In the struggles for prison abolition, global anti-imperialism, immigrant rights, affordable housing, environmental justice, fair labor, and more, twenty-first-century Asian American activists are speaking out and standing up to systems of oppression. Creating emancipatory futures requires collective action and reciprocal relationships that are nurtured over time and forged through cross-racial solidarity and intergenerational connections, leading to a range of on-the-ground experiences.
Bringing together grassroots organizers and scholar-activists, Contemporary Asian American Activism presents lived experiences of the fight for transformative justice and offers lessons to ensure the longevity and sustainability of organizing. In the face of imperialism, white supremacy, racial capitalism, heteropatriarchy, ableism, and more, the contributors celebrate victories and assess failures, reflect on the trials of activist life, critically examine long-term movement building, and inspire continued mobilization for coming generations.
“Offers validation, insight, and new research and discussion questions for Asian American scholar-activists.”
“Continues the social justice legacy of ethnic studies and Asian American studies.”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contemporary Asian American Activism: Building Movements for Liberation
Introduction
Building an Archive of Organizing Praxis: Asian American Activism in the 21st Century • Robyn Magalit Rodriguez and Diane C. Fujino
Part I. Incarcerations, Displacements, and Transformations
1. Prison to Leadership Pipeline: Asian American Prisoner Activism • Eddy Zheng
2. Ho‘ponopono and Restorative Practices: Reflections on Scholar Activism in Juvenile Justice Systems Change • Karen Umemoto
3. The Streets of SoMA: Building Community Amidst Displacement in San Francisco •. Angelica Cabande, with Katherine Nasol
Part II. Internationalism and Local Struggles
4. Dismantling the “Undocumented Korean Box:” Race, Education, and Undocumented Korean Immigrant Activism for Liberation • Ga Young Chung
5. Drivers on the Frontlines: The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Neoliberalism, and Global Pandemic -- An Interview with Javaid Tariq • Diane C. Fujino
6. BAYAN USA: Filipino Transnational Radical Activism in the United States in the 21st Century • Jessica Antonio
Part III. Political Education and Radical Pedagogy
7. Political Education as Revolutionary Praxis • May Fu
8. “Organizing Wherever Your Feet Land:” Reconceptualizing Writing and Writing Instruction in the Legacy of Asian American Activism • Katherine H. Lee
9. How Does It Feel to Be on the Precipice? ChangeLab, A Racial Justice Experiment • Soya Jung
Part IV. On Movement Building: Shaped by the Past, Creating New Futures
10. On Movement Praxis in the Era of Trumpism • Alex T. Tom
11. “Pete Wilson Trying to See Us All Broke:” Asian Americans Cross-Racial Student Activism in 1990s California • Robyn Magalit Rodriguez, with Wayne Jopanda
12. The Struggle to Abolish Environmental and Economic Racism: Asian Radical Imagining from the Homeland to the Frontline • Pam Tau Lee
Epilogue
Be Love, Be Loved, Be Amado: Radical Love for a New Generation • Robyn Magalit Rodriguez