​In the wake of increased violence against Black folks, 128 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations and allied organizations – from national advocacy NGOs to university student groups – are rising to support #BlackLivesMatter and the Movement for Black Lives.
 
Below please find the statement and the undersigned supporters. This statement is also available in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese. 

Signed by:
 
18MillionRising.org
Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus
Alaskeros Kasamahan
Alliance of South Asian American Labor (ASAAL)
Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)
Anakbayan USA
API Equality - Northern California (APIENC)
API Queer Women and Trans Community (APIQWTC)
API Solidarity DC
Asian American Alliance at Duke
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
Asian American Millennials Unite
Asian American Organizing Project
Asian American Pacific Islander Progressive Alliance
Asian American Psychological Association
Asian American Resource Workshop
Asian American Student Union (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
Asian American Studies Task Force
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles
Asian Americans United
Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy - Philadelphia
Asian Pacific American Heritage Week - University of Pennsylvania
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO - Washington, DC
Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon
Asian Pacific American Student Development, UC Berkeley
Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (APIA) at UC Santa Barbara
Asian Students in America at Carleton College
Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL)
Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum
Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association
Asian/Pacific Islander Queers United for Action (AQUA)
AZAPIAVote Table
Baltimore Asian Resistance in Solidarity
Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour
CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities
Center for APA Women
ChangeLab
Chinatown Community for Equitable Development (CCED)
Chinese Progressive Association - San Francisco
Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement
Council on American-Islamic Relations, SFBA
Dari Project
Densho
DRUM - Desis Rising Up and Moving
East Coast Asian American Student union
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities
Filipino Advocates for Justice
Filipino American Democratic Club of New York
Freedom Inc
GABRIELA USA
Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY)
Girls Make Better Ninjas: AAPI Feminism Workshop
Hai Ba Trung School for Organizing, SoCal
Hmong Innovating Politics
Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Student Association
Jahajee Sisters: Empowering Indo-Caribbean Women
Japanese American Citizens League Philadelphia Chapter
Lantern Media Network
LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leadership and Organizing)
KAN-WIN
Kimchi Mamas
Korean American Resource and Cultural Center
Migrante Washington D.C.
Muslim Community Network
Muslim Women's Professional Network - St. Louis
National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, NAAPIMHA
National Asian Pacific American Families Against Substance Abuse
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum - Bay Area
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum - New York
National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA)
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance
OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates
OneAmerica
Pan Asian American Student Alliance of the University of San Francisco
Penn Taiwanese Society
Philadelphia South Asian Collective
Pilipino American Unity for Progress, Inc. (UniPro)
PrYSM
Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project - QWOCMAP
Rad Asians - Twin Cities
Reappropriate
상록수 (Sahngnoksoo) Seattle
Satrang
Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN)
South Asian American Policy & Research Institute (SAAPRI)
South Asian Americans Leading Together
South Asian Fund For Education, Scholarship & Training (SAFEST)
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
Southeast Asian Community Alliance
Southeast Asian Coalition (SEAC)
​Southwest Asian & North Afrikan - Los Angeles (SWANA-LA) 
Stanford Asian American Activism Committee
Trikone Northwest
VAYLA New Orleans
Viet-Unity Los Angeles
Wakefield Asian Club
Yale School of Drama's Asian American and Asian Theater Coalition


Allied Organizations
After Bruce PR & Marketing
Agenda Project Action Fund
Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice
Ceanothus Consulting
Chutney Pride Inc.- A Nonprofit LGBT Caribbean Organization
Community Health Partnership
Elemental Partners
Families Of Color Seattle
Freedom at Emory University
Freedom Trainers
The Gathering for Justice/Justice League NYC
Lionswrite Communications
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
mothermade
Oregon State University
PKVisuals
Pride at Work
Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project
Stop the Checkpoints
UFCW Minority Coalition
United Steelworkers
Voto Latino
Workers Defense Project

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Washington, DC – Earlier this week, all charges related to the 2015 detainment and death of Freddie Gray against the three remaining officers were dropped. The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) is disappointed in the prosecutors’ decision to drop all charges and demands justice and accountability for all Black lives.

“It’s extremely unfortunate that the prosecutors dropped all charges in this case,” stated APALA National President Johanna Hester. “However, what we’ve witnessed already in this case – the acquittal of three police officers of any and all charges – shows how broken our criminal justice system is. Without substantive reforms in the system and a cultural shift in how people perceive Black folks, we can’t move towards any type of racial justice.”

Earlier this year, Baltimore Police Officers Brian Rice, Edward Nero, and Caesar Goodson, Jr. were all acquitted of charges in their involvement in the case. The lack of justice and accountability for Black deaths remains all too recent with the July murders of Delrawn Small, Alton Sterling, and Philando Castile.

“Blacks folks have every right to be angry at the state-sanctioned targeting of their bodies. Freddie Gray. Alton Sterling. Sandra Bland. Eric Garner. The list goes on and on,” added APALA Executive Director Gregory A. Cendana. “We can’t – we refuse – to normalize Black deaths. I echo my disappointment with the recent news of prosecutors dropping all charges. But it’s sad to say that had those gone to trial, the result would have been the same. Without Black liberation, none of us can be free. That’s something we need to remember.”
​
APALA stands firmly with #BlackLivesMatter and the Movement for Black Lives and calls for all Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to join us in organizing for Black liberation.

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Washington, DC – The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) commends the tremendous organizing efforts shown today by both Mijente’s #WallOffTrump in Cleveland and the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) and Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest against the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) in DC. APALA stands in solidarity with these efforts and the broader movements to end the mass criminalization of communities of color.

In Washington, DC, protesters blocked off roads in Northeast on 4th St. and Massachusetts Avenue, lining cross walks and holding up signs demanding an end to the National Fraternal Order of Police, a private union known to protect the interests of officers who brutalize and kill civilians. The FOP boasts more than 330,000 members and recently praised the acquittal of Lt. Rice, a Baltimore police officer involved in the 2015 detainment and murder of Freddie Gray.

“It’s great to see organizers take action in the streets to demand freedom. The FOP promotes harmful, unaccountable and racist policies that allows officers to hide from any culpability for their actions. The deaths of hundreds of black people for simply being black has become all too common. APALA calls for justice and accountability from all law enforcement officers and demands an end to the FOP,” declared APALA National President Johanna Hester.

In Cleveland, OH, Mijente, a Latinx and Chicanx organizing group, also led a community effort to create a banner wall spanning two blocks around the Republican National Convention. The #WallOffTrump symbolizes the fight against hateful, xenophobic and racist rhetoric used at the convention and in the larger political climate.

“Trump’s racist, Islamophobic, hateful agenda only serves to further divide an already divided nation and also criminalize people who are not white. What he brings to the table strengthens the White status quo and will certainly be detrimental for people of color, immigrants, and women. We absolutely do need to #WallOffTrump,” added Hester.
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“As AAPI allies and co-conspirators, we won’t stand complicit in this system that disproportionately discriminates, devalues and criminalizes Black folks, immigrants and other communities of color. It’s so critical that we work together to dismantle this system that protects those in positions of power and privilege and pivot our organizing efforts to ending the mass criminalization of people of color,” stated APALA Executive Director Gregory A. Cendana.  

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