About This Project

We embarked on this project to archive, document, and better understand solidarity practices within Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the wake of anti-Asian hate and anti-Black racism during the summer of 2020. We asked ourselves:

How could we recognize that solidarity is a challenging strategy even within our communities given the complexities of the AAPI identity, which often excludes Pacific Islanders, South Asians, Filipinos, and Southeast Asians? 

How could Asian Americans address the pain and trauma within our own communities? How could we show up as co-conspirators in ending anti-Black racism? How could we meaningfully do both? 

To contend with these inquiries, we took a learning journey. We interviewed community leaders about their own solidarity practices, both in decades past and today, and asked candid questions about what they wished they had done differently, what they learned, and what they wanted to pass on to others. Here, you’ll find short video clips from our interviews as well as longer solidarity stories which provide key takeaways and background information.

This project is a work in progress. It isn’t comprehensive or complete, and it doesn’t include the full breadth and spectrum of AAPI experiences. Rather, this is a living and evolving space that will continue to take shape. 

We are grateful to the community leaders who gave their time to be interviewed for Solidarity Stories:

For more information, please contact us at asianamtable@gmail.com.