Levi Strauss | Titi Liu
We have this inter-generational community of activists who have been working on all of the key issues that impact Asians and Pacific Islanders and other communities of color dating all the way back to nineteen seventy-two it’s an incredible network of people.
Transcript
progressive lowering is about making
sure that the legal rights that we have
are fully realized what can we do
through the legal system to ensure that
people can live full fulfilling lives
and that people can have every
opportunity available to really
contribute to our society and you to
build a life for themselves and for
their families I’m teaching the
executive director of the Asian male
caucus so the Asian law caucus is really
about connecting with individual clients
that need our services because their
recent low-income immigrants and then
through the direct legal services
understanding what challenges they face
and how we can address those challenges
through legal and policy change you
really need somebody who appreciates on
a very deep level the struggles of the
community and really wants to use a
community-based lawyering approach so
one where they are engaging with clients
where they’re at and elevating the
voices of their clients so that the the
particular challenges that the client
faces can feed into a broader policy
discussion and and then some real
results not just for the client but for
other people who are in the same
situation there’s also been a very deep
appreciation that in the post 9-11
context context there are real
limitations to the civil rights
framework we have this intergenerational
community of activists who have been
working on all of the key issues that
impact Asians and Pacific Islanders and
other communities of color dating all
the way back to nineteen seventy-two
it’s an incredible network of people I
think it’s also an interesting example
because it’s one that really addresses
this issue of us exceptionalism head-on
because I think embedded in us
exceptionalism is usually some misguided
notion you know not that we’re just
different period but that our laws are
actually more progressive that we
actually have more robust protections
for individual rights than other
countries and so when judges are
presented
with overwhelming evidence to the
contrary and that can actually be a very
powerful argument we have clients that
are you know terrified of coming forward
right and speaking with immigration
officials about some particular issue
that’s coming up with their case and we
need to understand you know that there’s
a real chilling effect that’s been
created by their interactions with
tyrannical governments in their home
country so understanding where people
are coming from is really important all
of the communities that we work with our
communities that mainstream Americans
still think of as being perpetually
foreign and so when that happens we need
to be extremely vigilant about
protecting people civil rights and civil
liberties so the Asian law caucus is
about bringing these different
communities together that maybe didn’t
understand each other before and didn’t
understand what they have at stake in
common with one another and building
bridges and building alliances that can
be durable I spent most of my life
working overseas and I’ve seen some of
the tremendous work that Levi Strauss
Foundation has done specifically
supporting worker rights in China it was
a foundation that I had a lot of respect
for when I was also a funder working on
workers rights issues in China and so to
be able to partner with them right here
in San Francisco in our own backyard is
particularly exciting and inspiring the
foundation really has a vision around
social media and how we can use social
media to transform our communities we’ve
been working on building a blog where
activists can come together and talk
about different issues we’ve been
revamping our website we’ve been trying
to reach a much broader community
through social media and so that vision
is so much aligned with the vision of
the levi strauss foundation what really
sets us apart is that we have a laser
sharp focus on the most low-income
members of our community so we’re really
about people who have recently come to
the US who are facing very significant
challenges and who are lowing
and how can we elevate their voices
litigation does provide a frame for
storytelling because you’ve got you know
people trying to battle it out over you
know who’s right who’s wrong who has the
law on their side and it can be a very
compelling story and often it’s the
story of the litigation and not the
litigation itself that’s really going to
change hearts and minds and have a
lasting impact
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