50 10 805 https://archives.caaav.org/files/original/bb1bbff8852763110a075dadfdde3ded.jpg 5720d60a3d4a12a6b4da5b05268ac463 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Free Health Screening Here Description An account of the resource In May 2008, the Women Workers Project (WWP) held a health fair in Woodside, Queens. In this photo, three CAAAV volunteers stand in front of a sign that reads "Free Health Screening Here." Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 2008 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Nicole Font Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CAAAV_238 Healthcare Advocacy Women Workers Project https://archives.caaav.org/files/original/30f1461352ac2234f4a5a53c08c1db12.jpg 7467ca6eb4c4c1567735003463f17734 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Community Forum on Dong Lu Chen case Description An account of the resource On June 27, 1989, CAAAV and the New York Asian Women's Center collaborated on the coordination of a community forum discussing the verdict of the Dong Lu Chen case. The forum's goals were to extend continued support to battered Asian women in their attempts to seek legal support and justice for mistreatment, and to educate on the fallacies of using cultural defense in these types of cases. In this image, CAAAV member Monona Yin and NYU law professor Holly Maguigan are sitting behind a table, speaking to a group of women attending the forum. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 27, 1989 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Hannah Berman Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CAAAV_1488 CAAAV Benefit Event Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource CAAAV Videos Description An account of the resource Browse video materials from CAAAV's archives. Use the links at the bottom of each page to link to the video files, which are hosted through Google Drive. Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data VHS Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 15:00 6:11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Prop 187 - Anti-Immigrant (Interview with Kent Wong) Description An account of the resource Interview with National President of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance and Director of the UCLA Labor Center, Kent Wong, in which he explains how Prop 187 is harmful to minorities and undocumented immigrants. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1/8/95 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Rachel Kuo, Aliza Hornblass Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP4 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context AV2_22_P1 AV2_22_P2 Immigration Workers' Rights https://archives.caaav.org/files/original/ca03e946fdf009a4dc2229e779f55e73.jpg 062e06d38156604337aa0116b75d7d99 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Remember" Yong Xin Huang Posters Description An account of the resource This photograph dated July, 1995 was taken at the memorial service of 16-year-old Yong Xin Huang at PS 124 in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Huang’s middle school portrait can be seen in a black frame bordered with purple flowers. The line “WE SHALL NEVER FORGET” is partially covered by a white sign that reads “Remember” written in black marker. The service was held a day before Huang’s would be 17th birthday.1 On the morning of March 24, 1995 in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, Huang was playing with a pellet gun in the backyard of a friend’s home when a neighbor called the police. Officer Steven Mizrahi arrived on the scene and struggled to decipher whether or not the pellet gun was a real weapon. According to police spokesperson, Doram Tamari, the two then “engaged in a struggle” and a round from Mizrahi’s Glock 9mm “discharged from the officer’s gun” leaving Huang fatally wounded from a gunshot to the head.2 Huang’s friends later testified that Huang was not resisting and in fact had his hands on a wall, but police claimed that Huang attempted to fight back resulting in an accidental discharge of Mizrahi’s gun.3 The City Medical Examiner's Office refused to release their autopsy report, but an independent autopsy revealed that Huang had suffered injuries to the face and been shot from point blank range. Yet, Charles Hynes, the Brooklyn District Attorney at the time, determined to not charge Mizrahi, sparking CAAAV to protest alongside Huang’s family against police brutality.4 On April 25th, one month after Yong Xin Huang’s death, thousands of protesters organized in downtown Manhattan to demand an end to police brutality and the city’s increasing presence of government-sanctioned law enforcement. Huang’s mother was soon joined by Black, Latinx and fellow Asian American families who too were protesting the painful feeling of having lost a loved one in the hands of law enforcement.5 Although the death of Yong Xin Huang brought division between minorities and the police, it ignited a shared pain among families who lost loved ones due to racially motivated police brutality. Bibliography: 1 Centro Archive, CUNY Hunter College, Accessed March 28, 2021. https://centroca.hunter.cuny.edu/Detail/objects/18460 2 Hevesi, Dennis. “Boy, 16, With Pellet Gun Is Killed by Officer.” The New York Times, 25 Mar. 1995. 