Search this site

Issues Alien Land Bills This item is connected to a text field in your content manager. Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. Read More COVID-19 This item is connected to a text field in your content manager. Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. Read More The China Initiative This item is connected to a text field in your content manager. Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. Read More Warrantless Surveillance This item is connected to a text field in your content manager. Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. Read More

Impacted Persons List Anming Hu 胡安明 Read more Baimadajie Angwang 昂旺 Read more Charles Lieber Read more Chen Song 宋琛 Read more Davis Lu Read more Franklin Tao 陶丰 Read more Gang Chen 陈刚 Read more Gee-Kung Chang 張繼昆 Read more Haizhou Hu Read more James Patrick Lewis Read more Jane Ying Wu 吴瑛 Read more Juan Tang 唐娟 Read more Kaikai Zhao 赵凯凯 Read more Kevin Wang Read more Lei Guan 关磊 Read more Lin Yang Read more Meyya Meyyappan Read more Mingqing Xiao Read more Qing Wang 王擎 Read more Simon Saw-Teong Ang 洪思忠 Read more Song Guo Zheng Read more Turab Lookman 特拉伯·鲁克曼 Read more Van Andel Research Read more Wuyuan Lu 陆五元 Read more Xiao-jiang Li 李晓江 Read more Xiaofeng Wang 王晓峰 Read more Xiaoming Zhang Read more Xiaoxing Xi 郗小星 Read more Xifeng Wu 吴息凤 Read more Xin Wang 王欣 Read more Yanping Chen 陈燕平 Read more Yanqing Ye Read more Yu Zhou, Li Chen Read more Zaosong Zheng Read more Zhendong Cheng Read more Filter by Category China Initiative NIH Other Sort by Alphabetical by first name Alphabetical by last name

Read More 1. A Call to Stop Senate Bill 147 and All Alien Land Laws Friday, February 17, 2023 12:00 AM Read More 1. Bridging Nations: People-to-people Exchange in U.S.-China Relations Thursday, October 16, 2025 12:00 AM Read More 1. From Past Prejudice to Present Policy: The Impact of Land Ownership Exclusion Laws on Diverse Communities Wednesday, December 11, 2024 12:00 AM Read More 1. The Human and Scientific Costs of The "China Initiative" Wednesday, September 30, 2020 12:00 AM Read More 2. Bridging Nations: Global Competition for Talent & International Students Thursday, February 26, 2026 12:00 AM Read More 2. Fair Housing Rights & Alien Land Laws: Challenges and Advocacy for the Asian American Community Tuesday, March 4, 2025 12:00 AM Read More 2. Historical Re-Hash - Alien Land Law and SB147 Wednesday, March 1, 2023 12:00 AM Read More 2. Policy Needs for U.S. Science and Scientists Wednesday, December 2, 2020 12:00 AM Read More 3. Building Coalition Against “China Initiative” Discrimination - Fighting racial targeting of Asian Americans and communities of color, past & present Wednesday, February 24, 2021 12:00 AM Read More 3. Geopolitics, Identity, and the Fight for Civil Rights Wednesday, June 3, 2026 12:00 AM Read More 4. Legal Resources and Policy Advocacy - How to Combat Racial Profiling Under the “China Initiative” Wednesday, April 28, 2021 12:00 AM Read More 5. The Mistrial of Professor Anming Hu under the "China Initiative" Wednesday, June 23, 2021 12:00 AM

Latest Posts Court Hearing and A New Movement Emerges July 24, 2023 We published a Special Edition of our newsletter to cover the July 18 court hearing on Florida's new discriminatory housing law. Read More Lawsuit Against Florida Senate Bill 264 May 22, 2023 A group of Chinese citizens who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida filed a lawsuit to combat Florida’s discriminatory property law, SB 264. Read More Texas House Bill 1075 and Senate Bill 552 January 23, 2023 Texas state representatives are attempting to stop foreign governments from purchasing Texas agricultural land. Read More Rep. Judy Chu's New Year Greetings and 2022 Review January 9, 2023 During the first APA Justice monthly meeting of 2023, Rep. Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, reviewed the accomplishments of 2022, highlighted by the end of the "China Initiative" and Sherry Chen's historic settlement. Read More Campaign to Oppose The Nomination of Casey Arrowood July 29, 2022 Academics, elected officials, and civil rights groups across the country are raising concerns about the nomination of Casey Arrowood to be US Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Read More APA Justice Calls for Release of Report on Review of "China Initiative" March 8, 2022 On March 8, 2022, APA Justice sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen, calling for the release of a report on the Department of Justice's review of the “China Initiative.” Read More Texas man accused of attacking Asian family over racist coronavirus fears pleads guilty to hate-crime charges February 24, 2022 Nearly two years later, a 21-year-old Texas man who attempted to kill an Asian man and his young child has pleaded guilty to federal hate-crime charges. Read More 12. China Initiative Ends February 23, 2022 Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen announced the end of the China Initiative. The 1,210 days of the Initiative were extremely damaging to individuals and their families, as well as the Asian American and scientific communities. The end of the China Initiative is a welcomed start to correct the harms it caused. APA Justice is committed to continue its work to address racial profiling and seek justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American communities. Read More 11. MIT Technology Review Investigative Reports December 2, 2021 On December 2, 2021, MIT Technology Review published two investigative reports on the China Initiative as newly appointed Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen was conducting a review of the initiative. Read More < < 1 2 3 4 5 What's the best flavor? Activists Including APA Justice Resist New "Red Scare" Chinese Americans are increasingly finding themselves targeted by the US in what has become the new "Red Scare."

