Author
Aarti Kohli
Executive Director
Aarti Kohli
Executive Director
Aarti Kohli is the Executive Director of Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, the first organization in the country to represent and promote the legal and civil rights of Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Aarti leads ALC with a vision of increasing the power of low-income immigrant communities to help advance economic and racial justice in our democracy. She currently leads a national table of Asian American leaders addressing anti-Asian hate with a focus on policy, messaging, and solidarity work. Aarti is committed to advancing local, state, and federal policy solutions that recognize and address the needs of Asian American and Pacifc Islander communities.
Aarti is an experienced leader with over twenty years of experience working at the intersections of immigration, civic engagement, criminal justice, economic equity, and national security. Prior to joining Advancing Justice – ALC, Aarti led her own consulting practice where she advised philanthropy and managed a project on the politics of demographic change and immigration reform at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Aarti also served as the Director of Immigration Policy at the Warren Institute at UC Berkeley School of Law where she led the institute’s immigration initiative on issues of equity for immigrant families. Formerly, she worked on a range of issues, from bankruptcy to voting rights, as Judiciary Committee counsel to Representative Howard Berman (D-CA). Before working for Congress she served as Assistant Legislative Director at UNITE union in Washington, DC where she lobbied on behalf of low-income garment workers.
Last night, eight people were killed in Georgia. Six of them were Asian women. Our hearts break for all the victims and their loved ones.
We feel heavy today from the burdens of white supremacy and gender-based violence.
This has been a year of fear and anxiety for our communities, especially low-income families, essential workers, and elders. Hate incidents against our communities—particularly women—have skyrocketed this year. That’s true in Atlanta, that’s true in the Bay Area, and it’s true across the country.
Yesterday is a reminder that we desperately need to address our country’s deeply entangled racism and misogyny. Through our work with low-income Asian women service workers, we know that they are often the targets of economic exploitation and sexual violence. Many are showing up to work every day not only scared that COVID-19 will take their life, but that racism, gender-based violence, and worker exploitation could too.
The violence our communities experience every day won’t be solved by more police. It won’t be solved by more people crowding our prisons. Those structures have failed us, time and time again, and they are rooted in and upheld by the same white supremacy that fuels these attacks. We’re calling for community-led solutions to help us heal and transform our neighborhoods to become healthier, stronger, and safer.
In the days and weeks to come, we will be following the lead of our partners in Atlanta as they gather more information about the families and what’s happening on the ground. We will be answering their calls for support however we can.
Even as we wrestle with our own outrage, fear, and pain, we are working to create a build a future free of racism and gender-based violence by:
- Hosting a table of Asian American leaders across the country to jointly address anti-Asian racism
- Providing rapid response to support our partner in Atlanta
- Advocating for resources for workers/survivors in the CA legislature
- Pushing the federal government to provide more mental health support and services to survivors
- Providing bystander intervention trainings to companies and organizations
We’re holding our people close and feeling deep gratitude for the outpouring of support. To support our Asian American sisters and brothers in Georgia, donate here and sign on to Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta & Georgia NAACP’s collective statement to show your support.
We mourn the victims as we do the work of reimagining what it means for our communities to be truly safe.
If you need mental, emotional, or spiritual support in this moment, we recommend the following resources:
AAPI Healer Network and Therapy Resources List
Self-Care Tips for Asian Americans Dealing with Racism Amid Coronavirus
Reporting hate crimes and racist incidents: StandAgainstHatred.org