3 Fuchs, Chris. “Two Decades After Cop Shot Her Brother Qing Lan Huang Speaks Up for Akai Gurley”, April 2016. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/two-decades-after-cop-shot-her-brother-qing-lan-huang -n554146 4 Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, “Cop Bullet Ends Teens Life” CAAAV Voice newsletter, Spring 1995, 7. 5 Truong, From State-Sanctioned Removal to the Right to the City: The Policing of Asian Immigrants in Southern Brooklyn, 1987–1995,” 77. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Harrison Vijay Tsui This post was completed as coursework for “Bitter Melon: Race, Foodways, and Urbanisms of Asian America” at New York University, taught by Minju Bae. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Photo494 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 1995 Police Brutality Yong Xin Huang https://archives.caaav.org/files/original/0219df594a750002dfc6d616b56d7dc2.jpg 1fdcab9f2daa239b4a9c466f89355a1e Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yong Xin Huang Memorial Description An account of the resource This photograph depicts a memorial and rally for 16-year old Yong Xin Huang, who was killed by a policeman. Dated July 16th, 1995, the rally was held the day before what would have been his 17th birthday. Organized by CAAAV, the memorial brought many members of the Asian-American community to Confucius Plaza, where leaders from the Asian, African American, and Latino communities spoke out against police brutality. In this photo, we can see these community members carrying signs in the shape of headstones in honor of Yong Xin and other young lives lost to police brutality and anti-Asian racism. These include Kai Lor, another 16-year old who was shot four times in an attempted robbery despite lacking a weapon, and Luyen Phan Nguyen, a 19-year old university student killed after objecting to being called “Viet Cong” and “Chink” at a party. Yong Xing was playing with a pellet gun at his friend’s house the morning of March 24th, 1995, when a neighbor called the police. Police accounts claimed that there was a struggle, and that Officer Steven Mizrahi believed the boy’s gun to be real. In spite of this, injuries found in an autopsy report made it clear that Yong Xin had his face pushed against a glass door and was shot in the back of the head. At the time, a grand jury still concluded that the killing was accidental, and no indictment was brought against Officer Mizrahi. Years later, the Huang family sued the city alleging that the officer wasn’t properly trained and acted recklessly. They settled with the city for $400,000, but did not receive public justice. Yong Xin’s sister Qinglan has continued to speak out against police brutality, notably advocating for justice for the family of Akai Gurley in 2014. The gravestone imagery within the photo speaks to an ongoing struggle against anti-Asian racism and police brutality, as the memory of Yong Xin and many others reminds us. Bibliography: 1. Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, “Community Seeks Justice in Yong Xin Huang Killing,” CAAAV Voice newsletter, Fall 1995, 1-2. 2. Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, “Bruce Teng Thao and Kai Lor,” CAAAV Voice newsletter, Spring 1994, 2. 3. Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, “4 States, 4 Asians Murdered.” CAAAV Voice newsletter, Fall 1992, 1, 6. 4. Daniel Hevesi, “Boy, 16, With Pellet Gun is Killed by Officer,” The New York Times, March 25, 1995. 5. Qinglan Huang, “Opinion: Akai Gurley’s Family Deserves Justice,” MSNBC, April 12, 2015, https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/opinion-akai-gurleys-family-deserves-justice-msna831171. 6. Chris Fuchs, “Decades After a Cop Shot Her Brother, Qinglan Huang Speaks Up for Akai Gurley,” NBC News, April 11, 2016, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/two-decades-after-cop-shot-her-brother-qing-lan-huang-n554146. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 16, 1995 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Connor Grehan This post was completed as coursework for Archiving Asian America, taught by Vivian Truong, in the Asian and American Studies programs at Vassar College. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Photo228 Demonstration Police Brutality Solidarity Work Yong Xin Huang https://archives.caaav.org/files/original/6ccfadb04438e88e352289b9126037db.jpg 03c7f513c98850de1b1aa6c50375a45c Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Picket Line Outside of Silver Palace Restaurant Description An account of the resource In this undated photograph, a group of demonstrators gather in front of the Silver Palace Restaurant. The crowd, dressed for warm weather, stands behind a line of wooden NYPD parade barricades as a police officer scans the crowd. The crowd waves small flags overhead and carries large signs written in both English and Chinese. A young child peers over a barricade to view a poster taped to its front, reading: “LET THE UNION LIVE.” Above the