#406 Franklin Tao, Jane Wu Lawsuits; Trump on Birthright Citizenship Again; Census Rules; + August 13, 2026 Read #405 8/3 Monthly Meeting; Nicholas Platt; Re-identification Risk; IM Pei's Dallas City Hall August 3, 2026 Read #404 8/3 Monthly Meeting; Science in US Needs Plan; Coalition Pushes Back; AASF Symposium;+ July 27, 2026 Read #403 OMB Rules Gut Grants/Collaboration; Yanping Chen Motions; Election Speech Backlash; + July 23, 2026 Read #402 NSF to Ban Most Research with China; National APA Museum; More ICE Shootings; + July 16, 2026 Read #401 SCOTUS/APAs Reaffirm Birthright Citizenship; Reporter Herridge Contempt Fine Stands; + July 13, 2026 Read #400 400 Issues Later: Still Building Community, Advocacy, and Voice June 12, 2026 Read #399 A Memorable Webinar Co-Hosted by Committee of 100, U.S.-China Education Trust, and APA Justice June 10, 2026 Read #398 Maryland Speaker and Delegate at 6/1 Meeting; Leaders Comment; NYT Immigrant Squeeze;+ June 5, 2026 Read #397 Maryland Reps at 6/1 Meeting; 6/3 Webinar; ICE Sprayed Andy Kim; CBS Radio Shut Down + May 29, 2026 Read #396 Maryland Reps at 6/1 Meeting; 6/3 Joint Webinar; APAICS Update; Innes Lab; McCarthyism May 26, 2026 Read #395 Rep. Dave Min; Researching While Chinese; Attack on MD Delegate Chao Wu; McCarthyism + May 18, 2026 Read < < 1 1 1 Newsletters APA Justice began publishing a free periodic newsletter about 4-7 times a month in July 2020. You can subscribe here . Visit the Virtual Library to search the entire collection. Filter by year

Newsletter - #406 Franklin Tao, Jane Wu Lawsuits; Trump on Birthright Citizenship Again; Census Rules; + #406 Franklin Tao, Jane Wu Lawsuits; Trump on Birthright Citizenship Again; Census Rules; + In This Issue #406 · Professor Franklin Tao Files Lawsuit Against University of Kansas · Estate of Dr. Jane Wu’s Lawsuit Against Northwestern University Moving Forward · Trump Tries Again to Limit Birthright Citizenship · Controversial Rule Changes at Census Bureau · News and Activities for the Communities Professor Franklin Tao Files Lawsuit Against University of Kansas According to Kansas Reflector on August 10, 2026, Feng "Franklin" Tao 陶丰 , a Chinese American chemist and former tenured chemical engineering professor at the University of Kansas (KU), filed a new federal lawsuit on July 21, 2026, alleging KU's handling of his case caused lasting harm to his career and reputation — the latest chapter in a saga that began when he became one of the first professors arrested under the first Trump administration's "China Initiative" in 2019. Background : An anonymous tip accusing Professor Tao of espionage prompted KU to notify the Department of Justice (DOJ) and build a case against him. He was federally indicted and criminally convicted of making a false statement — a conviction later overturned on appeal. The lawsuits : This is Professor Tao's second suit against KU. He first sued in 2025 seeking reinstatement and alleging discrimination. This newest suit alleges KU retaliated against him because of that 2025 discrimination complaint, and claims the university violated state and federal workplace discrimination protections. Central dispute — the faculty review board: Professor Tao's lawsuit centers on KU's decision to convene a temporary faculty review board composed of non-tenured faculty to evaluate the charges against him. Professor Tao argues this composition created an inherent conflict of interest, since non-tenured faculty members' careers remain subject to KU's discretion — undermining the independence the review process was supposed to guarantee. He raised objections to the board's makeup, but the board dismissed his concerns in March 2026, leaving him — per the lawsuit — "unable to contest the charges against him, unable to secure reinstatement, and indefinitely denied the fair process to which he is entitled." Where things stand : KU had not responded to the lawsuit as of the article's publication (August 10, 2026). Professor Tao accepted a non-tenured position in Arizona in April 2026. He is seeking compensation for lost wages, plus unspecified damages for reputational injury, emotional distress, and pain and suffering. Read APA Justice Impacted Person Profile on Professor Tao: https://bit.ly/4i0WZLw Estate of Dr. Jane Wu’s Lawsuit Against Northwestern University Moving Forward According to Evanston RoundTable on July 16, 2026, a Cook County Circuit Court judge largely rejected Northwestern University's (NU) motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the estate of Jane Wu, a former Feinberg School of Medicine professor who died by suicide in July 2024 after the university shut down her research lab. The ruling : At a hearing on July 16, Judge Jonathan Clark Green denied Northwestern's motion to dismiss on eight of the nine counts in the suit — including false imprisonment, medical malpractice, and discrimination based on national origin. He asked Dr. Wu's estate's attorney, Thomas Geoghegan , to file an amended complaint by July 30 addressing only the ninth count, related to breach of contract over NU's denial of tenure. NU must file its amended response by August 20, with a status hearing set for August 27 to begin discussing discovery — meaning the case is likely headed into that phase. Background : Dr. Wu, a China-born naturalized U.S. citizen, became the subject of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) administrative investigation in 2019 into her ties to China, conducted as part of the Trump administration's "China Initiative." No charges were ever filed, and the NIH closed its investigation in 2023 — but according to the lawsuit, Feinberg leadership simultaneously cut her salary, citing lack of funding during the investigation period, and imposed new requirements for her to apply for future grants. In February 2024, NU closed part of her lab and reassigned her research team. The suit alleges the university "misleadingly" told her in May 2024 she could still apply for NIH funding, only to announce the closure of her remaining lab days later. Her background : Dr. Wu held a medical degree from Shanghai Medical University and a PhD in cancer biology from Stanford, joined NU's faculty in 2005 after two years at Vanderbilt, and published 176 peer-reviewed articles and three books over her career. Community response : More than 1,000 academics — from 44 states and over 300 institutions — signed a letter in February, sponsored by the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) and the Federation of Asian Professor Associations, calling on NU to apologize for its treatment of Dr. Wu. AASF Executive Director Gisela Perez Kusakawa called the ruling significant for "ensuring that universities respond appropriately to allegations and protect their faculty from discrimination." Dr. Wu's daughter, Elizabeth Rao — executor of her mother's estate — said in a statement that her "grief and anguish" over the university's treatment of her mother continues, and that the family is proceeding with the case. AsAmNews Report : In the AsAmNews report on July 16, two key legal details were added to the RoundTable report: NU's failed jurisdictional argument that no claim existed to transfer after Dr. Wu's death, and its failed argument that a psychiatric-unit transport "supported by reasonable grounds" could not support a false imprisonment claim — both rejected by Judge Green. It also includes a fuller AASF statement praising the ruling as a step toward "accountability and civil rights protections in American higher education." The Daily Northwestern Report : According to Daily Northwestern on July 31, 2026, NU’s legal assertion in Dr. Wu’s case that tenure rights were not breached has alarmed faculty leaders, leading to demands for a reaffirmation of tenure standards. In a May 18 brief supporting dismissal of the case, NU's lawyers argued that the Faculty Handbook's endorsement of American Association of University Professors' (AAUP’s) "1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure" does not create "individually enforceable contractual rights" — characterizing the handbook's language as "an endorsement of an educational philosophy, not a contractual incorporation." This directly contradicts how many faculty view the handbook, which NU-AAUP President Jorge Coronado described as effectively "a contract with the University." Coronado said faculty were "completely aghast" by the university's position, calling tenure "the foundation for academic freedom." NU-AAUP officers sent a letter on July 9 to University President Mung Chiang and Provost Erik Luijten asking them to affirm NU's commitment to tenure under AAUP standards and the Faculty Handbook. Faculty Senate leadership sent a similar letter. After the court largely denied NU's motion to dismiss on July 17, Luijten responded on July 21 by affirming "commitment to academic freedom" and citing Faculty Handbook definitions — but NU-AAUP Treasurer Michael Peshkin said officers felt this stopped short of directly affirming the institution of tenure itself. Incoming Faculty Senate President Rebecca Zorach said she hopes the legal position is not an accurate reflection of NU's actual stance, warning "there will certainly be a fight ahead" if it is. She and Peshkin both warned the implications extend well beyond Dr. Wu's case: if courts were to accept NU's interpretation that the handbook does not create enforceable rights, it could undermine tenure protections for all faculty and potentially allow arbitrary dismissals. Coronado echoed this, saying the same arguments used against Dr. Wu "could apply to any faculty member." Peshkin called the university's timing especially reckless given heightened scrutiny of higher education under the Trump administration, while Zorach noted tenure-track positions are already shrinking nationally, representing a broader "erosion of tenure" this case risks accelerating. Read APA Justice Impacted Person Profile on Dr. Wu: https://bit.ly/JaneYingWu Trump Tries Again to Limit Birthright Citizenship According to multiple media reports, President Donald Trump signed two new executive orders on August 6, 2026, once again seeking to narrow birthright citizenship — just five weeks after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. Barbara that his original 2025 attempt was unconstitutional. Background Trump's first-day-in-office 2025 order sought to deny citizenship to children born to undocumented or temporarily-present parents. It was blocked almost immediately and never took effect. On June 30, 2026, the Supreme Court struck it down, reaffirming that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to nearly everyone born on U.S. soil. What the New Orders Do The first order carves out specific categories the administration argues fall outside constitutional protection — children of foreign government employees, of designated foreign terrorist group members, and of parents "engaged in fraudulent activity to obtain citizenship." The second targets "birth tourism," directing the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to crack down on foreign nationals who travel to the U.S. specifically to give birth. Legal Groups Move to Clarify the Barbara Ruling Still Applies On August 11, the same coalition that won Trump v. Barbara — the ACLU, ACLU of New Hampshire, ACLU of Maine, ACLU of Massachusetts, Legal Defense Fund, Asian Law Caucus, and Democracy Defenders Fund — filed a motion in the New Hampshire federal court where the case originated, rather than pursuing an entirely new lawsuit. The motion asks the court to make "unquestionably clear" that the citizenship of