Stanford AASA

Content Warning: Violence

Dear Broader Community,

This has been an extremely difficult week for our community as we have suffered great losses with the recent shootings in Atlanta. Several Asian massage parlors were targeted resulting in the deaths of eight innocent lives, six of whom were Asian women: Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Yue, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, and Daoyou Feng. We honor them all and may they rest in power.

This is not an isolated incident of violence or anti-Asian sentiment. Anti-Asian sentiment persists due to centuries of American imperialization in Asia and the COVID pandemic has only increased the number of attacks on Asian Americans in recent times. Each day more of our community members are becoming the targets of hate crimes, adding to the 3,800+ cases that have already been reported since the beginning of the pandemic. Our community is hurting, and we demand justice for all those who have been oppressed by institutions that perpetuate white supremacy.

Attacks like the one in Atlanta weigh heavily on all of us who worry about the personal safety of ourselves and our loved ones. Stanford AASA will continue to fight for justice for Asian Americans on and off campus. We have the right to be angry. We have the right to demand justice. And, we call upon Stanford’s administration to provide better access to resources for Asian American students.

In strength and solidarity,
The Stanford Asian American Students’ Association

Non-Exhaustive List of Resources and Ways to Get Involved:
Stop AAPI Hate GoFundMe (https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-aapi-community-fund)
Red Canary Song (https://www.redcanarysong.net/)
AAPI Journalists Therapy Relief Fund (https://www.gofundme.com/f/AAPI-journalists-therapy-relief-fund)
Georgia AAPI Community (https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/support-georgias-asian-american-community/)
Hate is a Virus (https://hateisavirus.org/)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Donations (https://secure.donationpay.org/aajc/)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Atlanta Chapter Donations (https://www.advancingjustice-atlanta.org/donate)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Atlanta Direct to Victims and Families Donations (https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/support-georgias-asian-american-community/)
HyunJungKim GoFundMe (https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-memory-of-hyunjungkim-to-support-my-brother-i)
GoFundMe for grandma that was recently attacked in SF (https://www.gofundme.com/f/2b8zh292uo)

We also support the work that the A3C has done in compiling a comprehensive list of resources at the following link: https://a3c.stanford.edu/

Join AASA for our 25th annual and first virtually held Listen to the Silence Conference on the week of February 21st, 2021: "Strengthening Solidarity: Joining Forces in a Distanced World"

We hope everyone is staying healthy and safe during this time of year. As we head into 2021, we are excited to announce we will be holding the annual Asian American Issues conference, Listen to the Silence (LTS). Listen to the Silence is Stanford's annual Asian American issues conference, hosted by the Asian American Students' Association (AASA.) It was first held in 1995 out of a need to increase the visibility of Asian American issues as well as the conditions of the Asian American community.

As our community members work together for this conference, we have one workshop already confirmed: South Asians for Black Lives, hosted by Malikah. This program will be aimed at calling in the South Asian community to dismantle anti-Blackness and join the racial solidarity movement. The program is focused on education and awareness within the South Asian community through social media, monthly newsletter, webinars, and an in person cohort based program.

High schoolers, college students, and community members are all welcome to attend! The virtual conference is FREE. We hope you will join us.
Keynote Speakers and potential Concert Performers will be announced soon.
Week of February 21st, 2021 save the dates to your calendar!
***
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE HERE:
http://aasa.stanford.edu/lts.html
If you want to see what happened at last year's LTS conference, you can find out all about it here : http://aasa.stanford.edu/listen-to-the-silence.html
Follow us on Facebook at Stanford AASA for updates!
If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at [email protected].
Thank you to all of our sponsors for making this event possible.

Hi All,

AASA Elections are happening this Sunday (tomorrow!) 3-4PM PST on Zoom.


If you want to submit any last minute nominations please do so here - https://tinyurl.com/AASA2020

In order to attend elections, please register at this form so we can send you the Zoom link right before the meeting to prevent Zoom bombing! https://tinyurl.com/AASA20E


Additionally, please take the time to read our last post + donate if you have the means to https://www.facebook.com/stanfordaasa/posts/3297604930258608?__tn__=-R

Thank you all, and I hope you are staying healthy and well. (Apologies for the number of links in this post!)

Dear Community,

We hope you all are doing well and staying healthy during these times. We wanted to share an article that is a good resource for Asian Americans that want to support the Black community but are unsure where to start. (The article has also been updated with links to support funds - please consider donating if you have the means to!)

In addition to the steps written in the article, we ask that you also confront anti-Blackness head on in your own life - especially when it shows up in our close communities/peers.
In the comments of this post we will post a few other resources, one of them being Letters for Black Lives - a multilingual and culturally sensitive resource to begin the conversation of anti-Blackness and racial justice.

https://medium.com/awaken-blog/20-allyship-actions-for-asians-to-show-up-for-the-black-community-right-now-464e5689cf3e

20+ Allyship Actions for Asians to Show Up for the Black Community Right Now In light of and ongoing police violence, how can the Asian and Asian American community show up for our Black siblings?

Vote YES for the AASA annual grant in elections THIS MON-TUES (May 18-19) to support 15 Asian-American groups on campus!

Hi All,

We just wanted to share this resource that was created by medical students at the University of Washington, Emory University, and Yale University that features a brief history of Anti-Asian sentiments through systemic racism and how it relates to the current COVID-19 climate/health discrepancies. (Very much related to what was covered in last night's Roundtable Event!)

Thank you so much to those who are doing wonderful work to highlight how oppressive systems of white supremacy and institutionalized racism have affected not only our own communities, but other communities of colour as well!

(Works Cited - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z_lAcbZpuZ9MJGiLbloPwTS8AcF_jXOchgy7AOGNB6w/edit?usp=sharing&fbclid=IwAR2ImAteh4fmkgIN_lX5M3HWFi-zmKqEldyg_NhYLBvZinTnJX0Jw_RqL5U)

Please join us for a roundtable discussion on the Asian American Experience during the current COVID-19 pandemic featuring Dr. Will Gow, Professor Judy Wu, Professor Russell Jeung, and Linda Lee! The discussion will focus on current challenges, the historical perspective, and community responses.

The event will be taking place tomorrow, Tuesday May 12th at 6PM PST, so please be sure to register at bit.ly/asianroundtablepandemic beforehand.

This programming was made possible by the Stanford Asian American Activities Center, Asian American Studies, Stanford AASA, Okada, and the Stanford Asian Pacific American Alumni Club!

Dear Community,

Please join us for a special preview of the new PBS documentary series "Asian Americans" today at 6:30PM PST! This episode highlights Filipino farm worker leader Larry Itliong, the Third World Liberation Front, and the Viet Nam War and its fallout.

This event will also feature a virtual Q & A afterwards with Professor Gordon Chang and Lecturer William Gow and is open to Stanford students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

Please be sure to register here for the screening - http://bit.ly/screeningasianamericans

This programming was made possible by the Stanford Asian American Activities Center, the Asian American Students' Association, Asian American Studies, Okada, and the Stanford Asian Pacific American Alumni Club.

The Students of Color Coalition (which AASA is a member of) has published a statement on the recent usage of the n-word by a non-Black professor in a CSRE class. We sincerely hope that the department takes the incident seriously, centers Black voices regarding this situation, and takes accountability and action for the hurt caused.
Please take the time to read the full statement in the original post below.

SOCC Statement 4-30-2020 (public)

Class of 2024 Admits,

Thank you for joining us during yesterday's OSE panel and breakout group session (despite the Zoom hiccup oop!)

If you are interested in learning more about a few of AASA's subgroups and more perspectives regarding the Asian American community on campus please be sure to check out the upcoming admit events!

More information about the events can be found on the Stanford Asian American Activities Center's website at a3c.stanford.edu

Also be sure to check out AASA's website at aasa.stanford.edu to learn more about us!

Congrats on your acceptance and we hope to see you around next school year !



*EDIT - The A3C will be having their Admit event on Sunday (not Saturday) Apologies for the confusion!

Photos from Camera One. Camera Two will be uploaded soon!


