Hey Student Leaders! Apply to the Youth Leadership Summit.

Asian American Advancing Justice is accepting applications for the 2017 Youth Leadership Summit.



Hey, student leaders! Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC is accepting applications for the Youth Leadership Summit, a three-day leadership development program for high achieving college students. The program brings together a group of students to Washington DC for advocacy trainings and leadership development workshops focused on civic engagement.

Through interactive workshops, hands-on activities, and a visit to Capitol Hill, participants build advocacy skills and gain a deeper understanding of how advocacy and activism affect policy decisions. Student leaders will work with experienced policy advocates and have opportunities to interact with the legislative staff of U.S. Senators and Representatives. This year's Summit will take place September 13-15.

ICE is targeting Cambodian Americans in the largest raid ever

Civil rights advocates file nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of 100+ refugees detained by ICE.


​Posda Tuot, cousin of Nak Kim "Rickie" Chhoeun, who was detained by ICE on October 20, 2017.
Cambodian refugees detained in recent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have filed a nationwide class action lawsuit challenging their unlawful arrests. Since early October, ICE has rounded up over a hundred Cambodian refugees with deportation orders, making these the largest raids ever to target the Cambodian community. Nearly 2000 Cambodian refugees are at risk of being unlawfully arrested.

The complaint, filed last Friday by civil rights organizations Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, and Sidley Austin LLP, alleges the detentions are illegal, and argues that without that clear pathway to deportation, the detainees should be released.

The people detained in the raids arrived in the United States as refugee children fleeing the horrors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Many of them were born in refugee camps and have never set foot in Cambodia. They made the United States their home and became lawful permanent residents.

In the U.S., Cambodian refugee families struggled with trauma and poverty in violence-ridden neighborhoods. Some refugees made mistakes in their youth, which led to criminal convictions and ultimately deportation orders. But because Cambodia has refused to accept them for deportation, ICE had to release Cambodian detainees instead of keeping them indefinitely and unconstitutionally detained.

Calling All Asian Americans Against White Supremacy

Asian Americans Advancing Justice is calling on you to pledge your support.



I don't know if you heard, but a horde of racist white dudes recently held a march in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend. They weren't wearing hoods, but they were carrying torches and Nazi and Confederate flags to make it all too clear what they stood for: white supremacy, white power and nativism.

Ah, the ugly building blocks of our great nation.

While the man who is supposedly the President of the United States unsurprisingly refuses to denounce or distance himself from these racist shits -- let's face it, he wouldn't be in the White House without them -- some of us refuse to stand around and let literal Nazis trample, strangle and seize the soul of this democracy.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice has just launched a new pledge campaign calling on Asian Americans to come together, join the fight and take a stand against white supremacy.

"We call on all Asian Americans to join us in defending our vision of democracy -- one where we protect the vulnerable amongst us, resist efforts to erode our hard-won rights and protections, and fight to advance progress for all marginalized communities."

Read the full letter:

Have we made it to the top?

Guest Post by Jessica Jinn, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles


The author at her college graduation with her very pleased parents.
My parents cried when I did not get into UC Berkeley. My dad literally held the denial letter in his hands and cried. I cried, too. All my life I had been told to go to Berkeley and suddenly, I wasn't allowed. What was worse was that one of my best friends, a Latina, had gotten accepted. Despite the fact that California banned its universities to consider race in admissions at that time due to Proposition 209, life as an 18-year-old was horrible and we didn't know what else to do but blame affirmative action.

As affirmative action comes into the national spotlight again, one thought comes to mind: not this again. I knew Asian Americans would be pulled into this debate and depicted as affirmative action haters. With a story like mine, I would have been a prime suspect to oppose affirmative action. I am the Asian American that Edward Blum is hoping to take advantage of.

Hey Student Leaders! Apply to the Youth Leadership Summit.

Asian American Advancing Justice is accepting applications for the 2017 Youth Leadership Summit.



Hey, Asian American and Pacific Islander student leaders! Heads up. Are you an organizer on campus? Are you passionate about serving your community? Do you want to elevate Asian American and Pacific Islander issues to a national level? Asian Americans Advancing Justice is currently accepting applications for the Youth Leadership Summit, happening September 14-16 in Washington DC.

The Youth Leadership Summit is a three-day leadership development program for high achieving college students. The Summit brings a group of student leaders to D.C. for advocacy trainings and leadership development workshops focused on civic engagement, providing a unique opportunity for young advocates from across the country to both interact with their peers as well as learn from and network with national leaders.

But get your application together today -- they're due on May 31.

Proof of Belonging: My Grandpa in Texas

By Michelle Lim, Voting Rights Policy Advocate. Cross-Posted from Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA.



My grandpa and me cheering on the Houston Astros -- our last home game before I moved to Los Angeles.