babies covered by the existing class-action ruling remains protected despite Trump's new order, arguing: "The Supreme Court confirmed that there are no additional exceptions beyond those recognized in United States v. Wong Kim Ark , 169 U.S. 649 (1898), and the Fourteenth Amendment is not subject to executive (or legislative) revision. President Trump's continued resistance to that principle calls for this Court's renewed intervention." “President Trump may not like the fact that birthright citizenship is a constitutional right, and he may not like that he lost in the Supreme Court, but that is really beside the point,” said Cody Wofsy , deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel. “It’s well past time for these illegal and cruel attacks on children’s citizenship to end.” Asian Law Caucus Executive Director Aarti Kohli called the new order "a desperate and brazen attempt to bypass the Supreme Court's decision," adding: "As the court has already affirmed, it's the Constitution, not the president, who determines who is American... Immigrant communities know that our rights are on the line, especially when the government uses us as scapegoats. The Trump administration already lost once and it will lose again." Legal Defense Fund Deputy Director of Litigation Amia Trigg said the groups "will not stand idly by as the executive branch blatantly ignores the court's authority in its crusade against American children," while Democracy Defenders Fund's Norm Eisen called the new attempt "as constitutionally futile as it is cruel." Why This Matters for AANHPI Community Asian American legal organizations have been central to this fight from the start — Asian Law Caucus and Advancing Justice–AAJC were both named plaintiffs' counsel in the original case. The constitutional principle at stake traces directly to United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898), in which the Supreme Court affirmed a Chinese American man's citizenship by birth despite his parents' Chinese nationality — decided during the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Advocates have repeatedly cited that case as a reminder of what's historically at stake when birthright citizenship is narrowed. Rep. Grace Meng , Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), said in a statement, “President Trump still believes he can decide who gets to be an American, even after the Supreme Court rejected his unlawful attempt to end birthright citizenship just weeks ago. The Constitution does not bend to the whims of any president, and Trump will soon learn that his latest executive orders will suffer the same defeat as his last.” Controversial Rule Changes at Census Bureau Several developments have kept the Census Bureau in the news recently, with the most immediate controversy centering on the noise-infusion ban we covered in APA Justice Newsletter Issue #405 — plus two other significant, related fights over Census methodology. Talking Points Memo ( TPM ) reported August 7 that Census Bureau officials, speaking publicly at a major statistical conference, conceded that the June 4 rule banning "noise infusion" privacy techniques will make it impossible for the agency to publish certain data it has historically released — a development TPM notes "could especially harm minority groups." Bureau representatives denied the policy change had political objectives, though TPM reports that experts and advocacy groups believe otherwise. Salil Vadhan , a computer scientist who advised the Bureau on its use of differential privacy and attended the conference, said: "I saw the order as taking us back several decades in the tool kit for disclosure avoidance and privacy protection." Experts have also criticized the process itself, telling TPM the Commerce Department failed to seek expert input as is customary for this kind of policy shift — "making it an administration political process instead of a public process with expertise in oversight." Georgetown's Center for Children and Families separately reported that the underlying order — Commerce Department Administrative Order (DAO) 216-26 — was made effective immediately, with no opportunity for the standard public comment or expert review process, warning it threatens both health policy research and broader federal data systems. Separately, in March 2026, more than 60 members of Congress — led in part by CAPAC Chair Grace Meng and Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat — sent a bicameral letter to the Commerce Department opposing proposed changes to the Census Bureau's 2026 Operational Test, a key preparation exercise ahead of the 2030 count. The letter warned that the proposed changes — cutting test sites from six to two, reducing the respondent pool by 75%, replacing the standard census form with the longer American Community Survey, and adding a citizenship question — would make an accurate count "impossible" and undermine a decade's worth of federal funding and representation. NPR reported in February that the citizenship-question proposal arrived amid a broader Republican redistricting push, with some GOP lawmakers separately pursuing efforts to exclude non-citizens entirely from the population counts used to allocate congressional seats — despite the 14th Amendment's requirement that apportionment be based on the "whole number of persons in each state." Multiple GOP-led states have also filed lawsuits seeking to force the Bureau to subtract undocumented residents and certain visa holders from those counts. Why This Matters for AANHPI Community Taken together, these developments — the noise-infusion ban, the citizenship question, and reduced test-site sampling — compound concerns we raised about the accuracy and reliability of Census data affecting Asian Pacific American communities specifically. Reduced