- Key Note Speaker featuring Jane Kim
- Featured Panel with Adrian Bonifacio, Sakhone Lasaphangthong, Barnali Ghosh, and Anirvan Chatterjee
- Concert featuring nix
- Various workshop photos

The 22 Percent is a campaign that is asking Stanford Admissions to release the ethnic breakdown of the racial groups that make up our communities.
This is especially important to us and our VSOs as many underrepresented Asian American groups on campus are heavily impacted by this data. The university needs to release this data to give our campus a better understanding of who is in our communities so we and the university at large can better support them!

Check out the campaign's new demands in their recent Op-Ed!

The 22% Campaign demands that the University publicly release disaggregated admissions data | The Stanford Daily The 22% Campaign presents a set of eight demands to Stanford, including that the University publicly release disaggregated admissions data.

*** LTS REGISTRATION ENDS 1/10 ***

LINK TO EVENT - https://www.facebook.com/events/440424516637679/?__mref=mb

***
Listen to the Silence (LTS) is an annual Asian American issues conference organized by Stanford's Asian American Students' Association (AASA) that features various speakers, workshops, concert, and forum. The full day conference is free and open to the public and will take place on January 25th, 2020 at Stanford University.

With this year’s theme, Liberation in our Lifetime: Building our Collective Future, we want to inspire the hope and love that sustains the movement toward liberation. We all have a role to play in this work, whether that means donating to a grassroots community organization, rallying volunteers for direct action, having difficult conversations with our families, or lobbying for legislation that protects our communities. We hope that Listen to the Silence 2020 will inspire and encourage you to believe in the collective future of liberation in our lifetimes.

If you want to register for or read more about LTS, visit http://aasa.stanford.edu/lts.html. If you want to learn more about Stanford AASA, visit our website at http://aasa.stanford.edu.

Welcoming 2020 with some appreciation for our AASA Core! We are sincerely grateful for all of the work that goes on within our core and AASA subgroups, and we wish for another great year with everyone involved! ❤

Get involved with us at our first AASA meeting of the decade, Sunday, Jan 10, 3pm at the A3C Couchroom!

❗❗❗ Support Underrepresented Asian American Admissions ❗❗❗

TSU, HSU, SKA, and other organizations under the AASA umbrella have formed a coalition calling for the disaggregation of data regarding admissions.

For more context @ http://tinyurl.com/22percentletter
Please sign in solidarity @ http://tinyurl.com/the22percent

- Forwarded Message from "The 22 Percent" -

In 2004, forty Southeast Asian students protested outside the Dean of Admissions Office demanding an increase in Southeast and South Asian outreach efforts. Over a decade later, the importance of diversity within the Asian/Asian American community has dissolved as the number of students that identify as Hmong, Khmer, Lao, and Tibetan have dwindled.

As quickly as organizations like the Hmong Student Union, Stanford Khmer Association, and Tibetan Student Union have appeared, they are at risk of disappearing. In the 2018-2019 school year, 22% of Stanford undergraduate students identified as Asian. Of these 1,552 Asian students, our organizations know of only 5 Tibetan students, 15 Hmong students, and even fewer Lao students.
Our organizations put on events and programming that breach the gaps that the Admissions Office fails to address when doing their job, including high school outreach programs that have motivated students to apply and later attend Stanford.

Over a week ago our organizations came together and wrote to the Admissions Office, but were brushed off. We will be coming out with testimonies regarding the importance of diverse admissions and disaggregated data soon, but for more context please view the full initial letter sent to Admissions at tinyurl.com/22percentletter

If you support the disaggregation of data and more diverse Asian American admissions, sign in solidarity at tinyurl.com/the22percent

*We also want to make it explicitly clear by calling for support of our communities, we do not absolve Stanford of its commitment to other communities. We stand in solidarity with Black, Latiné, Native, Pacific Islander, and other Asian communities.

- DUE TODAY -

Interested in serving the Asian American community at Stanford?
Would you like to get involved in education, organization, service, and action to actively promote consciousness of AA cultures, identities, and issues?
Are you looking for a warm and passionate family rooted in API activism and advocacy?

- APPLY TO BE AN AASA INTERN -

Intern Apps are OPEN for the Asian American Student Association (AASA)
Apply @ tinyurl.com/AASAapp
Due October 10th @ 11:59PM
Questions? Please send a message to our page OR email [email protected] & [email protected]
http://aasa.stanford.edu/

Thank you to everyone who came to Asian Images: Unique and United this past weekend! It was amazing to see the paintings, prints, short films, poetry readings, sculptures, tabling, live drawing, tapestry work... by local and student API artists.
A huge shoutout to the participating artists, and hopefully you all keep a look out for their work!

Jason Bayani
Kazumi Chin
Gay Bay Baes Collective
Diana Li
Rachel Lam
Amy Chen
Cathy Yang
Momo Hoshi
Miso Kim
Melissa Chen
Pio Thompson
Euan K. Yang
Matt Shimura
Juliana Chang
Vida K
Marady Chhim
Shirin Towfiq
Janet Chen
Syd Westley
Hannah Nguyen

Every year, in honor of Asian/Pacific Islander (API) Heritage month in May, Stanford's Asian American Students Association puts on Asian Images to demonstrate the impact that everyone can have in combating the under-representation of APIs in the media and the arts.

Asian Images 2019: Unique and United will be happening on Saturday, May 25 from 1-3 pm in the Bechtel International Center Assembly Room. Free admission, free food, and fantastic artists from our community!

To trace back the history of this event, here are some of our past years' Asian Images, with artists like Franny Choi, Paul Tran, a host of local and Stanford artists, and Constance Wu/the Fresh off the Boat Cast. This year, we are featuring grassroots artists from our own communities -- both from Stanford and the greater Bay Area. Come by for an afternoon of art, food, and community!

Ended 2018 on a list of amazing Asian Americans including many friends and collaborators 💖
Check out the full list here:
http://mrawmraw.squarespace.com/100azns/archive/2018

"Members/supporters of the multi-ethnic Laotian American Community, including Iu Mien and other ethnic groups originating from Laos, seek inclusion of Laotian refugee history and culture in California’s state model curricula. Inclusion in the model curricula will provide a framework to teach K-12 students about the Indochina war which took place in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, also known as Southeast Asia; and the plight of refugees from these countries who came to the United States during the postwar era."

"Laotian Americans, who played critical roles in the Indochina War, have been in California for more than 40 years, and need to be included in any California social science model curricula concerning the Indochina War Legacy."

Please consider signing on to this letter of support to include multi-ethnic Laotian American history and culture in California's K-12 School Curricula.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5lAY6b1FaLTOIOeKK3zR0JrXbQevUs0HlqQ6r1fsvx8Vpdg/viewform

LETTER OF SUPPORT TO INCLUDE MULTI-ETHNIC LAOTIAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA’S K-12 SCHOOL CURRICULA Members/supporters of the multi-ethnic Laotian American Community, including Iu Mien and other ethnic groups originating from Laos, seek inclusion of Laotian refugee history and culture in California’s state model curricula. Inclusion in the model curricula will provide a framework to teach K-12 s...

"This week, the Vietnamese Anti-Deportation Network (VADN) was alerted that the Vietnamese government will be meeting with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to renegotiate the current repatriation agreement starting on Sunday, December 9, 2018. This meeting is part of a continuing effort by the U.S. to push for the mass deportation of Vietnamese immigrants and could have extreme implications for the Vietnamese community by making all Vietnamese nationals with orders of removal vulnerable to deportation, regardless of when they came to the U.S."

"Sign-on to protect our families and communities, and demand that the current protections afforded to the Vietnamese community under the current Agreement be maintained."

https://www.change.org/p/department-of-homeland-security-we-are-watching-sign-on-against-amendments-to-us-vietnam-repatriation-agreement?recruiter=874234568&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial.pacific_email_copy_en_us_3.control.pacific_email_copy_en_gb_4.v1.pacific_email_copy_en_us_5.v1.pacific_post_sap_share_gmail_abi.gmail_abi.lightning_2primary_share_options_more.control

Sign the Petition Department of Homeland Security: WE ARE WATCHING! SIGN-ON AGAINST AMENDMENTS TO US-VIETNAM REPATRIATION AGREEMENT

Check out this interview with Dr. Helen Hsu, one of the Asian American Activities Center's (A3C) CAPS Liaisons! She shares valuable insights about mental health within API communities.

In some Asian American families, there is a deafening silence about mental health issues. That must change. Listen to our podcast interview with Dr. Helen Hsu via Emil Guillermo Media, http://bit.ly/2U5ECun

"The Trump administration just published a proposed rule to limit immigration by drastically changing the definition of a public charge. Adopted in 1882, the same year as the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act, the public charge test was historically used to block immigration by Irish Catholics and Jewish refugees.

Under the proposed rule, the list of public benefits, including health, nutrition, and housing programs, has expanded. In addition, their use could be considered when immigrants seek to change their immigration status, apply to get their green cards, or seek entry or reentry into the U.S.

The proposal will also penalize children, older adults, people with lower incomes, people who are living with pre-existing health conditions or disabilities, and people who are not fluent in English, negatively affecting their ability to get green cards. Already, the proposed change to the rule is frightening individuals from using vital programs in order to keep their families together.

We strongly urge you to submit a comment telling the government to stop attacking our families through scare tactics like public charge. Please customize the comment with your own words and personal story so the government hears each one of us loud and clear."

https://actnow.io/eVcB1eY

actnow.io Today I took action and said . We can't let the Trump Administration deprive our families from public programs that help America thrive. It's time to fight back as to

Youth MOJO is an organizing and leadership program that helps empower high school youth. This past summer, they started their campaign Our Healing in Our Hands to improve mental health resources in the SF Unified School District. Help these high school students travel to LA for an Exchange Trip!

"At the end of this month, 7 Youth MOJO members will be traveling to Southern California for Youth Exchange Trip! During this trip, we will be meeting different groups in the LA area to learn about their work and how they organize their community. We will be bringing back what we learn to move our mental health campaign forward. Will you join us in supporting this trip by making a donation of $50?"
https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/help-youth-mojo-get-to-southern-california-for-a-youth-exchange-trip

Help Youth MOJO Get to Southern California for a Youth Exchange Trip At the end of this month, 7 Youth MOJO members will be traveling to Southern California for Youth Exchange Trip! During this trip, we will be meeting different groups in the LA area to learn about their work and how they organize their community. We will ...

"Currently, ETAs are paid $4,200 compared to Resident Assistants (RAs) who are paid $11,822.25, and Residential Computing Consultants (RCCs) which are paid between $7,000-8,000. We are calling on the University to increase our pay to match the pay of RAs. Please sign our petition to support our campaign to increase our pay. "

Sign the petition for equity for ETAs, and support the amazing work that they do!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfAq4tJa37LYZvwWq87k9ik_mpAOMx3i6Sfna6rHmjc14bXvQ/viewform

Petition to Increase Pay for ETAs Ethnic Theme Associates (ETAs) promote and develop the purpose of Ethnic Theme Dorms: to be a safe and comfortable space for students to live, find a community, and engage with the theme. ETAs are responsible for theme programming, bringing speakers to campus, and taking care of the emotional needs....

"Think of the ethics behind the technology that some companies (which Stanford students frequently interview and work for) use. Salesforce employees and immigrants’ rights activists have been protesting Salesforce's contract with border patrol to hire more agents. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) also uses Salesforces cloud.

This is why we are asking you to sign the petition and pub it. Pledge to refrain from interviewing with Salesforce until it fully withdraws from its contract with Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)."

https://petitions.moveon.org/p/N_9v0

Sign the petition: Salesforce Pledge I just signed a petition to Marc Benioff , Chair and Co-CEO: Pledge to refrain from interviewing with Salesforce until it fully withdraws from its contract with Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).

"Danny currently has a final order of deportation to Laos, a country he has never set foot in, and where he has no family or support.

Recently, the US government sanctioned Laos in order to force them to take deportees. Danny is one of those who could be picked up by ICE at any moment. Like Danny, many Southeast Asians affected by deportation are refugees who arrived in the US at a young age, their families escaping war, and now the US is trying to deport them to countries they don't even know.

One of the only ways to prevent Danny's deportation is to get a pardon from Governor Brown. Please, help sign on to a support letter to help prevent Danny's deportation! Sign here and please share with your friends: bit.ly/stand4danny

Read more about Danny's story here: http://bit.ly/Stand4DannyStory "

Stand4Danny Help our dear friend and community member Danny Thongsy fight his deportation

Please sign a support letter on Danny's behalf: bit.ly/stand4danny