The new Congress must cut the prison-to-deportation pipeline before it causes life-long pain to more Asian American refugees and immigrants.

By Daishi Miguel-Tanaka

As we usher in a new year and new Congress, the time has come to permanently end America’s mass immigrant incarceration and detention crisis. On January 26, Representatives Jesús “Chuy” Garcia (IL) Pramila Jayapal (WA), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Karen Bass (CA) led the reintroduction of the New Way Forward Act alongside more than 30 original cosponsors including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib. The New Way Forward Act, first introduced in 2019, would end the…

Combating misinformation and disinformation is vital to countering White supremacy among Asian Americans and other communities that speak languages other than English

By Emily Chi

In the days following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, many tech platforms and private companies stepped up to take more drastic actions to ban accounts and moderate harmful content. But even in attempts to combat White supremacy and nationalism, tech companies’ scopes remained White-centric.

Unfortunately, we saw plenty of Asian faces and flags among the violent White supremacists and Confederate flags during the insurrection. It is a jarring reminder that some…

By John C. Yang

As Asian Americans Advancing Justice — AAJC looks forward to working with the Biden Administration on meaningful immigration reform, we face the Trump Administration’s final attempts to deter immigrants from establishing roots in America. In December, the Administration established yet another unfair and unnecessary obstacle for those seeking to become Americans. This time, it targeted the nearly nine million lawful permanent residents who are eligible for U.S.citizenship. The tactic: suddenly overhauling the citizenship civics test.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) rolled out a test that is much more complex and based on contested…

Everyone has been dramatically impacted by the events of the past year, and we want to acknowledge the hardships, struggles, and range of emotions that you have experienced in the past year. Through the ups and downs, we are grateful for the opportunities to work even harder for our Asian American communities across the country. We were able to stay connected virtually, work together on the census and elections, and fight back against anti-Asian/Asian American hate. …

By Anika Raju

This year, we saw a significant amount of Asian American representation in film and television despite limitations in production placed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The following is a list of television shows and films released in 2020 which feature Asian Americans in prominent roles. We hope increased representation and more diverse stories become normalized in 2021 and the years to come.

New in 2020

1. All My Life

This romantic drama film features Jessica Rothe and Harry Shum Jr. as real-life couple Jennifer Carter and Solomon Chau. Happily engaged, the couple’s world is shaken when they learn that Solomon has…

By Vivin Qiang

Over the Moon is Netflix’s latest animated film led by a mostly Asian cast with veteran Disney animator, Glen Keane, as the director. The story, which was written by the late Audrey Wells, to whom the movie is dedicated to, originated from Chinese Mythology, the Goddess of the Moon Chang’e, who lives alone on the moon while longing for her husband, Houyi, on Earth. Fei Fei (Cathy Ang), the teenage protagonist is also dealing with a loss of her own, her mother who deeply believed in the story and spirit of Chang’e. …

By Vivin Qiang

Today marks the day over two decades ago when Asian American scientist Dr. Wen Ho Lee became the target of racial scapegoating and profiling by his own country, and faced injustice as a result of a failure on all levels of government. On December 10, 1999, Dr. Lee was arrested and accused of providing nuclear secrets to the government of China. Despite lacking any evidence of economic espionage, Dr. Lee was jailed in solitary confinement for nine months without bail. Dr. …

By Anika Raju

Netflix film The Half of It premiered on May 1, 2020 and presents a major milestone in the representation of Asian Americans in mainstream media. Set in the small, fictional town of Squahamish, the film follows Ellie Chu, played by Leah Lewis, who is asked by football jock Paul to ghostwrite love letters to his crush. Ellie confronts the challenges of high school while also navigating her Asian American and LGBTQ+ identity.

Representation of the LGBTQ+ and Asian American communities in mainstream media is limited, making this film all the more significant. The Half of It…