The Asian American Resource Workshop is a left-of-center advocacy organization located in Boston that advocates for far-left public policy and social issues in the greater Boston area and at the national level. The organization was founded in 1979 as a local community organizing group for Asian Americans in the Boston area and currently conducts campaigns for left-of-center policies on housing, immigration, and criminal justice. The organization is also part of the Unmasking Fidelity coalition, a left-of-center coalition of groups that opposes privacy and anonymity for donors to right-leaning nonprofits. ^{1 2}

Background

The Asian American Resource Workshop was founded in 1979 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Boston. The group was spun off from the Boston chapter of the Pacific Asian Coalition. Early activities of the organization included exhibiting Boston-area Asian American artists and publishing films and hosting events highlighting Asian American culture. In the 1980s and 1990s, the organization produced films highlighting violence against Asian Americans in Boston. ³

The organization has also organized protests opposing raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, supporting a $15 minimum wage, and has organized alongside Black Lives Matter groups since 2016. ⁴

The group also organized protests at the Inauguration of President Donald Trump and organized anti-policing protests alongside the Muslim Justice League in 2017. ⁵

Activity and Campaigns

The Asian American Resource Workshop operates a variety of activist training and education programs including an annual film festival, a writer’s group, and a drag show. One program of the organization is called the Sticky Rice Project, a training program for Boston-area teachers that the organization describes as “anti-oppression trainings with an Asian American lens” which focuses on training teachers on left-of-center critical race theory-aligned diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. ^{6 7}

The organization runs several current campaigns including an immigration-related campaign called Community Defense Against Southeast Asian Deportation, which opposes all deportation actions taken against illegal immigrants. Another of the group’s campaigns called Dorchester Not for Sale, which opposes certain commercial developments in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and is conducted in concert with other groups including New England United for Justice (NEU4J), Mass Affordable Housing Alliance, Greater Bowdoin Geneva Neighborhood Association, City Life/Vida Urbana, and Dorchester People for Peace. ^{8 9}

The organization has also been a part of several anti-policing campaigns and has opposed the deployment of additional law enforcement to combat violence against Asian Americans. ¹⁰

National Coalitions

The Asian American Resource Workshop is part of the Unmasking Fidelity coalition that opposes privacy and anonymity for donors to nonprofit groups, a free speech provision protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The coalition specifically has called for Fidelity to disallow individuals to use Fidelity donor-advised funds to support right-leaning nonprofits. Other center- and far-left activist nonprofits that are part of the Unmasking Fidelity Coalition include the  Muslim Justice League, Political Research Associates, Community Labor United, Action Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE), and Resource Generation. ^{11 12}

People

Carolyn Chou is the executive director of the Asian American Resource Workshop. She has been the executive director of the organization since 2016 and was the program director from 2013 to 2015. She joined the organization shortly after graduating from Harvard University. ¹³

1. “Mission Vision Values.” Asian American Resource Workshop. Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.aarw.org/mission-vision-values
2. “About Us.” Unmasking Fidelity. Accessed Jan. 28, 2022. https://unmaskingfidelity.org/about-us/
3. “History.” Asian American Resource Workshop. Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.aarw.org/history
4. “History.” Asian American Resource Workshop. Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.aarw.org/history
5. “History.” Asian American Resource Workshop. Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.aarw.org/history
6. Sticky Rice Project.” Asian American Resource Workshop. Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.aarw.org/sticky-rice-project
7. “Our Programs.” Asian American Resource Workshop. Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.aarw.org/our-programs
8. “Housing Justice.” Asian American Resource Workshop. Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.aarw.org/housing-justice
9. “Immigration Deportation.” Asian American Resource Workshop. Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.aarw.org/immigration-deportation
10. ^[1] Yang, Angela. “Asian Community Leaders Say More Policing Is Wrong Answer To Racist Violence.” WGHB. March 19, 2021. https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2021/03/19/asian-community-leaders-say-more-policing-is-wrong-answer-to-racist-violence
11. “About Us.” Unmasking Fidelity. Accessed Jan. 28, 2022. https://unmaskingfidelity.org/about-us/
12. Letter to Abigail Johnson. Unmasking Fidelity. 2019. Accessed Jan. 28, 2022. Archived: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2022/01/unmasking-fidelity-letter-to-abigail-johnson-2022.pdf
13. “Carolyn Chou.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolyn-chou-20665665/