A Tribeca Neighbor’s Gala: AALDEF

By Lionelle Hamanaka

Bethany Li (AALDEF), Daniel Dae Kim, Janai Nelson (Legal Defense Fund), and Lourdes Rosado (LatinoJustice PRLDEF) engage in a fireside chat about the importance of coming together to fight back against attacks on communities of color. Photo by Eric Bondoc.

Pier 60 at Chelsea Piers was lit up on Tuesday evening, April 29, by the Annual Gala of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). Hundreds of supporters gathered to celebrate the past year’s victories gained by AALDEF’s civil rights lawyers. The gala featured a “Fireside Chat” led by Bethany Li, executive director. Asian, Latin and Black civil rights leaders pledged to unite against attacks being waged against communities of color. