The Southeast Asian Community in the Bronx

As a result of war and genocide in Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1960s and 70s, millions of Southeast Asians were violently displaced and relocated to the United States. Thousands of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees were resettled in the Fordham area of the Bronx, New York, where they faced routine police harrassment and hate crimes borne out of anti-Asian sentiment and resentment surrounding U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia.

The Spring 1993 issue of CAAAV's newsletter, the Voice, published a comprehensive article about the rise in hate crimes against Southeast Asians. Read the article, titled "M.I.A. = Murdered in America," below: 

In response to heightened waves of anger and violence directed at Southeast Asians, CAAAV began organizing in Fordham in 1993. Starting in February of that year, CAAAV collaborated with St. Rita's Asian Center -- a refugee support center in Fordham -- to host workshops with Southeast Asian residents to identify and address the civil and human rights issues facing the community. On March 11, 1993, over 150 Vietnamese and Cambodian Fordham residents confronted the District 11 Transit Police about their neglect and abuse of their communities. The residents voiced their frustration over the police's reluctance to answer 911 calls from Fordham, brutalization of people of color, and lack of Vietnamese- and Khmer-speaking officers.

To continue organizing and advocating for Fordham residents' civil rights, CAAAV initated the Southeast Asian Organizing Collective (SEAOC) in December 1993.