With so much going on in the world, CAA has entered a new period of growth and expansion so that we can continue to meet the needs of our communities. At the same time, we are doubling down on our commitment to legislative advocacy and grassroots organizing to deliver transformative change for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities
Check out the following updates for more information about where our advocacy will take us next.
There is no place for hate in California.
CAA and Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition we co-founded, announced new state legislation offering non-carceral solutions to hate and harassment in public spaces. The campaign, entitled No Place for Hate California, includes three pieces of legislation.
The first bill will take a public health approach to preventing street harassment. The second will address harassment on public transit and the third in large chain stores and retail businesses.
All three bills were introduced into the legislature in mid-February — and will be heard by their corresponding committees within a matter of weeks.
If passed, this legislative agenda could serve as a model approach to keep women and other vulnerable groups safe in the communities where they live and work.
Direct services
Language diversity
Hundreds of Southeast Asians in California are facing deportation, many who have lived in the U.S. for decades, after fleeing violence and war intervention in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Following the lead of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, one of our steadfast partners in the Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE) network, CAA submitted support letters for Phoeun You, Maria Legarda, Borey “Peejay” Ai, and Ngheip “Kei” Lam. In reviewing each case, we hope that Governor Newsom will issue pardons and allow all four of them to remain in California.
Immigrant justice
CAA continues to advocate for the expansion of language access in San Francisco and throughout the State of California. This past month, we joined the Asian Law Caucus in negotiating a settlement with the EDD, which has agreed to increase its in-language services, making unemployment insurance more accessible for limited English proficient (LEP) communities.
CAA was also successful in revising the state elections code to extend language access coverage for LEP voters in California, after a recent memorandum considered stripping language assistance from several counties ahead of the midterm elections.
On the frontlines
The U.S. Justice Department ends the China Initiative, but but falls short of addressing racial bias.
“The Department of Justice (DOJ) falls short of confronting the racial and ethnic bias that is pervasive throughout the U.S. national security apparatus.” So begins CAA’s response to the DOJ’s decision to end the China Initiative, the Trump-era program responsible for the racial profiling of hundreds of Chinese scientists.
DOJ officials announced that the China Initiative will be replaced with a new national security program — one that expands the original scope to include countries like Russia and Iran. As a long-time critic of racial profiling and ethnic scapegoating, we recognize this is a dangerous decision, and have called upon the Biden administration to launch an independent investigation into the China Initiative.
CAA has also joined an amicus brief in support of Dr. Xiaoxing Xi, a physics professor whose research was investigated under the China Initiative. Click here to learn more.
Onwards and upwards
CAA new hires
Thanks to our supporters new and old, CAA has been able to grow faster than ever before.
In the past six months, we have welcomed new faces across communications and advocacy, development and operations, policy and research, and programs and services.
Help CAA keep up the momentum and share our open positions across your social networks.
In the news
CAA Program Manager Crystal Van emphasizes the importance of immigrant outreach ahead of the San Francisco school board elections in an interview with KGO-TV.
NBC News wrote about the No Place For Hate policy agenda, which was introduced into the California state legislature last month.
In an article on KTVU, CAA and other immigrant advocates were credited with negotiating a $21 million settlement with the California EDD.
Axios quoted Stop AAPI Hate in its coverage of the DOJ decision to end the China Initiative.
