AAPI Heritage Month
ICAP Fellows Association and Diversity Matters
Present
Challenging Asian Hate, Allyship and the Path Forward
Wednesday, May 19
6:00 pm EST (3:00 pm PST)
Margaret Huang, President & CEO, Southern Poverty Law Center (ICAP 2003)
Connie Chung Joe, CEO, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles
Sonal Shah, President, The Asian American Foundation
Did you know that there have been 3,795 hate incidents received by the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center in the last year? The number represents only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur and shows how vulnerable Asian Americans are to discrimination.
An informative article in TODAY reports that anti-Asian violence has surged in the U.S. since COVID-19. Throughout history, “this yellow peril fear has been resurrected during times of war, pandemic and economic downturn,” explained Russell Jeung, professor at San Francisco State University and co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate.
What are groups and individuals doing nationwide to challenge Asian hate? Join the virtual townhall to hear from leading national organizations for an important conversation on the AAPI issues, taking action, and becoming allies in the movement against racism and violence.
The ICAP Fellows Association is a not-for-profit organization which represents Fellows who attended the International Career Advancement Program (ICAP) Aspen Seminar for future U.S. leaders in foreign affairs. Since 1997, 598 foreign affairs experts, reflecting diverse demographics of the United States, have participated in the Seminar. The Association offers its members opportunities to network, mentor, build skills, and engage in community outreach. It is also serves as a catalyst for increasing diversity in senior management and policymaking roles.
Diversity Matters is a group of concerned citizens who know that America’s strength lies in our diversity. We come from all corners of the United States, and we represent diversity in all its forms. We share a vision of an inclusive America.
Margaret Huang, an advocate for human rights and racial justice for twenty-five years, is the President and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Throughout her career, Margaret has championed social justice and human dignity, advocating against discrimination and oppression in all of its forms. Prior to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Margaret served as the Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, where she was responsible for leading campaigns to protect the human rights of migrants and refugees, torture survivors, gun violence victims, and activists and protestors across the globe. Under her leadership, the organization developed a number of new initiatives on innovation and learning; inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility; and monitoring and evaluation, while growing organizational financial resources by more than fifty percent over four years.
Margaret has worked with Members of Congress on critical pieces of legislation, and she has advocated before the United Nations human rights mechanisms as well as the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights. She has published articles and opinion pieces on human rights, and she authored a chapter, “Going global – Appeals to International and Regional Human Rights Bodies,” in Human Rights At Home, by Praeger Publishers (December 2007).
Margaret previously served as the Executive Director of the Rights Working Group, which focused on protecting human rights and civil liberties of vulnerable communities in the post-September 11 era. Other past work experience includes serving as Director of the U.S. Program at Global Rights, Program Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, Program Manager at The Asia Foundation, and Committee Staff for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Ms. Huang received a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University, and a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University.
Connie Chung Joe, JD, is the Chief Executive Officer of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles (Advancing Justice-LA), the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Prior to joining Advancing Justice-LA in August 2020, Connie served as the the Executive Director of the Korean American Family Services (KFAM) for 11 years. Under Connie’s leadership, KFAM nearly quadrupled its budget and staff, with culturally and linguistically responsive services to immigrant families, particularly those struggling with mental health, domestic/family violence, and acculturation stresses. Prior to joining KFAM, Connie was a public interest lawyer for seven years. She worked at the Housing Rights Center in LA representing clients in fair housing cases and the American Civil Liberties Union in Chicago working on immigrant’s rights, reproductive rights, post-9/11 racial profiling, police accountability and First Amendment cases. Connie received her BA in Spanish and International Relations from USC and her JD from Georgetown University Law Center.
Connie is active in advocating for and addressing the needs of API communities. She served for 3 years as the Vice-Chair of Planning of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), a consortium of 40+ API-serving organizations throughout LA County. Connie was also the co-chair of A3PCON’s Mental Health Subcommittee. She served as the co-chair for 2 years of the API Domestic Violence Task Force of LA County and co-founded the API Human Trafficking Task Force of LA County. She has served as co-chair and steering committee member of the CA Culturally Responsive Domestic Violence Network, which consists of culturally-specific DV organizations across the state working to improve DV services for the most vulnerable communities in CA.
Connie has been honored for her work by the Asian Pacific Women’s Center and Asian American Drug Abuse Program. CA has testified on several occasions before the CA State Assembly on Domestic Violence to advocate for the needs of immigrants, APIs, and other vulnerable populations in the State. In 2016, she was appointed by CA Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon to the Domestic Violence Advisory Council. In 2017, Connie was named by CA Assemblymember Sebastian Ridley-Thomas and LA County Board of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas a 40 Under 40 Emerging Civic Leader.
Sonal Shah is the founding President of TAAF. One of the foremost global leaders on social impact and innovation, Shah has started and led social impact efforts in academia, government, and the private and philanthropic sectors for over twenty-five years. Prior to her appointment at TAAF, Shah founded and led Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, a cross-disciplinary center that provided students a first-hand opportunity to work on social impact projects in the public, private and social sectors.
Shah has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors. She served as Deputy Assistant to President Obama and Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, where she was tasked with creating innovative approaches to using technology for social programs across the federal government and with building public private partnerships at scale. Previously, she worked as an international economist at the Department of Treasury, setting up the central bank in Bosnia, working for post-conflict reconstruction in Kosovo, and implementing poverty reduction strategies in Africa. In the private sector, Shah led technology initiatives for civic voice and impact investing as the head of Global Development Initiatives at Google.org.
Prior to her time at Google.org, she developed the environmental strategy and ran the initiatives for investing in clean technologies at Goldman Sachs.. Shah serves on the boards of Oxfam America, the UBS Optimus Foundation, and The Century Foundation. She also serves as an adviser to the Democracy Fund and is coordinating the Initiative on Tech & Society at Georgetown University. In 2020, she served as the National Policy Director for Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign.