Columbia University Asian American Alliance

Interested in joining AAA and being part of our fAAAm? We are Columbia University’s oldest and only pan-Asian group on campus. We do social and political work both on and off campus, with an emphasis on healing, joy, and solidarity.

APPLY to join our (sexy, cool, fun) board for the 2022-2023 school year! You can ALSO sign up to be part of our general body.

Apply for board: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0Xf2gtVMWSPZ3nhcYkALkBxPMfYf4v7iZViyy9VsLtE6AEw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Sign up for gen bod: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfArc876GeJl7vS93MUnIaPbrReRM4x6v3iQVhVDlQHZ5ECsw/viewform?usp=sf_link

📆 APPLICATIONS ARE DUE 9/23/22 at 11:59PM EST

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, POLITICAL ADVOCACY, DISCUSSIONS, SOCIALS: WE HAVE IT ALL🫶🏼

Please let us know if you have questions!

In AAA's history of anti-Asian racism educational series, we share historical and present day occurrences of anti-Asian hate + violence and anti-Asian legislation + court cases.

In today's post (and our first in this series!), we discuss the 1871 Chinese Massacre in Los Angeles and the 1854 People v. Hall Supreme Court case.

[Reminder: Check out our Link in Bio for our event TODAY: Community Healing in the wake of anti-Asian Racism]

Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Delania Ashley Yuan, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng.

These are the names of the victims of the Atlanta shooting.

Six of those killed by this violent act of white supremacy were Asian women. This tragic loss of life is not an isolated event, but an embodiment of systemic racism, hate, and racialized misogyny faced by the Asian American community. As a political student group, we condemn this violence and the white supremacist motives that have enabled this brutality.

This tragedy highlights an escalating pattern of anti-Asian hate catalyzed by the pandemic, hateful political rhetoric, and racially-charged language, including the referral of COVID19 as the “Kung-Flu” or “Chinese Virus”.

In the last year, 3,795 anti-Asian incidents have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate, yet the estimated number remains much higher. The Pew Research Center reports that 58% of Asian Americans feel they experience racism more commonly now than before the pandemic, and more than 30% have reported experiencing slurs or jokes because of their race or ethnicity.

There is so much pain in this—specifically, the pain of longstanding racism that has been reinvigorated. Asian hate crimes are by no means a new phenomenon, as our collective history, a history largely ignored by mainstream discourse, is tainted with state-sanctioned efforts to mark Asians as “alien” or carriers of a contagion.

At the same time, anti-Asian racism is connected to a broader system of white supremacy that benefits from divisions between communities of color. As a student group, we must work with other marginalized communities to dismantle this to dismantle this oppressive system for the benefit of all oppressed people.

Sources:
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/07/01/many-black-and-asian-americans-say-they-have-experienced-discrimination-amid-the-covid-19-outbreak/

https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/asian-americans-full-film-video-gallery/asian-americans/

Happy Lunar New Year from the Asian American Alliance 🧧🧧🧧

Columbia University Asian American Alliance stands in solidarity with the Myanmar Association and the Myanmar people in condemning the military coup.

Myanmar, at the moment, has been disconnected from the world almost completely. It is up to the international community to help raise awareness and speak up on behalf of the people of Myanmar (Burma) and use our liberties to promote theirs.

Here are broad ways to help:
1) Donate to credible fundraisers
2) Sign the petition at http://chng.it/9dK84NxScy
3) Please SHARE SHARE SHARE

Reminder to apply for AAA Spring 2021! This April we will be hosting Crossroads this Spring, an APIA leadership conference for high school students that aims to provide youth with a space to discuss issues beyond the politics of inclusion and representation, but rather the structural roots of racism and white supremacy.

If this sounds like something you are interested in helping us organize, apply to be on the AAA board! We are accepting applications until January 28 at 11:59pm EST.

tinyurl.com/AAA-App2021
tinyurl.com/AAA-App2021