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CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities

Founded in 1986 as the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, CAAAV has a strong history of organizing for justice in New York City. According to their mission statement "CAAAV's work includes education and advocacy in the areas of tenants rights, community development/land use issues, accountable policing, and civic engagement. We run city-wide youth and adult program that train community members most impacted by social injustice to be organizers. We are part of local and national alliances addressing neoliberal globalization. We have a strong organizing model that guides our work. And we believe in fighting for a New York City that is fair and just place for all New Yorkers.

CAAAV works to build grassroots community power across diverse poor and working class Asian immigrant and refugee communities in New York City to fight for institutional change and participates in a broader movement towards racial, gender, and economic justice."

In 2015, CAAAV organized actions around #JusticeforAkaiGurley and #Asians4BlackLives. Many of these actions were, in part, to protest the portrayal of a divided Chinese American community in response to NYPD Officer Peter Liang's indictment after he shot and killed Akai Gurley. A #JusticeForAkaiGurley selfie movement displayed the following statement:

"As many of you know, ethnic and corporate mainstream media have responded to the indictment of NYPD Officer Peter Liang for the death of Akai Gurley by framing the indictment as dividing the Chinese community, and focused on calls to drop the indictment of Officer Liang. Furthermore, they are using issue to pit Asian and Black communities against one another.

CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities has been working closely with the family of Akai Gurley, community organizers in East New York, Brooklyn (where Gurley was visiting a friend) and other groups since the shooting happened late last year to show our solidarity and support. CAAAV and the family of Akai Gurley call for the accountability of ALL police officers who kill unarmed civilians. We know that we have support from Asian Diasporic communities, and in the last couple of weeks we have heard from our communities located in cities including the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Oregon and New York, showing solidarity with Akai Gurley’s family.

'RIGHT NOW, it is critical for Asian American communities, especially Chinese, South & Southehast Asians, to move our communities in support of Black-led organizing against police brutality. We believe a strong turnout will send a powerful message."'