Who Are We?
 

We are the Asian Civil Rights League, a new nonprofit, inclusive, and nonpartisan network of audacious artists, activists, educators, business and community leaders, and everyday people from all walks of life and from every newsroom, classroom, boardroom, and street corner of America dedicated to changing negative, ill-informed, and just plain ignorant narratives about Asians and Asian Americans. 

Stereotypes, prejudices, and hateful feelings about people of Asian descent proliferate throughout American society, having taken root in the early 19th century from the first moment immigrant workers arrived to help build this country. Asians constituted less than 1% of the entire U.S. population at the time and still triggered unfounded White Supremacist resentment and irrational racialized fears. These same 19th century fears continue to fuel discrimination, marginalization, misrepresentation, and acts of extremist violence into the 21st. But, the lesson we should take from this history is that we are to be feared. Our collective power is in fact limitless.

Organization, coordination, and collaboration are necessary now more than ever because this is not just a problem of “cultural misunderstanding.” Anti-Asian hate is endemic to the White Supremacist MAGA movement and its institutions, including our current Federal government across all three branches—Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. Few Americans even know that, while government budgets are otherwise being slashed, $3.1 billion has already been allocated by the Federal Government to the production and promotion of anti-China propaganda alone.

We believe our time has come to change these narratives for good. We believe it is our time not merely to resist and combat, but to utterly transform them. It is our time for building community across the Asian diaspora and for forging solidarity with other oppressed peoples. It is our time to wield every cultural platform to share and celebrate our stories as quintessential American stories.

What We Do

We will change hateful narratives and provide tools for claiming our legacies and our future roles as leaders and full members of American society through:

Transforming Narratives

 

We will rewrite the Asian hate narrative, all too well-represented throughout the news media, in popular culture, and in schools and textbooks.

Our first major project is a new 8-Part Documentary Series, “Breaking The Silence - Faces of Hate,” featuring the stories and voices of cultural, academic, business, and civic leaders that will change how the public views and understands the history, experiences, and impact of people of Asian descent throughout America.

Driving Scaleable Social Change

We will work to create tangible change on the streets and neighborhoods of America, calling out and fighting against experiences of Asian hate wherever we live, work, worship, and play.

Our second major project is the creation of an online discrimination prevention platform (Will be in Beta version in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City) where individuals can document, describe, and notify the public about instances of Asian hate and discrimination, detailing public locations, restaurants, or businesses, with suggestions for appropriate action. Subscribers or viewers of this platform will be empowered to make informed consumer choices, and can find resources and facts about how to be a positive force for change.

Joyfully Building Community

We work to build a community of people of all backgrounds who are outraged by White Supremacist beliefs, values, and actions. We will work in solidarity across our individual identities and experiences, unified in the cause of fighting racialized hate.

Our Annual major project is to continue to organize Atlanta Spa Shooting Remembrance Event in Los Angeles memorializing the anniversary of the horrific 2021 Atlanta Spa Shooting. We will continue to organize education and awareness events that bring us together to create an inclusive, democratic America. 

We are STRONGER, TOGETHER!  Together, we will go further!

 TOGETHER, we will accomplish what seems to be nearly impossible!