Contemporary Asian American Activism

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.

Diane C. Fujino is professor of Asian American studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Robyn Magalit Rodriguez is professor and chair of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis.

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Building an Archive of Asian American Organizing Praxis

Robyn Magalit Rodriguez and Diane C. Fujino 

PART 1: INCARCERATIONS, DISPLACEMENTS, AND TRANSFORMATIONS

Chapter 1 Prison-to-Leadership Pipeline: Asian American Prisoner Activism

Eddy Zheng 

Chapter 2 Ho'opono Mamo and Restorative Practices: Reflections on Scholar Activism in Juvenile Justice Systems Change

Karen Umemoto 

Chapter 3 The Streets of SoMa: Building Community amid Displacement in San Francisco

Angelica Cabande, with Katherine Nasol 

PART 2: INTERNATIONALISM AND LOCAL STRUGGLES

Chapter 4 Dismantling the "Undocumented Korean Box": Race, Education, and Undocumented Korean Immigrant Activism for Liberation

Ga Young Chung 

Chapter 5 ­Drivers on the Front Lines: The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Neoliberalism, and Global Pandemic—An Interview with Javaid Tariq

Diane C. Fujino 

Chapter 6 BAYAN USA: Filipino Transnational Radical Activism in the United States in the Twenty-First Century

Jessica Antonio 

PART 3: POLITICAL EDUCATION AND RADICAL PEDAGOGY

Chapter 7 Political Education as Revolutionary Praxis

May C. Fu 

Chapter 8 "Organizing Wherever Your Feet Land": Reconceptualizing Writing and Writing Instruction in the Legacy of Asian American Activism

Katherine H. Lee 

Chapter 9 How Does It Feel to Be on the Precipice? ChangeLab, A Racial Justice Experiment

Soya Jung 

PART 4: ON MOVEMENT BUILDING: SHAPED BY THE PAST, CREATING NEW FUTURES

Chapter 10 On Movement Praxis in the Era of Trumpism

Alex T. Tom 

Chapter 11 "Pete Wilson Trying to See Us All Broke": Asian American Cross-Racial Student Activism in 1990s California

Robyn Magalit Rodriguez, with Wayne Jopanda 

Chapter 12 The Struggle to Abolish Environmental and Economic Racism: Asian Radical Imagining from the Homeland to the Front Line

Pam Tau Lee 

Epilogue: Radical Love for a New Generation

Robyn Magalit Rodriguez 

List of Contributors 

Index