Asian Americans United

AAU will be attending (and probably have youth leaders testifying) at this City Council Town Hall: On January 24th, City Council (Helen Gym’s office!), the School District of Philadelphia, the Faculty and Staff Federation of Community College of Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC), United Voices for Philadelphia, and Juntos will host a Town Hall to discuss the needs of immigrant students as well as budget priorities to support these communities.

January 21st – Women’s March in Philadelphia. 10 am on the Parkway – more info coming soon. Let’s be visible API women and girls with men supporting us – fighting for our rights. Please come march with us!

January 20th – Participation in “The People’s Inauguration” coordinated by New Sanctuary Movement – 3:30 pm FACTS/4 PM Liberty Bell. AAU has been asked to co-sponsor and collaborate on a People’s Inauguration where we stand up for and “pledge” the values we really want represented in our country. We’ll send more info but for now we know that things will begin around 3:30 pm on Friday 29th and convene at the Liberty Bell at 4pm for a rally and art/performances.

January 17th – First English-speaking API Youth Group Meeting! This group will meet every other week for now – coordinated by Teresa.

January 16th – MLK D.A.R.E. March at 11am and AAU debrief back at FACTS afterwards. This is a march that is headed by Philly POWER and a broader coalition of organizations. It is a large march. AAU will be meeting at 11:00 am at FACTS (1023 Callowhill St) and marching together to Independence Hall to join others for the march to Mother Bethel AME Church. Afterwards we will head back to FACTS to debrief with some hot chocolate so that we get a chance to reflect and honor MLK Day and its meaning for us together.

2016 AAU Events

Friday, December, 9, 2016 @ 5:30pm: AAU Anniversary Celebration

Thanks to those who attended and supported our 31st Anniversary Celebration!

Saturday, September 24th @ 12pm: 21st Annual Mid Autumn Festival in Chinatown

Thanks to those who attended and supported our 21st annual Mid Autumn Festival in Chinatown!

July – August: AAU Summer Program

Thanks to the youth leaders & students who participated in the summer program!

2015 AAU Events

Friday, December 11th: AAU’s 30th Anniversary Celebration

Thanks to those who attended and supported our 30th Anniversary Celebration!

Saturday, September 19th: AAU’s 20th Mid-Autumn Festival

Thanks to those who attended and supported our 20th annual Mid Autumn Festival in Chinatown!

July 6th – August 14th: AAU Summer Program

Thanks to the youth leaders & students who participated in the summer program!

2014 AAU Events

Wednesday, February 5: The State of Asian Americans in Philadelphia

Thanks to those who attended our event! If you would like hard copies of the report or explore further ways of discussing and disseminating this data, please contact us at aau@aaunited.org

Tuesday, March 11 @ 7pm: American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs

International House Philadelphia
3701 Chestnut Street

Buy your tickets now!

Special price for AAU donors/volunteers/activists: $5
General Admission: $10

ABOUT THE FILM: What does it mean to be an American revolutionary today? Grace Lee Boggs is a 98-year-old Chinese American woman in Detroit whose vision of revolution will surprise you. A writer, activist, and philosopher rooted for more than 70 years in the African American movement, she has devoted her life to an evolving revolution that encompasses the contradictions of America’s past and its potentially radical future.

The documentary film, AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS, plunges us into Boggs’s lifetime of vital thinking and action, traversing the major U.S. social movements of the last century; from labor to civil rights, to Black Power, feminism, the Asian American and environmental justice movements and beyond. Boggs’s constantly evolving strategy-her willingness to re-evaluate and change tactics in relation to the world shifting around her-drives the story forward . . . As she wrestles with a Detroit in ongoing transition, contradictions of violence and non-violence, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, the 1967 rebellions, and non-linear notions of time and history, Boggs emerges with an approach that is radical in its simplicity and clarity: revolution is not an act of aggression or merely a protest. Revolution, Boggs says, is about something deeper within the human experience – the ability to transform oneself to transform the world.