granularity and smaller sample sizes tend to disproportionately affect smaller or geographically dispersed populations, a category that includes many AANHPI subpopulations that already face undercounting and disaggregation challenges. What's Next None of these rule changes appear to have been reversed in response to expert or congressional pushback so far. With the 2026 Operational Test serving as a dress rehearsal for the 2030 census, how these disputes are resolved in the coming months will likely shape both the accuracy and privacy protections of the next full decennial count. News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2026/08/26 C100: An Advice and Networking Event (Technology) 2026/09/01 APA Justice Monthly Meeting 2026/09/03 C100: Recollections, Pioneers and Heroes - Hao Jiang TianVisit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. # # # APA Justice Task Force is a non-partisan platform to build a sustainable ecosystem that addresses racial profiling concerns and to facilitate, inform, and advocate on selected issues related to justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American community. For more information, please refer to the APA Justice website at www.apajusticetaskforce.org . We value your feedback. Please send your comments to contact@apajustice.org . Back View PDF August 13, 2026 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

April 2026 Meeting Summary Apr 6, 2026 Read March 2026 Meeting Summary Mar 2, 2026 Read February 2026 Meeting Summary Feb 2, 2026 Read January 2026 Meeting Summary Jan 5, 2026 Read December 2025 Meeting Summaires Dec 1, 2025 Read November 2025 Meeting Summary Nov 3, 2025 Read October 2025 Meeting Summary Oct 6, 2025 Read September 2025 Meeting Summary Sep 8, 2025 Read August 2025 Monthly Meeting Summary Aug 4, 2025 Read July 2025 Meeting Summary Jul 7, 2025 Read June 2025 Meeting Summary Jun 2, 2025 Read May 2025 Meeting Summary May 5, 2025 Read Monthly Meeting Summaries APA Justice conducts monthly meetings and publishes the meeting summary on this website. Participation is by invitation only. Due to limited capacity, invited participants are typically active and recognized organizations and concerned individuals. Please send an email to contact@apajustice.org if you have interest. < < 1 1 1

Newsletter - #348 Special Edition: Shutdown of Corporation of Public Broadcasting #348 Special Edition: Shutdown of Corporation of Public Broadcasting In This Issue #348 Special Edition: Shutdown of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Author: Madeleine Gable, APA Justice Communications Associate On July 24, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the GOP-backed Rescissions Act of 2025, cutting about $1.1 billion in previously approved funding allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) over the next two years. A week later, CPB President Patricia Harrison announced the organization would shut down, with most of its 100 employees leaving by the end of September. Despite widespread public opposition, including letters and petitions, the shutdown advances, threatening the future of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the National Public Radio (NPR), and hundreds of local stations nationwide, significantly impacting Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. What is the CPB? Established in 1967 under the Public Broadcasting Act, the CPB is a private nonprofit corporation supporting noncommercial, educational, and accessible broadcasting. Beyond funding PBS and NPR, the CPB provides support to over 1,500 local radio and TV stations. Many of the rural networks are the only broadcasting stations in the area.Former President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act as part of Great Society legislation , initiatives intended to reduce poverty and promote social equity. Early broadcasters, often based at universities and land-grant schools, provided continuing education programs, which eventually expanded to include children’s programming, documentary films, and feature stories.The CPB allocates more than $400 million to over 500 public-media organizations nationwide. In particular, its funding has a much greater impact on stations that serve local communities than it does on PBS and NPR. In fact, the CPB funds 15% of the budget for PBS and only 1% of the budget for NPR. The vast majority of the CPB’s funds are allocated directly to local TV and radio stations, and 31% of the CPB’s grants were allocated directly to rural networks in 2023. According to CPB analysis, more than half of the rural stations it supported relied on federal funding for at least 25% of their budget. Consequences of the Shutdown At its inception, the CPB was designed to ensure nonpartisanship by creating a degree of separation between its operations and the lawmakers responsible for approving the annual federal budget. Recently, the CPB, and especially NPR and PBS, have garnered criticism for alleged liberal bias. Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene vehemently called for the defunding of the CPB because NPR and PBS had become “echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy white urban liberals and progressives who generally look down on and judge rural America.” On Truth Social in April, President Donald Trump referred to NPR and PBS as “radical left monsters that so badly hurt our country.” 