On Monday night, at the dinner table, my 79-year-old grandpa asked my mom if he will be safe driving around since SB4 was signed into law by Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday, May 7th. I was speechless when my mom told me this over the phone. My family lives in Katy, Texas, a city within the Houston metropolitan area. I did not know what to tell her, and I couldn't make any promises that SB4 would not affect our family.

Asian American Students File to Join Harvard Lawsuit and Defend Affirmative Action

By Jenn Fang. Cross-Posted from Reappropriate.



Advancing Justice – Los Angeles (AAAJ-LA) held a press conference moments ago to announce that lawyers with the group will represent two Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) high school students who wish to present their support of race-conscious affirmative action admission before the Supreme Court if and when the justices hear arguments next year about an anti-affirmative action lawsuit filed against the school by Edward Blum, the architect behind Abigail Fisher’s earlier failed attempts to dismantle affirmative action before the Court.

The two AAPI high school students represented by AAAJ-LA are current applicants to Harvard University, and both believe that race-conscious affirmative action is beneficial; AAAJ-LA filed paperwork yesterday to help the students join an existing group of diverse students who will have "amicus plus" status to present their support for affirmative action in a pending anti-affirmative action case, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.

In the Students for Fair Admissions case, lobbyist Edward Blum specifically recruited disgruntled Asian American students to serve as the next Abigail Fisher, in hopes of weaponizing a stereotyped, Model Minority Myth narrative of Asian Americans against other students of colour. Blum’s lawsuit alleging bias at Harvard was ultimately consolidated around the case of a still-unnamed Chinese American woman.

Job Opportunity: Voting Rights Senior Program Coordinator

Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus needs you to help protect the vote.



Are you talented, passionate, social justice-oriented individual who cares about creating a more inclusive democracy and help protect the vote for immigrant AAPI and Latino voters this year?

Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, the nation's oldest Asian American civil rights organization, is looking to hire a Senior Program Coordinator for its Voting Rights Program. This role will oversee the civic engagement portions of Advancing Justice-ALC's Election Protection / Language Access project, which protects access to the ballot for immigrant and limited English-proficient AAPI and Latino voters in eighteen Northern California counties.

Here are some more details about the position:

George Takei and John Cho want you to vote!

New Get-Out-The-Vote PSA urges AANHPI community to vote in this important election year.



George Takei and John Cho want you to vote! Just in time to close out AAPI Heritage Month, the two Sulus have come together for a new video PSA from Asian Americans Advancing Justice and APIAVote urging Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) to go vote in this important election year.

The video also features the likes of Constance Wu, Vincent Rodriguez III, Sonal Shah and Joey "Q" Quenga, and highlights both the historic injustices that AANHPIs have faced in the United States, as well as the some of the many contributions our communities have made to this country.

Check it out:

2016 Advancing Justice Conference

March 30-31 at the Westin Bonventure Hotel in Los Angeles.



Heads up. The 2016 Advancing Justice Conference is the first and only national conference in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community focusing on civil rights and social justice. It's happening March 30-31 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in Los Angeles.

Over 700 AAPIs from across the U.S. will come together to address issues facing our fastest growing populations. The theme will focus on civic engagement and building our electoral and social power in support of economic and racial justice. Conference attendees will participate in two days of panel discussions, caucus sessions, skills and capacity building, trainings, and networking receptions.

It's going to be a great conference. I have the pleasure of moderating the panel "Making Media That Moves" featuring Fracesca Fiorentini of AJ+, Eugene Lee Yang of BuzzFeed, and Jenny Yang of Disoriented Comedy. We'll be talking about producing and disseminating content that is entertaining, engaging and inspires action.

Hope to see you there.

Registration for the conference will be available on site. For further information about the Advancing Justice Conference, including the full schedule of plenaries, panels and speakers, go here.

Top Five Reasons Why Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Should Support Affirmative Action

Guest Post by Nicole Ochi, Supervising Attorney, Advancing Justice - LA


I'm on vacation! This week, I'm taking a much-needed break to recharge the batteries and get a change of scenery. To keep things going around here, I've enlisted the help of several friends of the blog to submit guest posts on various topics of their choosing. Here's one from Nicole Ochi, Supervising Attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles.

Last week, in partnership with more than 160 Asian American and and Pacific Islander organizations, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (Advancing Justice) and Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), filed an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of University of Texas Austin’s ("UT-Austin") race conscious admissions policy. So, why did more than 160 AAPI-serving organizations, from large, pan-Asian national organizations and professional associations, to student and grassroots groups serving Arab, Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities stand together to tell the nation’s highest court that it should uphold UT-Austin’s race conscious admissions policy for a second time?

Here are the top 5 reasons:

New report examines Asian American & NHPIs in the West

Asian American Advancing Justice releases final report in 'Community of Contrasts' demographic series.



This week, Asian American Advancing Justice released the final report in its A Community of Contrasts demographic report series, examining the growing Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations in the Western U.S., including Arizona, Hawaii, Las Vegas, the Seattle metro area and Oregon.

