AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community

This essay presents a framework for a practice of Asian Americanist advocacy. Participant observers discuss a case study of a community college in northern California where Asian American employees have sustained organized advocacy since May 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement. The heuristic framework introduces four questions to help practitioners determine the direction of their advocacy, focusing on approaches to self-organizing, analyses of racial relationality, and engagements with institutional power. The case study highlights tensions around the legibility of Asian Americans in campus discourse, the politicization of Asian American employees, and the efficacy of Asian Americanist advocacy.