1. Loss of Local/Rural Representation and Voice Both Rep. Greene and President Trump’s statements underscore the irony of shuttering the CPB. The shutdown would hit rural, low-income areas hardest, places where local stations are often the sole source of essential information, leaving these communities at a significant disadvantage. With the loss of funding, smaller, public radio stations will be forced to rely more heavily on national programming, thereby reducing the diversity of perspectives on the air. As Emily Cohen , station manager of KHOL in Jackson, Wyoming, observed , “If you take away the funding that’s supporting local coverage, it could potentially make polarization worse.”Such smaller, rural broadcasting stations include Allegheny Mountain Radio (AMR), a network of three radio stations in West Virginia and Virginia that serve as the area’s only broadcasters. Located within the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000 square-mile region where airwaves are restricted due to a nearby radio telescope, AMR operates at a frequency low enough to avoid interference. More than 60% of its annual budget is funded by the CPB; any reduction in this funding would seriously harm residents who may otherwise lose access to local broadcasting. Josh Shepperd , associate professor at the University of Colorado, suggests “20% of the country is effectively going to lose any concept of itself as a place within the next 10 years without public media.” He added local communities are “all going to have national ideology on the local level, and no local memory and no local experience.” 2. Reduced Access to Critical Information and Services Importantly, the shutdown of the CPB will severely dampen the efficacy of local alert systems, endangering the lives of those who rely on local broadcasting systems for emergency messages. In rural communities that lack reliable internet, radio is often a more effective means of disseminating emergency alerts. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has the ability to send emergency messages directly to people’s cellphones, radio stations can cover a larger geographical area and are more reliable than cell towers.In the Permian Basin in southwest Texas, radio is often the only outlet available to provide residents with emergency information in times of natural disaster. Marfa Public Radio and KPBT-TV (also known as Basin PBS) are two of the stations that primarily serve this area. 30% of Marfa Public Radio’s budget is funded by the CPB, while 48% of KPBT-TV’s comes from the CPB. Directors of both of these stations have expressed their concerns about continuing to operate as their budgets must now be fully funded by donors.Mendocino-based NPR member station KZYX in California serves roughly 130,000 listeners. Andre de Channes , KZYX’s general manager and director of operations, worried about fire safety as the station provides service to many off-the-grid rural areas without access to internet or cell service. Residents of those areas rely primarily on KZYX for emergency information. KZYX has lost 25% of its operating budget. 3. Impact on Cultural Programming In addition to limited diversity of programming and reduced access to critical information and services, the shutdown of the CPB will also profoundly impact cultural programming, particularly because local stations broadcast the majority of such content. Jack Jones is the acting station manager of KGVA, a tribal radio station on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in northern Montana, which receives 85% of its funding from the CPB. Much of the rest of its funding is allocated by the reservation’s college, which also faces a severe funding crisis. According to Jones, KGVA daily broadcasts feature educational programming, words of the day in Aaniiih and Nakota languages, interviews with tribal elders, Native American drum groups, and local high school basketball games. Republican Senator from South Dakota Mike Rounds noted that tribal radio stations are crucial for "delivering critical emergency alerts and public safety information.” Jones remains concerned that the shutdown of the CPB will deprive listeners of both vital cultural programming and essential public safety information. Loris Taylor , President and CEO of Native Public Media, warned that the “cost of silence” from shuttering tribal radio stations also includes the loss of emergency alerting capabilities and the collapse of civic engagement coverage. Perhaps most importantly, Taylor says defunding tribal stations "turns off a pathway to participation, representation, and leadership for Native youth.” The CPB shutdown also threatens the more than 1,000 public radio stations that play independent music, as the CPB funding often covers all music licensing fees for public radio stations. Without that funding, public radio stations would have to renegotiate those deals individually. NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher recently estimated that 96% of all classical music broadcast in the U.S. is on public radio stations. Impact on AANHPI Communities 1. Cultural Programming at Risk Beyond local stations, CPB funding also supports national and digital platforms that amplify AANHPI voices.To celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month in 2024, the CPB published a comprehensive guide to its programming exploring and celebrating the history and culture of AANHPI individuals and communities. Examples include PBS’s “ The Composer is Yoo ” and Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story , Dear Corky , WORLD’s “ Chinatown Auxiliary ” and In Search of Bengali Harlem , NPR’s Tiny Desk Japan and Tiny Desk Korea , and PBS’s five part documentary series Asian Americans .Other PBS stations offering extensive, culturally rich programming about Asian Americans include PBS Hawai’i , KQED , and PBS SoCal . The latter aired “ Snapshots of Confinement ,” a locally-produced documentary chronicling the experiences of Japanese Americans at internment camps during World War II.Other radio and online platforms uplifting AANHPI voices include NPR Live Sessions , Seattle’s KEXP , LAist Studios and NPR’s Inheriting , StoryCorps , and the American Archive of Public Broadcasting . 2. Arts and Story Telling The Serica Initiative , a nonprofit in New York City, raises awareness of the Asian diaspora in America through storytelling, dialogue, and the power of convening. According to CEO and founder Anla Cheng , a key partner of Serica's is The WNET Group in New York and a past recipient of CPB funds. Together, Serica and ALL ARTS — the arts and culture hub created by The WNET Group — have co-produced a series of short videos highlighting the impact of AAPIs; most recently, their series " Climate Artists " (which featured artists centering climate change and sustainability in their work, including architect and designer Maya Lin ) was nominated for three NY Emmy Awards; a fourth Emmy nomination was for their video " Voices Rising: What's Next for Asian Americans in the Arts? ", which was also co-produced with ALL ARTS and featured such speakers as playwright David Henry Hwang (Golden Child, Yellow Face) as well as actors Rosalind Chao (Three Body Problem) and BD Wong (Jurassic Park, Law & Order: SUV). Cheng highlighted that reductions in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) funding, academic research grants, and resources supporting AAPI communities will have far-reaching effects throughout the entire community. She also emphasized that the willingness to support one another remains stronger than ever, with emotional and creative contributions often being just as valuable as financial support, making the phrase “Collectively, We are Stronger” a reality. 3. Asian American Films and Festivals Two of the country’s largest Asian American Film Festivals, CAAMFest and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, also risk losing a significant portion of their funding. CAAM , the Center for Asian American Media, originated through the efforts of Loni Ding and others to secure funding from the CPB to create the National Asian American Telecommunications Association in 1980, later renamed CAAM. CAAMFest, an offshoot of CAAM, debuted in 1982 as the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival before adopting its current name in 2013. Since then, it has been held annually, except in 1985. According to Grace Yu of the 1990 Institute , CAAM remains the primary organization recognized by the CPB representing Asian Americans. CAAM’s Executive Director Don Young warned that the group faces a major financial crisis following President Trump’s funding cuts, which threaten 40% of its total budget. While the most severe restrictions were not applied directly to the film festival, they will significantly disrupt CAAM’s core work of funding, producing, distributing, and showcasing film, television, and other digital media. The festival itself is not the main target of the cuts, but it remains vulnerable to their ripple effects.Young underscored the importance of documentary filmmaking as a “fundamental influence to help the Asian American community discover our voice and to provide greater shared understanding of Asian America to the broader public.” Despite the financial strain, Young reaffirmed that “CAAM’s commitment to storytelling for the public good, and not corporate profits, will continue,” with an emphasis on public media, sustainability, and innovation. Similarly, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival forecasts it will lose 10-20% of its funding, much of which stems from the National Endowment of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the CPB. Francis Cuillado , executive director at Visual Communications, noted that their archive will bear the greatest impact. The archive works to “preserve and digitize film, photographs and other media” in order to create a freely accessible library. Presented by Visual Communications, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival first debuted in 1983 and has presented over 5,000 films, videos, and digital mediaworks by Asian and Pacific Islander artists. The festival also features seminars, panels, and in-person guest appearances.With the imminent shutdown, all of the above programming faces significant disruption or cancellation. Even organizations not directly affected will feel the loss of a broader network, frequent collaborators, and reliable source material, further hindering the production and dissemination of Asian American programming. Economic and Employment Impact The CPB shutdown will also significantly impact employment and local economies. The CPB estimates nearly 6,000 people are employed by rural stations that it supports. All of those employees face the risk of severe pay cuts due to the shutdown, in addition to the threat of losing their jobs.As Montana’s KGVA stands to lose $100,000 in funding, station manager Jack Jones plans to phase out all programming that requires someone in the studio, cutting the station’s budget down to just $30,000 for licensing fees and station upkeep. Jones says he plans to “start letting people go” as salaries are their largest expense. KGVA only employs one part-time worker, a summer disc jockey. When The New Yorker journalist Oliver Whang noted that Jones himself was the only other employee who could be let go, Jones paused, then quipped “yeah.” "The Race to Rescue PBS and NPR Stations" According to the New York Times on August 19, 2025, philanthropists from the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation, Pivotal Ventures, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced they have committed $26.5 million to support the most at-risk public radio and TV stations. In their definition, these stations include those who have historically received more than 30% of their support from the CPB. They hope to reach $50 million for the Public Media Bridge Fund by the end of this year through additional fundraising. According