These demographic reports showcase the contributions and needs of Asian Americans nationwide. The report's disaggregated data illuminates income and educational disparities across Asian ethnicities, highlights Asian American business and economic contributions and underscores the future political power of our rapidly growing demographic. Props to Asian Americans Advancing Justice for always slinging that demographic data.

Here are some highlights from the West report:

Filipino workers file labor lawsuit against popular bakery

Eleven guest workers are suing L'Amande French Bakery for exploitation, discrimination and trafficking.


(Los Angeles Times)
This week in Los Angeles, eleven immigrant workers filed a lawsuit against two popular bakeries, alleging that owners lured them from the Philippines promising high-paying jobs, only to exploit them.

Beverly Hills bakery workers say they were paid as little as $2 an hour

The lawsuit, filed by Advancing Justice - LA and Latham & Watkins LLP on behalf of eleven current and former employees of L'Amande French Bakery, alleges that the workers were fraudulently lured to the United States on E-2 guest worker visas and then subjected to exploitative working conditions including forced labor, severe wage theft, immigration-related retaliation, and national origin discrimination.

Submit a nomination for the 2015 American Courage Awards

Deadline for submissions extended to Friday, February 13.



Do you know someone who has shown extraordinary courage or commitment to the cause of Asian American civil rights? Advancing Justice | AAJC is accepting nominations for the 2015 American Courage Award and Distinguished Service Award. The deadline for submissions has been extended to Friday, February 13.

Here are some more details about the award and the nomination process:

2015 Youth Leadership Summit, March 26-28

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC invites students to a three-day leadership program in Washington DC.


Hey, students! Asian Americans Advancing Justice AAJC's Youth Leadership Summit is a three-day leadership development program for college students. The summit provides a unique opportunity for young advocates from across the country to come to Washington DC to network and learn together.

Through interactive workshops and hands-on activities, summit participants will build advocate skills and gain knowledge on policies and civil rights issues affecting AAPI communities. This year's summit will be held March 26-28, with advocate trainings and leadership development workshops focused on racial equity.

Here's some more information about the Youth Leadership Summit:

Advancing Justice - LA Condemns Grand Jury's Failure to Bring Charges Against Daniel Pantaleo in the Death of Eric Garner

"We cannot breathe" until there is justice..."

Yesterday, a Staten Island grand jury failed to indict New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the chokehold killing of Eric Garner, an unarmed African American man. Despite the finding by the city's medical examiner that Mr. Garner's death was a homicide resulting from the illegal chokehold maneuver, the grand jury chose not to indict Officer Pantaleo. This injustice comes just one week after a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury's failure to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of unarmed 18-year old African American teenager Michael Brown.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles (Advancing Justice - LA) issues the following statement:

Asian Americans Advancing Justice Condemns Grand Jury's Failure to Bring Charges Against Darren Wilson in Michael Brown Shooting Death

"We need answers and justice for Michael Brown's death."

In response to today's announcement that the grand jury in Ferguson, MO, has decided not to indict officer Darren Wilson, Asian Americans Advancing Justice issues the following statement:

As civil rights organizations, we fight daily for racial justice for all communities of color. And as Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders whose community members have also experienced police brutality and discrimination Asian Americans Advancing Justice condemns the grand jury's failure to bring charges against officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.

6th Annual Advancing Justice Conference, September 25-26

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Standing Together For Racial Justice



Community leaders and advocates will be gathering in DC next week for the sixth annual Advancing Justice Conference, the largest national conference focusing on civil and social justice issues impacting Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. It's happening September 25-26 at the Washington Hilton.

Whether you're a student, an activist, or just interested in a more equal America, the conference will including plenaries and workshops providing Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and our allies with the opportunity to strategize and mobilize so we can have a lasting impact on all the issues we care about.

I will be speaking on a panel during the Thursday morning session "The Shifting Media Landscape: Strategies That Work" with Olivia Chow, Adriel Luis, Sandhya Bathija and moderator Karin Wang.

Apply to the Community Engagement Academy 2014

Community organizing and voter training training, August 22-24 in Los Angeles



Attention young leaders! Are you interested in empowering your community through voter engagement and community organizing? Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles invites you to the Community Engagement Academy 2014, a three-day community organizing and voter training geared towards building power in Asian America, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities in Southern California.

It's happening August 22-24 at the Asian Youth Center in San Gabriel. Here are some more details about the training:

Petition: Protect immigrants and keep families together

Sign the petition urging President Obama to go big and bold on executive action for immigration relief



Helping to get the word out... Our friends at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC recently launched an online petition urging President Obama to go big and bold on executive action to stop or limit deportations and make other important changes to immigration enforcement.

Protect immigrants and keep families together!

We need changes to protest immigrants from deportation, reduce family visa backlogs, and end programs that encourage racial profiling. In light of the continued failure of the House to move progressive immigration reform legislation, it's more critical than ever for the administration to provide relief.

Here's what the petition is calling for: