Category: Newsletters

Earlier this month, I traveled to Oak Creek, Wisconsin, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 2012 mass shooting at a Sikh gurdwara, where seven people were murdered by a white supremacist. As we memorialized the victims – Paramjit Kaur Saini, Sita Singh, Ranjit Singh, Prakash Singh, Suveg Singh Khattra, Satwant Singh Kaleka and Baba Punjab Singh – I was moved by the strength of their families, the Gurdwara congregants, and members of the Oak Creek community in the face of a horrific, hateful killing.
With July coming to a close, I hope you are finding ways to enjoy summer and escape the heat, whether that means trips to the beach, family cookouts, or evening walks with friends. Of course, I hope all of us can enjoy these activities safely, without fears of threat or violence.
Today’s long anticipated and devastating ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, effectively striking down Roe v. Wade, reverses nearly 50 years of precedent and decades of progress for women, trans men and non-binary people. The vast majority of Americans understand that reproductive rights are critical to a safe and equitable future for all people. When we lose the right to control our own healthcare decisions, people of color and low-income people are disproportionately affected. We stand with our member organizations and the majority of people across our country who support safe access to abortion and we will continue to fight for equitable policies and access to abortion for those who need it. We are deeply concerned about the lasting implications of this decision and what it means for the sanctity of other Constitutional rights. As always, we remain vigilant in our fight for equity and justice for all.
We're only FOUR DAYS away from California’s June 7 primary and we want to make sure our AAPI communities are represented this election cycle! We’ve been tracking engagement and voter behavior of AAPI communities to strengthen our current and future civic engagement initiatives and make sure our community’s voices are heard and needs are met. Our votes matter and are crucial in leading to policies and practices that our AAPI communities need and deserve.
As AAPI Heritage Month draws to a close, we wanted to share some reflections with you. Every May, we proudly celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (APAHM) and reflect on our communities’ histories in this country. At AAPI Equity Alliance, we celebrate our members who work tirelessly every day to advocate for AAPI issues and amplify our communities’ voices. This APAHM was bittersweet, as we mourned the passing of Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, who first introduced the resolution to proclaim the first 10 days of May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week in 1977. We remember Secretary Mineta, reflect on his lifetime of service and leadership and express our gratitude. His life’s commitment to preserving democracy and addressing inequality wherever it exists, has left a tremendous impact on this country. In honor of his life and legacy, I invite you to learn more about his story through the Mineta Legacy Project.
Once again, our nation reels from a mass shooting at an elementary school – a place violence and fear should never touch, but sadly that is not the case in America. Yesterday’s shooting, which left at least 19 students and 2 teachers dead, comes after weeks of racially-fueled gun violence – from the May 14 mass shooting at a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, to a May 15 shooting at an Orange County, California church in which the suspect targeted the Taiwanese community in an attack police are calling a politically motivated hate crime. In New York, ten people were killed and three were wounded. In California, one man died and five people were injured. And in both shootings, the suspects left behind a trail of evidence, pointing to racism and hate as their motives.