child, two large canvas banners unfurl facing the Silver Palace restaurant. Echoing the establishment’s white façade with red Chinese and English signage, the white banner in the center reads in large red block letters, “NO SLAVERY NO JUSTICE,” above similarly formatted Chinese characters. In front of the restaurant’s neon window sign, a megaphone-wielding man, sporting glasses and a black t-shirt, addresses the crowd. This photograph captures an example of Asian American activism and mutual aid at a pivotal moment in the 1990’s labor justice movement, while simultaneously bringing to light larger socioeconomic divisions within Chinatown between landlords, employers, and immigrant workers. The Silver Palace Restaurant, once located at 50-52 Bowery, was the first unionized restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown.1 The 900-seat dim-sum restaurant opened its doors in 1976 within a building owned by Joseph Chu, a prolific landlord in Chinatown.2 Only three years later, exploitative labor practices and illegal wage theft at Silver palace prompted its employees to stage a walkout. In 1981, with the aid of the Chinese Staff and Workers Association (CSWA), the newly formed 318 Restaurant Workers’ Union succeeded in their negotiations with Silver Palace management and won the first union contract for restaurant workers in New York City’s Chinatown.3 This photograph, taken presumably for the Silver Palace story in CAAAV’s fall ’93 newsletter, shows a demonstration that would soon become a daily occurrence outside the dim-sum restaurant for much of 1993 and 1994. In the late summer of 1993, the Silver Palace employee’s hard-earned benefits from the 1981 union contract, such as fair wages, full tips, medical coverage, schedule autonomy, and paid sick and holiday leave, were at risk of termination by the restaurant’s management.4 Though the 318 Union organized nine good faith attempts to negotiate the proposed contract, Silver Palace management refused to agree to fair labor conditions; instead, the management violated federal labor laws by threatening to fire the employees on the union’s bargaining committee if they did not sign the exploitative contract by the end of August.5 On August 20th, the restaurant locked over 40 employees out of their restaurant and called NYPD to arrest the workers demanding withheld wages and holiday pay. The 1993 Lockout resulted in legal suits against the Silver Palace and a seven-month picket line, as seen in this photograph.6 The protracted struggle with Silver Palace’s management lasted until March 13, 1994, when the daily demonstration of over 600 protesters erupted in celebration of the restaurant workers victory.7 1 “Silver Palace Workers Fight Union-Busting.” CAAAV Voice: 5, 2. Fall 1993. pp. 8. 2 Rueb, Emily S. “New York City History, as Told by 50 Bowery,” New York Times. February 12, 2016. 3 Attush, John C. “Chinatown Lockout Defeated.” Against the Current: 51. July-August 1994. <https://againstthecurrent.org/atc051/p4626/>. 4 “Silver Palace Workers Fight Union-Busting.” 5 Ibid. 6 Lee, Josephine. “A Picket Line with History.” The Village Voice. January 22, 2006. <https://www.villagevoice.com/2002/01/22/a-picket-line-with-history/>. 7 Bragg, Rick. “A Seven Month Lockout Ends at Chinatown’s Only Unionized Restaurant.” New York Times. March 14, 1994. Section B, pp. 3; Lambert, Bruce. “NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: LOWER MANHATTAN; In Chinatown, A Food Fight.” New York Times. September 12, 1993. Section 13, pp. 8. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gray Danforth This post was completed as coursework for “Bitter Melon: Race, Foodways, and Urbanisms of Asian America” at New York University, taught by Minju Bae. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Photo1251 318 Restaurant Workers' Union Chinatown Chinese Staff and Workers Association Demonstration Labor Protest Silver Palace Wages https://archives.caaav.org/files/original/6703b2fe85dbfddb00c5d8541349d2ae.jpg c7c2a72e55a331080e5593e9ff630b29 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Manhattan Bridge Shutdown Description An account of the resource This photo, taken on April 25, 1995, features a line of protestors blocking traffic on the Manhattan Bridge as they protest police brutality and budget cuts. Many of these protesters wear or carry signs with messages such as “Stop Racist Violence” and other calls for justice. This group includes members of CAAAV and stands close together to project a sense of unity, but there are public demonstrations in three other parts of the city as well. Overall, hundreds of people are participating in this call to end police brutality and protect financing going to public education and low-income residents in both Manhattan and across the city. On March 24, almost exactly a month before this photo, 16-year-old Yong Xin Huang was shot by the police. He and two of his friends had been playing with a BB gun and the police had been summoned by a nervous neighbor; when confronted by the police, Huang and his friends cooperated with the police but Huang was killed in the encounter. Huang’s death sparked many protests against