Our AAPI Reading List

This AAPI month, we are answering calls to solidarity and care. We are deepening our commitment to working towards a future where all of us are cared for, and none of us are made disposable. 

As beloved elder Yuri Kochiyama reminds us, “we are all part of one another”. Locally, nationally, and globally, we will all do better when we refuse to let each other be left behind.

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1. ‘Why Asian Americans can’t afford silence on Palestine’, Bianca Mabute-Louie: From the belly of the beast, Asian Americans are strategically positioned to tell the truth about this genocide; to protest with our voices, bodies, and dollars; and to antagonize the U.S. empire and all who collude with it until Palestine is free.

2. 'Political Solidarity Is A Solution to Attacks Against Asian Americans', Julie Ae Kim: “I had to learn that being an ally isn’t about silencing one’s own pain or grief, it is the recognition that our liberation is bound together.”

3. 'To Become Ungovernable is Central', Harsha Walia on Kelly Hayes' Movement Memos: “When I think of this big, immense web, knowing that it’s big and interconnected in some ways is less daunting, because no matter what part you’re working on, you can know you’re working on all of it.”

4. 'A Life Worthy of Our Breath', Ocean Vuong on Krista Tippett's On Being: “I want to love more than death can harm. And I want to tell you this often: That despite being so human and so terrified, here, standing on this unfinished staircase to nowhere and everywhere, surrounded by the cold and starless night — we can live. And we will.”

5. 'These Are the Times that Grow Our Souls', Grace Lee Boggs: “I cannot recall any previous period when the issues were so basic, so interconnected, and so demanding of everyone living in this country, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, gender, age, or national origin. At this point in the continuing evolution of our country and of the human race, we urgently need to stop thinking of ourselves as victims and to recognize that we must each become a part of the solution because we are each a part of the problem.”

6. 'Celebrate Good Times', Franny Choi: “How many We’s did they cut out of me? And whose country was I standing on, the last time we survived?”