Blog
May 2017, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles (Advancing Justice-LA) held its second annual Untold Civil Rights Stories writing contest. The purpose of the writing contest is to encourage students to learn about Asian American heroes and movements, and how these civil rights struggles may be relevant today in their own lives. Often, Asian American civil rights stories are not touched upon in classrooms. This contest is meant to inspire creativity, create interest and excitement in civil rights, and to recognize teachers who take the extra effort to teach their students about our untold civil rights stories.
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.
You may know Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles (Advancing Justice-LA) as one of the leading civil rights organizations for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs). But, did you know that we’re big book lovers as well?
It was just 25 years ago when a jury’s unjust acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers for the severe beating of African American motorist, Rodney King, sparked community outrage and despair, launching the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest, or Sa-I-Gu (“4/29” in Korean).
On Saturday, April 8th, I woke to maybe my 100th weekend citizenship clinic where I would be helping immigrants apply for naturalization. But, this day was different. I was going to assist my own community, Persians. The thought of this made me nervous. Is my Farsi good enough? I’m probably going to embarrass myself. Will I have proper etiquette? Am I dressed well enough so that they’ll trust I can give them proper advice?
Asian Americans should use the United Airlines episode to bring our communities around to standing against injustice every time we see it.
My friends are often stunned when they find out that my dad was one of the 120,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated in concentration camps on the West Coast during World War II. It feels like the Internment happened such a long time ago, they say.
On February 4, 2017, I set off to spend my second weekend in a row at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). In the wake of the new presidential administration’s January 27 executive order barring noncitizens from seven countries from entering the United States, the organization for whom I work, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, a coalition of nonprofit organizations, and volunteer attorneys have provided legal assistance to distraught family members at LAX, waiting anxiously to see if their loved ones would be permitted to enter the United States.
Want to know more about how the Administration's latest Executive Orders affect immigration? We can tell you.
On Sunday morning, I drove to the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX. I had barely slept since President Trump signed an executive order banning immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the country. As an immigration attorney, I had to do something.
Pages
Our mission is to advocate for civil rights, provide legal services and education, and build coalitions to positively influence and impact Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders and to create a more equitable and harmonious society.