After years of advocacy spearheaded by Advancing Justice | AAJC, allied civil rights organizations and academic groups, on February 23, the Department of Justice ended the China Initiative and announced a series of changes to their national security approach to address concerns of profiling of Asian American and immigrants by our communities.

With the launch of the Anti-Profiling, Civil Rights & National Security program, we continue to push for substantive changes to protect our communities and call for government accountability for victims of unjust profiling and targeting.

Advancing Justice | AAJC has been tracking messaging trends across various social media platforms to gain a better understanding of disinformation campaigns and its impact on our communities. We testified before Congress at the hearing, “A Growing Threat: The Impact of Disinformation Targeted at Communities of Color,” and highlighted our findings. Together with our partners, we launched the Asian American Disinformation Table and released the first landscape report on mis/disinformation within and about Asian/Asian American diasporic communities. 

This summer, Advancing Justice | AAJC co-organized the Unity March, the first large-scale, Asian American-led multicultural rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Together with our allies, we spoke on issues affecting Asian Americans and all communities of color over the past years and ended with a multi-pronged call to action. We continue to engage our youth through our bi-annual Youth Leadership Summit, a multi-day leadership development program for young leaders.

Advancing Justice | AAJC played key roles advocating for equity and justice through litigation, most notably in the areas of education and voting rights. In AZ AANHPI for Equity Coalition v. Hobbs, we filed a lawsuit representing AZ AANHPI for Equity Coalition in challenging two voter suppression laws in Arizona that target naturalized voters. In response, the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and all 13 counties in Arizona agreed to not implement the law for the 2022 elections.

We filed numerous amicus briefs with our civil rights partners in support of education equity in K-12, notably in Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board and in Association for Education Fairness v. Montgomery County Board of Education, which was dismissed in July by the court after citing our amicus brief to allow School Board changes to admissions policies that made them more inclusive to all students.

In a key moment of solidarity, a diverse group of national organizations representing racial, ethnic, and religious groups convened at the White House for the United We Stand Summit to combat hate-motivated violence. This Summit responded to calls from Advancing Justice | AAJC and civil rights partners who urged President Biden to hold a convening after a series of violent attacks against marginalized communities in our country. We are heartened by the swift response to concerns from communities and look forward to continued action by the administration.

As our communities headed out to the ballot box, Advancing Justice | AAJC provided in-language election resources, fact sheets, and live assistance through our multilingual voter hotline in partnership with APIAVote. We worked with partners to release the 2022 Asian American Voter Survey, measuring Asian American sentiment and attitudes on the issues top of mind in the lead-up to the 2022 midterm elections. Our goal is to help our community stay informed and protected and to ensure the rising political influence of Asian Americans is not overlooked.

This fall, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for two cases that will determine the future of affirmative action in college admissions. In August, Asian Americans Advancing Justice submitted two amicus briefs in support of race-conscious admissions, which expand access to educational opportunities for all students, including Asian Americans. On oral argument day, we rallied before the steps of the Supreme Court alongside our civil rights partners, allies, and Black, Latino, Indigenous, and Asian American students and alumni in support of a future where there is equity and diversity in education.

Given that one in three Asian Americans has limited proficiency in English, providing in-language access to information, resources, and services is critical for our communities. This year, we worked with FCC to provide multilingual resources on the Affordable Connectivity Program. Together with our partners and the Advancing Justice affiliation, we developed in-language Bystander Intervention trainings and animated videos.  Advancing Justice | AAJC also produced one-pagers in 14 languages on digital security for abortion access and health care privacy, and in-language election resources and fact sheets leading up to the midterm elections.

We continue to expand our efforts to support Asian American communities nationwide through subgrants to build the capacity of community-based organizations serving Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities across the country. In 2022, we have redistributed over $6.6 million to 57 organizations across 25 states working to address issues faced by their communities such as racial justice, community safety, gender-based violence response, digital divide, immigrant rights, and voting rights, among others.

Advancing Justice | AAJC launched the Wholestory Education (WE) Campaign to track legislation and policies aimed at restricting the teaching of diversity and histories of communities of color and provide resources for individuals and organizations to begin, supplement, or further advocate for inclusive history in their communities.

Advancing Justice | AAJC continues to advocate for family immigration and push Congress to provide a pathway to citizenship for all so that our communities and loved ones can be reunited and stay protected. We worked in coalition to spearhead multiple weeks of actions to call for clearing of immigration backlogs and support for visa recapture policies. As the future of DACA lies in uncertainty, we doubled-down on our efforts to demand Congress deliver on citizenship before the end of year for our immigrant youth.