to Maribel Pérez Wadsworth , president and CEO of the Knight Foundation, philanthropy could not provide a substitute for the federal funding in the long term. A broad overhaul of the public radio system is needed, and many stations will need to merge or pool their resources to save costs. Additional Resources 2025/08/07 The New Yorker: What Happens to Public Media Now? https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/what-happens-to-public-media-now 2025/08/06 Christian Science Monitor: As Corporation for Public Broadcasting shuts down, what will that mean on airwaves? https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2025/0806/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-npr-pbs 2025/08/05 Forbes: Will NPR And PBS Go Away? How CPB Shutting Down Affects Them https://www.forbes.com/sites/andymeek/2025/08/05/will-npr-and-pbs-go-away-how-cpb-shutting-down-affects-them/ About the author: Madeleine Gable is a junior at New York University, studying International Relations, Economics, and Chinese. She will spend the upcoming fall semester at NYU Shanghai and has been working with APA Justice since October 2024. News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2025/09/06 The 2025 Asian American Youth Symposium2025/09/08 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/09/08 Committee of 100 Conversations – “Recollections, Pioneers and Heroes” with Janet Yang2025/09/09 China Connections — Chinese Encounters with America: Profiles of Changemakers Who Shaped China2025/09/16-17 2025 AANHPI Unity Summit2025/09/23 Committee of 100: Is Deglobalization Inevitable?Visit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. 2. C100: Is Deglobalization Inevitable? On September 23, 2025, the Committee of 100 and the Foreign Policy Association will co-host a keynote fireside chat and debate on the topic of "Is Deglobalization Inevitable?" Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz at Columbia University will open with a fireside chat on the evening’s central issue, followed by a lively debate between two leading experts: Walden Bello , Professor, State University of New York at Binghamton and Kyoto University (and credited with coining the term “deglobalization”), and Professor Edward Ashbee, Professor, Copenhagen Business School. They will present opposing views in a traditional debate format—opening statements, rebuttals, and closing remarks. Peter Young, Committee of 100 Member and Board Member, CEO of Young & Partners, will serve as moderator. The in-person event at the Yale Club of New York City is by invitation only. The virtual invitation is open to the public; register to attend at https://bit.ly/3Jnwi7z Contact events@committee100.org for more information. # # # APA Justice Task Force is a non-partisan platform to build a sustainable ecosystem that addresses racial profiling concerns and to facilitate, inform, and advocate on selected issues related to justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American community. For more information, please refer to the new APA Justice website under development at www.apajusticetaskforce.org . We value your feedback. Please send your comments to contact@apajustice.org . Back View PDF August 21, 2025 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

1. A Call to Stop Senate Bill 147 and All Alien Land Laws 2023 Texas Alien Land Bill SB147 Friday, February 17, 2023 20230217 Webinar1.JPG Previous Item Next Item

Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) has launched the Anti-Racial Profiling Project (ARPP). October 6, 2020 On October 6, 2020, Advancing Justice | Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) launched the Anti-Racial Profiling Project (ARPP). Watch the press briefing here . On October 7, 2020, Advancing Justice | AAJC launched the first webinar for ARPP for the public and followed with a detailed message about the project on October 9. How You Can Get Help Legal Referral . Contact AAJC via the Signal app with the number 202-935-6014 or text ONLY a name and phone number to 202-935-6014 and wait for an AAJC staff member to make direct contact. Know Your Rights . Covering 3 areas: (a) When approached by law enforcement (including the FBI, Special Agents from an agency’s Office of Inspector General or security office, or other Federal, state or local police); (b) When law enforcement comes to your house; (c) SPECIFIC PRECAUTIONS FOR SCIENTISTS, SCHOLARS AND RESEARCHERS How You Can Help Make a Tax-Deductible Donation to Advancing Justice | AAJC . AAJC is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Sign up for the APA Justice newsletter to keep informed on the latest developments Spread the word about the Anti-Racial Profiling Project Stories from Impacted People Dr. Wei Su : Concern for the younger generation: The targeting and profiling of Chinese and Asian Americans and Immigrants Dr. Xiaoxing Xi : Spying charges against Chinese American scientists spakr fears of a witch hunt Ms. Sherry Chen : Ohio scientist accused of spying sues government after charges dropped Dr. Wen Ho Lee : The Making of a Suspect: The Case of Web Ho Lee Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) has launched the Anti-Racial Profiling Project (ARPP). Previous Next Anti-Racial Profiling Project Launched

Newsletter - #81 DOC Internal Review Report; 09/13 Meeting; APS Webinar; Yellow Whistles And More #81 DOC Internal Review Report; 09/13 Meeting; APS Webinar; Yellow Whistles And More Back View PDF September 7, 2021 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #69 06/30 Congressional Roundtable; "Ridiculous Case"; Petition To NYU; "China Initiative" #69 06/30 Congressional Roundtable; "Ridiculous Case"; Petition To NYU; "China Initiative" Back View PDF June 25, 2021 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter