworn in as the first Latino and second person of color ever to serve as Census Bureau director. With over 40 years of experience working with undocumented immigrant populations and disadvantaged communities, we are confident that Santos will lead the nation's largest statistical organization toward a more equitable and inclusive future.

Inclusivity also means providing for in-language resources to limited English proficient individuals, which we know is critical in building an informed and mobilized community network. Together with the Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliation and Hollaback!, we are hosting Bystander Intervention Trainings with simultaneous translations in Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Hindi, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese to empower all members of our community with the tools to safely take action in the face of hate.

Regardless of the challenges that may await, Advancing Justice | AAJC's advocacy will not stop. As 2022 unfolds, Advancing Justice | AAJC will continue to fight for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans, and will continue in its quest to build a fair and equitable society for all.

Keep scrolling to read more about these Advancing Justice | AAJC initiatives and more.
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EVENTS

Did you miss our webinar with PEN America on mis- and disinformation in the Asian American community? Watch a full recording of "Digital Health and Connection: How Media Literacy Can Bridge Divides" here.

Together with Hollaback!, we've trained over 120,000 people through our joint trainings to combat anti-Asian hate! Join the next training:

Bystander Intervention Training Conflict De-Escalation Training (Bystander Intervention 2.0) Workshop for People Experiencing Anti-Asian/American Harassment
ADVANCING JUSTICE | AAJC IN THE NEWS

In an article for CNBC News, our staff attorney Gisela Perez Kusakawa spoke about the growing calls from Asian American organizations to bring an end to the "China Initiative."

"Many targeted scientists have lived in the U.S. for decades, but being under prosecution renders them unemployable and jeopardizes their immigration status," said Gisela.

Advocates across the nation are doubling down on pressuring lawmakers to pass legislation that requires schools to teach Asian American and Pacific Islander history. Our President and Executive Director John C. Yang spoke to NBC News about this push for equity.

“Unfortunately, racism and implicit and explicit bias is learned very early on... Now, we are seeing a new push especially at the K-12 level, which certainly didn’t exist in the '60s and '70s,” he said.
Advocacy and Policy Updates
Advancing Justice | AAJC Staff Members Recognized As Leading Women Voting Rights Activists

Women activists have been at the forefront of equal voting rights advocacy for decades. In an article published by The Lily, a publication from The Washington Post, our Senior Director of Census & Voting Terry Minnis and Manager of Community Engagement Joy De Guzman were featured among 21 women voting rights activists who are bravely continuing a decades-long fight in an ever-changing voting rights landscape.

Read more about these inspiring, history-making, and impactful leaders here.
Asian American Civil Rights Orgs Affirm Race-Conscious College Admissions Expand Opportunities for All Students of Color

In response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision to hear the cases SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC, the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ) affiliation affirmed its support for race-conscious college admissions. According to a 2020 survey of Asian American voters, 70% support affirmative action. AAAJ rejects the use of our community as proxies to attack the constitutionality of race-conscious programs, which should not be conflated with racial quotas or other forms of unlawful discrimination.

Read our full affiliation statement here. Read Advancing Justice | AAJC's joint statement with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law here.
Advancing Justice | AAJC Commends Government Dropping All Charges Against MIT Professor Gang Chen

On January 20, federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts moved to drop all charges against Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) mechanical engineering professor Gang Chen, which was later granted by the U.S. District Judge. Civil rights groups, the scientific and academic community, and the Asian American community have decried the treatment of Dr. Chen and many other scientists under the Justice Department’s “China Initiative,” which has faced serious concerns of targeting and profiling Asian American and immigrants across the country.

Advancing Justice | AAJC commends this decision and hopes this case marks a turning point within the Department of Justice to address our concerns from Asian American and immigrant communities.

Read our full statement here.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Continues Empowering Asian Americans to Participate in Redistricting Process

With redistricting in full swing, the Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliation has been providing numerous redistricting resources to help empower and mobilize Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to participate in the important process. Together, the affiliation has created free factsheets and worksheets in 13 Asian languages, with three Pacific Islander languages provided by Empowered PI Communities, to help individuals learn about the ways redistricting shapes the political representation of all communities and how they can get involved.

Access and share our in-language resources here.
​​​​​​​Asian Americans Advancing Justice Reiterates the Importance of Protecting the Right to Vote: This Is Not Over

On January 19, the Senate concluded its debate on the Freedom to Vote: John Lewis Act, moved to a vote, and failed to get the number of votes necessary to pass this essential legislation or to change rules long enough to break the impasse that would lead to swift passage of the legislation.

Each day that passes with a bipartisan Senate failing to do its job, harmful anti-voter state laws are being passed to restrict our freedom to vote. From our work on the ground in states across the country to the halls of Congress, the Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliation will continue to protect this cornerstone of our democracy and build our communities’ political power. This is not over.

Read the full joint statement here.

On-going Resources

  • "Be a Super Ally with the 5Ds" is a new 5Ds-for-kids video series was made in partnership with Advancing Justice | AAJC, Hollaback!, and Woori Show. The videos were produced for kids ages 3 to 10 with the support of experts in language, culture, early childhood education, and child psychology. Watch the videos and learn more about our partnership here.
     
  • The Anti-Racial Profiling Project offers resources and legal referrals for those impacted by the U.S. government’s increased efforts to target and profile Asian American and Asian immigrant scientists and researchers, particularly of Chinese descent. If you believe you are being racially targeted by the government and you are looking for attorney referrals, please contact 202-935-6014 using the Signal app and a staff member will reach out to you directly with support available in English and Mandarin/普通话.
     
  • Our community engagement team has been working with community partners to develop state-specific and national anti-hate resources for the AAPI community. Individuals and organizations are encouraged to access, share, and add to the crowd-sourced document at any point.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice
What is the Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliation?

Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national affiliation of five leading organizations advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities. The organizations include:
  To achieve our mission, we work together — as equal and independent partners under one name, speaking with one unified and powerful voice — to promote justice, empower our communities, bring local and national constituents together, and strengthen our multi-racial democracy. Learn more and get involved.
Blog Highlights
Finding “Home”: A Love Letter to Korean American Representation in 2021

Director of Technology, Telecom, and Media Emily Chi reflects on a difficult and memorable year for Korean Americans. How do you find "home" in a place that "still doesn’t seem ready to accept us as we are"?
From the Daughter of a Chinese American Scientist: The “China Initiative” Has Shattered My Father’s American Dream

Di Liu, daughter of Professor Shaorong Liu, writes about the devastating impact being targeted by the government's racial bias and profiling through the "China Initiative" had on her family.
Reflections on 2021: Top 10 Highlights

As we closed on 2021, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC reflected on the ways we worked with our communities to rise and meet the challenges we faced this year.
Read more of our blogs!
Take Action With Us

Advancing Justice | AAJC and Hollaback! Workshops

We continue to host trainings with Hollaback! and have now trained over 120,000 people to safely intervene as a bystander to stop non-violent incidents of anti-Asian hate since the beginning of our partnership in April 2020.

The Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliation is proud to provide in-language Bystander Intervention Trainings for limited English proficient members of our community. We are hosting sessions with simultaneous translations in Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Hindi, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese. Learn more and sign up.
 

Bystander Intervention Training
  • Learn about the basics of intervention and the spectrum of disrespect experienced by Asians/Asian Americans. Then, put what you’ve learned into practice. Register Here
Conflict De-Escalation Training (Bystander Intervention 2.0)
  • Take your intervention skills a step further by using patience, empathy, and a willingness to listen to directly de-escalate conflict with a harasser. Register Here
Workshop for People Experiencing Anti-Asian/American Harassment
  • This training is for Asians and Asian Americans to learn how to trust their instincts, reclaim their space, and practice resilience following an act of hate. Register Here
Stand Against Hatred was created by the Asian Americans Advancing Justice affiliation in January 2017 to capture information about the increase in hate we observed in the months before and following the 2016 election. Since COVID-19 began, however, we have received many new testimonials of anti-Asian/Asian American incidents of hate and harassment.

By sharing what you experienced or witnessed, you can educate the public, empower others, show service providers where help is needed, and strengthen advocacy efforts for hate crimes response and prevention. We know that sharing these experiences can be painful, which is why we're so grateful for the brave individuals who continue to trust us with their testimonials.

If you or someone you know would like to share your experience, please visit StandAgainstHatred.org today.

Asian American Education Project Teacher Workshops


Asian American and Pacific Islander history is American history, but is often left out of curriculums in K-12 schools. The Asian American Education Project, fiscally sponsored by Advancing Justice | AAJC, launched a series of free workshops for K-12 teachers designed to promote the inclusion of historically and culturally competent curriculum about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) nationwide.

In this series of virtual K-12 Asian American Curriculum Teacher Training Workshops, The Asian American Education Project showcases curriculum on the AAPI experience. It is divided into themes to make it easier for educators to adapt the entire or part of the curriculum into their own practice.

Learn more and sign up for an upcoming workshop here.
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