police brutality, especially regarding abuse towards poor communities of color. This, combined with a series of budget cuts targeting public schools and universities, prompted CAAAV and the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights to organize this Manhattan Bridge takeover along with a rally against police brutality in Police Plaza. A variety of people joined these protests including students, teachers, health care workers, homeless folks, AIDS activists, and the loved ones of those who had been killed by the police. Other people joined as members of various groups. In addition to CAAAV, organizations such as ACT UP and CUNY Coalition Against Cuts made their voices heard. Demonstrators spread out across the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. By the end of the event, roughly 185 peaceful protesters were arrested under disorderly conduct charges after gridlocking the four locations during the height of rush hour. While the protest was short-lived, only lasting about half an hour, the demonstration garnered attention from both media outlets and thousands of commuters who were directly impacted. With the recent resurgence in Black Lives Matter activism and protests following George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, many people have become more educated on the ways in which police brutality and other means of suppression are prevalent in society. This event from 1995 offers a glimpse into how long individuals and organizations have been attempting to demand an end to these enduring problems of police brutality, unjust bureaucratic management, and systematic violence as a whole. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 25, 1995 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Phoebe Jacoby This post was completed as coursework for Archiving Asian America, taught by Vivian Truong, in the Asian and American Studies programs at Vassar College. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Photo427 https://archives.caaav.org/files/original/b007f8d1e39d89892e58a1f36951f9b2.jpg 2de2badcce45cc652dc05a317dc7e5e8 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Asians for Jericho" banner in Washington, DC Description An account of the resource Taken at the Jericho demonstration on March 27, 1998, this photograph shows members and allies of CAAAV who joined the widely coalitional Washington, DC march to protest the incarceration of political prisoners and prisoners of war in the United States and demand their amnesty and freedom. [1] The CAAAV members pictured pose near the Capitol Building in Lafayette Park with a colorful banner decorated with the image of a dragon which reads, “Asians for Jericho: When the Prison Gates Open, The Real Dragons Fly Out.” To the right, one protester holds a sign on which bold lettering spells out “Free All U.S. Political Prisoners,” at the bottom stamped “Jericho ‘98.” The former references a quote by Ho Chi Minh, whose words express a vision of prison gates opening to release the radical and oppressed who have been incarcerated for their dissidence. In this vision, their release ushers in a renewed surge of resistance that will burn down the exploitative and oppressive system that imprisons us all. The mass demonstration, during which protesters from all over the United States marched from Malcolm X Park to Lafayette Park, manifested a collective effort by over 50 organizations, defense committees, and activist groups. As part of the larger Jericho Movement, the march was intended to force the US government to acknowledge the existence of political prisoners within its borders. Protesters held high giant photos of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Sundiata Acoli, the MOVE 9, and the Puerto Rican independistas, bringing attention to the hundreds of people incarcerated as a result of their radical and grassroots work against oppressive conditions in housing, medical care, education, employment, and policing. [2] CAAAV’s presence at the march brings attention to the relevance of these issues for Asian-American communities, and reflects its investment in intersectional modes of resistance. Marching with the David Wong Support Committee as “Asians for Jericho,” CAAAV members helped highlight the broad and specific racialized underpinnings of imprisonment and the fact that “most political prisoners are radical people of color.” [3] Operating on local, regional, and national levels, the Jericho Movement engages intersections of race, class, gender, immigration, and nationality to highlight the harm, silencing, and violence systemically and systematically imposed on marginalized peoples by centering the stories of “brothers and sisters” imprisoned for their liberatory actions. [4] Active still, the Jericho Movement has organizing committees in Albuquerque, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, and Richmond, as well as regional committees working nationally. Jericho works with local defense committees to bring the cases of political prisoners to the public, reaching across organizational lines to build a strong network of resources and support for those it serves. [1] Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, “Jericho 1998 Calls for Release of Political Prisoners,” CAAAV Voice Newsletter, Spring 1998, 8-9, https://caaav.