Special thanks to our friends at Scribe Video who are doing the heavy lifting to make this special night happen. They are even bringing in the filmmaker, Grace Lee, who spent 12 years making the film and getting to know Grace Lee Boggs. This is a film to see together with your community.

Saturday, September 13: 19th Annual Mid Autumn Festival in Chinatown

Thanks to those who attended and supported our 19th annual Mid Autumn Festival in Chinatown!

2013 AAU Events

Saturday September 14: 18th Annual Mid Autumn Festival in Chinatown

Thanks to those who attended and supported our 18th annual Mid Autumn Festival in Chinatown! Find out more »

Thursday, August 2: AAU Summer Program 2013 Final Event Celebration!

Thanks to the youth leaders & students who participated in the summer program!

Thursday, July 25: Tea & Dessert Community Building Night!

We will be updating folks on happenings at AAU, engage in conversation to get to know each other, enjoy homemade desserts and explore ways of deepening our connections.

Friday, April 29: Exhibit Closing Night & Special Forum on the Shifting Politics of Race at Cedar Works

Exhibit Closing Night: (5:30 to 6:45 pm) Your last chance to view AAU’s exhibit, We Cannot Keep Silent, at the Philadelphia Folklore Project (735 S. 50th Street). Curated by Helen Gym, Ellen Somekawa and Joanie May Cordova. Featuring photos by Harvey Finkle and Kathy Shimizu, first person voices of boycott participants, and oral histories.

Special Forum (7pm): Speaker presentations followed by dialogue time. Light Refreshments will be served.

Speakers:

Scott Kurashige, Ph.D: Asian American Movements, Anti-Asian Violence & the Intersection with African American History

John Elliott Churchville, Ph.D., J.D.: African American Movements in Philadelphia & the Intersection with Asian American History

This project has been supported in part by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Federal-State Partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Friday, March 1: Fun & Games with AAU

Meet new people, have fun, share your favorite Asian games and learn to play games you’ve always wanted to try: mah jong, gostop, parcheesi, hana fuda, Chinese chess, and whatever you bring to the mix! We will also have a potluck dinner together.

Thursday, February 7: AAU Movie & Discussion Night.

Featuring the Academy Award nominated documentary “The Betrayal”.

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March 2013: “WE CANNOT KEEP SILENT”

Ongoing Exhibit at the Philadelphia Folklore Project

In December 2009, dozens of Asian immigrant students boycotted
their high school and launched a civil rights campaign around a
district’s responsibility to provide a safe educational climate.
Asian Americans United and partners curated an exhibit featuring
voices from a campaign that sought educational justice in a school
struggling with violence and racial discord.

Featuring photographs by Harvey Finkle and Kathy Shimizu.

The exhibit will be open through March 29, 2013.

More details found on the PFP website.

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Grace Lee Boggs’ Book Workshops with AAU

Next Book Workshop: Date to be determined.

The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the 21st Century
by Grace Lee Boggs and Scott Kurashige

Click here to read an excerpt from The Next American Revolution

WHY READ GRACE LEE BOGGS?

Over the years, Grace’s thinking and writing has helped AAU to put into words the work that we are trying on the ground:

* schooling should educate all children to be able to “govern” society;

* the work of creating a garden or putting on a festival is critical in “respiriting” our cities and reclaiming the fullness of our humanity;

* we protest against injustices but at the same time we need to “grow our souls.”

Grace’s theoretical work helps AAU sharpen the purposefulness of what we do and thus helps us to sustain our focus over years and generations.

Grace’s most recent book pushes us to try on new ideas, shares experiences from her work in Detroit, and inspires us with examples of what others around the world are doing.

For those who don’t know of Grace, her work, and life, this event can serve as an introduction. We’ll kick it off with a short video clip about Grace’s extraordinary life and contributions, then move into a lively discussion of quotes from the first chapter of her book.

TO RSVP: email AAU. We will have light refreshments and we will have our parking lot open. Let us know if you can join us. We can send you study questions, sell you a copy of the book, or share the excerpt we will be reading. We hope that folks will want to read, and we will make the discussion lively and accessible to all.

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