Violence targeting Asian Americans in an era of global pandemic and economic rupture have raised clashing Asian American responses -- anti-Asian hate crimes legislation, one the one hand, and feminist abolitionist strategies, on the other. For sex workers, criminalized and incarcerated people, and survivors of domestic and sexual violence, the fight to end anti-Asian violence cannot be isolated to conversations of racism alone.

Join us for a panel discussion with (Southeast and East) Asian American abolitionist organizers on how white supremacy and criminalization shape the experiences of gendered racial violence for Asian people. Panelists will focus on the ways that stigma, abandonment, and violence from within Asian American communities can lead to false solutions and increased harm for the most vulnerable among us. In doing so, we will explore what organizing looks like and the interventions that Asian American abolitionist feminists are making in our political work and in our lives.

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Speakers:

Yves Tong Nguyen (they/she) is a queer and disabled Viet cultural worker and sex worker whose organizing home is with Survived & Punished NY and Red Canary Song. Yves is concerned with supporting survivors of all forms of violence through organizing and informal community support.

Ny Nourn (she/her) works as a Community Advocate at Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus (ALC). She is an organizer with Survived and Punished California, Council Member with the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, and member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, supporting the release of incarcerated domestic violence survivors and immigrants facing deportation. Ny is also a formerly incarcerated domestic violence survivor, who after serving 16 years in prison was immediately detained by ICE. After many months of advocacy from community groups across California, Ny walked out of ICE detention. In June of 2020, Ny was granted a full and unconditional pardon preventing her deportation to Cambodia.

Hyejin Shim (she/her) is a queer Korean organizer based in Oakland, California. She is a cofounder of Survived and Punished, and organizes with Survived and Punished CA. She has a decade's experience in local and national anti-violence work, particularly with queer/trans immigrant and refugee survivors of gender violence.

Connie Wun, PhD, (she/her) is co-founder of AAPI Women Lead. She has been an educator, researcher, writer and organizer working on issues of racial and gender violence for nearly 25 years. She is a 2020 Soros Justice Fellow and is currently leading community-driven research projects on state violence, sexual violence, race and gender.

Moderator: Stephanie Cho (she/her) is the Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. She has over 20 years of experience in labor and community organizing, strategy planning, and fundraising at the local and national level.