Solidarity is part of the struggles and stories of freedom, resistance, joy, and power in Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
Welcome to Solidarity Stories from Asian American and Pacific Islander Community Leaders, a project of the National Asian American Leaders Table on COVID-19 Racism’s Solidarity Working Group.
At a time of increased anti-Asian hate and ongoing violence targeting Black, indigenous and Latinx communities, solidarity is a practice that can anchor us. Here, we have gathered stories about the complexity and possibility of solidarity practices in Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Learn about how Japanese American elders intervened in the use of a former incarceration camp to hold children separated from their families during the Trump Administration. Hear about how Native Hawaiians used cultural and spiritual practices to protest the construction of a telescope on Mauna Kea. Reflect on how Indo-Caribbeans navigate being part of and apart from South Asian and Asian American communities. Discuss how Black organizers rely on Asian American solidarity in the struggle for Black liberation.
We invite you to use Solidarity Stories widely to:
Learn more about AAPI histories and experiences.
Generate discussions with your student organization, volunteer group, community-based organization, workplace or friends and family.
Come up with your own solidarity practices.
Honoring Ancestral Histories and Traditions
This Solidarity Story, featuring Presley Ke’alaanuhea Ah Mook Sang, focuses on the efforts by Native Hawaiians to oppose the construction of a telescope on Mauna Kea, a sacred site with cultural and spiritual relevance.
Ensuring that History is Not Repeated
This Solidarity Story, featuring Mike Ishii (Tsuru for Solidarity), focuses on the campaign anchored by Japanese Americans to persuade the US government from using Fort Sill as a center to house children separated from their families.
Building Coalitions through Connections
This Solidarity Story, featuring Zahra Billoo (Council of American-Islamic Relations, Bay Area) shares how Muslim organizations, along with a broad coalition, advocated against a local government taskforce that profiled Arab, Muslim and South Asian communities.
Interrogating the Asian American Pacific Islander Umbrella Identity
This Solidarity Story, featuring Tavae Samuelu (Empowering Pacific Islander Communities), shares why Pacific Islanders interrogate the idea of an Asian American and Pacific Islander identity
Centering Southeast Asian Communities
This Solidarity Story, featuring Sarath Suong (Southeast Asian Freedom Action Network) shares why Asian Americans must center the experiences of Southeast Asians when addressing policing and deportations.
Healing Trauma Individually and Collectively
This Solidarity Story, featuring Simone Jhingoor and Shivana Jorawar, co-directors of Jahajee Sisters, provides insights into the histories and experiences of Indo-Caribbean communities with solidarity.
Supporting Affirmative Action
This Solidarity Story, featuring Vincent Pan (Chinese for Affirmative Action), explores why the support of affirmative action is a way to express solidarity.
Building Across Communities with Shared Purpose
This Solidarity Story, featuring DJ Kuttin Kandi (Asian Solidarity Collective), focuses on how solidarity can be a powerful strategy to understand shared purpose.
Uniting to Fight for Collective Rights
This Solidarity Story, featuring Gayle Romasanta, focuses on how Filipino and Mexican workers found common ground to fight for worker rights.
Crises Bring Possibilities to Build Together
This Solidarity Story focuses on how Korean communities built with Black communities during and after the LA Uprising.
Fighting for Co-Liberation
This Solidarity Story, featuring Patrice Lawrence (UndocuBlack Network) shares how Asian Americans can and must build solidarity with undocumented Black immigrants for our mutual liberation.
Building Black-Asian Solidarity
This Solidarity Story, featuring Curtis Muhammad, a lifelong freedom fighter, explores how Asian-Black solidarity can lead to systemic change.