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Voice_Spring_1998.pdf. [2] “About: Jericho Movement,” National Jericho Movement, https://www.thejerichomovement.com/about (accessed March 18 2021). [3] Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, “Jericho 1998 Calls for Release of Political Prisoners,” 9. [4] Jericho ‘98 Organizing Committee, “Jericho ‘98 - Amnesty and Freedom for All Political Prisoners,” (flier, New York, 1998), 1-2, https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC510_scans/New_Afrikan_Prisoners/510.flier.jericho.98.pdf. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 27, 1998 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Clara CleBlanc This post was completed as coursework for Archiving Asian America, taught by Vivian Truong, in the Asian and American Studies programs at Vassar College. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Photo1105 Demonstration Solidarity Work https://archives.caaav.org/files/original/61e89812e3ca9e25ae8ff1c7f6f19fad.jpg 4fb608a07fb77d6b73cbf1725bd62332 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Woman describes police attack at Brooklyn community meeting Description An account of the resource “There is no wealth in our silence. Do you still believe policing will protect our community or are you ready to fight against police brutality?” Originally, “況黙不是金, 法理定要爭” (kuàng mò bùshì jīn, fǎlǐ dìng yào zhēng), this poster along with an “Anti-discrimination, Anti-violence” (originally, “反歧視, 反暴力” - fǎn qíshì, fǎn bàolì) poster written in black, Chinese characters are located behind four Asian women attending a Brooklyn community meeting on June 2, 1996. Below, another poster reads “Let’s Respect ALL in N.Y.C” and a partially visible poster located behind a woman in a blue shirt reads, “Intolerance CANNOT be tolerated.” Another woman, wearing black-patterned, yellow fabric pants, commands the floor as she details the story of her police attack. [1] This photograph expresses the layered forms of violence that institutionalized racism and oppression impose on Asian women living in America and emphasizes the need for radical community care within the Asian community. These sorts of community meetings stem from the formation of the Racial Justice Committee (RJC) in Spring 1996, which shifted CAAAV’s case-by-case centered approach (where individuals ended contact with the organization after their cases finished) to a focus on building long-term power in the community. [2] In this moment, CAAAV began to develop the leadership skills of its community members, especially past victims of police brutality, by providing the space to sit in on RJC meetings and help determine committee initiatives, such as advocating for new cases. With this new community-centered approach, individuals had the opportunity to practice and develop skills in speaking with the media and organizing rallies, empowering them as former victims into activism roles. During this time, police brutality had almost become characteristic of the Asian (American) identity. The fact that the woman speaking in this photograph actively uses her voice to speak out on these incidents reminds one of the inherent power in Asian voices, resistance, and activism that counters the attempts of white supremacy to paint the community as the well-behaved, quiet, and assimilated model minority. [3 This particular moment further highlights the power and resilience reflected in the leadership of Asian women community leaders and members, going beyond traditional categorizations of ‘submissive’ and ‘docile’ enacted on Asian women as a result of gendered and sexual violence facilitated by the patriarchy. [1] Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, “Violence Against Asian Women” CAAAV Voice newsletter, Summer 1996 [2] Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, “The Racial Justice Committee: Fighting Police Brutality” CAAAV Voice newsletter, Winter 1997 [3] Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, “Repeat Offenders: Police Brutality Continues in Chinatown” CAAAV Voice newsletter, Winter 1997 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 2, 1996 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Chris Chieng This post was completed as coursework for Archiving Asian America, taught by Vivian Truong, in the Asian and American Studies programs at Vassar College. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Photo575 Anti-Asian Violence and Representations Police Brutality Racial Justice Committee https://archives.caaav.org/files/original/8542fe94b9fc7f823afbce309ff4702e.jpg 16aa933d3b0fbf37c233bf19c5f8bacf Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Protest sign on taxi cab Description An account of the resource The photograph captures a sea of taxicab vehicles surrounding a New York Police Department van. While the photograph does not have a recorded date, the scene depicted was a very common one throughout the 1990s. Throughout the decade, the city saw a growing number of killings and violent crimes against New York City taxi drivers. [1] Such was accompanied by the rising subway fares and the danger of anti-Muslim feelings generated by the media’s racist coverage of the World Trade Center bombing [2] which targeted the many taxicab drivers who identify as South Asian. In response, thousands of cab drivers staged a mobile demonstration that brought traffic to a standstill. In these protests, drivers would abandon their vehicles, sit in the street, and chant slogans—much like the one written on the sign that hangs across the taxicab’s backseat window in the photo:“WE ARE ALL DRIVERS. WE STAND UNITED.” Taxicab drivers’ messages were aimed at the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which many drivers claimed had been “ignor[ing] their pleas for safety” enhancements as crimes against drivers continued to pile up. Even the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health’s report on Preventing Homicide in the Workplace concluded that the taxicab driver occupation was most at risk for on-the-job murder. [3] Ultimately, drivers felt as though the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s rules and practices invariably favored the owners at the expense of the drivers. [4] Consequently, CAAAV initiated its first worker organizing project in the taxi industry through the Lease Drivers Coalition, [5] thus beginning the Lease Drivers Coalition’s long, fraught history with the Taxi and Limousine Commission. In 1994, the Lease Drivers Coalition held a protest in response to Susan’s Maintenance’s owner’s harassment and assault on Saleem Osman, an LDC Driver. Osman was beaten and arrested by the police after offering to help translate for a taxicab driver in Herald Square. [6] As such, the inclusion of the police car in the photograph is poignant, given the tense relationship between cab drivers and New York City police officers. Throughout the 90s, not only did the police fail to protect the cab drivers but also the police themselves posed a threat to the drivers. Cases of police brutality against taxi drivers—and thereby against “immigrants, poor people, and people of color in general” [7]—increased under the Giuliani administration. [8] Including such a photograph in the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV) archive comes not without a loaded history: though LDC originated through CAAAV, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, from under the banner of the Lease Driver Coalition, was borne out of a resistance against CAAAV. A 1998 letter, digitized by the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) announced the formation of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance from the Lease Driver Coalition. [9] According to the letter, CAAAV placed “many restrictions on LDC which disallowed LDC from carrying on independent work.” [10] Thus, LDC adopted a new name: New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA). [1] Craig Wolff, “Massive Cab Driver Protest of 35 Killings Snarls Traffic,” New York Times, October 27, 1993, https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/27/nyregion/massive-cabdriver-protest-of-35-killings-snarls-traffic.html. [2] The CAAAV Voice Newsletter of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, Vol. 5, No. 1., Spring 1993, p. 5. [3] Bill Glauber, “Meter always ticking for lives of N.Y. cab drivers,” The Baltimore Sun, December 20, 1993, https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-12-20-1993354055-story.html. [4] The CAAAV Voice Newsletter of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, Vol. 6, No. 2., Winter 1994, p. 5. [5] The CAAAV Voice Newsletter of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, Vol. 7, No. 1., Spring 1995, p. 1. [6] The CAAAV Voice Newsletter of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, Vol. 8, No. 1., Winter 1996. [7] The CAAAV Voice Newsletter of the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, Vol. 7, No. 1., Spring 1995, p. 4. [8] Couching his regulations in the language of pedestrian safety, former Mayor Rudolph Guiliani’s administration carried out specific “get-tough” and “law and order” policies that saw aggressive policing and that has since been dubbed the “broken windows” approach to law enforcement. NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir continued to compare the taxi drivers to a “terrorist threat” as Giuliani nodded in agreement at his side. [9] SAADA, Lease Driver Coalition Letter, March 8, 1998, https://www.saada.org/item/20130703-2967. [10] SAADA, Lease Driver Coalition Letter, March 8, 1998, https://www.saada.org/item/20130703-2967. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource undated Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Grace Han This post was completed as coursework for Archiving Asian America, taught by Vivian Truong, in the Asian and American Studies programs at Vassar College. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Photograph Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Photo759 Lease Drivers Coalition (LDC) Saleem Osman Solidarity Work Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) Workers' Rights