Programs

#StopAsianHate Project

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is a national organization founded in 1974 to protect and promote the civil rights of Asian Americans. Over the last 49 years, we have focused on economic justice, immigrant rights, voting rights, housing and environmental justice, educational equity, and voting rights and democracy. Across all these program areas, however, one issue has come up repeatedly throughout our history: hate violence.

Highlights:

• In 1975, we represented Chinese Americans arrested in protests against police brutality in Manhattan’s Chinatown and organized a rally to support bystander, Peter Yew, who was beaten by police after complaining about their mishandling of a minor traffic stop.
• In 1982, we were part of the national campaign to secure justice for Vincent Chin, the Chinese American who was beaten to death in Detroit by two recently laid off white auto workerswho said it was “because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work.”
• In 1987, we represented Dr. Kaushal Sharan, one of several South Asians attacked in Jersey City by a hate group called the “Dotbusters,” and then advocated for passage of New Jersey’s hate crimes law;
• In 2001, we represented South Asians, Sikhs, and Muslims who were targets of post-9/11 hate violence, racial harassment, and religious profiling.
• In 2023, we are co-counsel in a lawsuit challenging Florida’s discriminatory property law (SB 264) that restricts Chinese nationals from acquiring property in the state under the guise of protecting national security, on behalf of four individual plaintiffs and a Florida real estate brokerage firm that primarily services clients of Chinese descent.

Since 2020, AALDEF provided assistance to Asian Americans of all ethnic and immigrant backgrounds, who have been blamed for Covid-19 and targeted for hate violence, harassment, and discrimination. We have also spoken at events and conferences about the rise in anti-Asian violence and its historical roots.

Program Priorities:

• Providing legal advice and direct assistance to victims of anti-Asian violence and harassment.
• Mobilizing a network of pro bono attorneys and interpreters to assist victims.
• Collaborating with community groups to respond to future incidents of hate violence, call for police accountability, and push for changes that will create a safe environment for all.

As always, our approach involves support for individuals facing hate violence and advocacy to address the root causes of anti-Asian racism. AALDEF provides community education and training, helps individual victims secure justice, urges people to report hate crimes, and works for structural changes so that all of us can someday live in a world without hate, violence or discrimination. Join us in this ongoing fight for justice for all.

View AALDEF’s Anti-Asian Violence Toolkit here.

For more info email: StopAsianHate@aaldef.org.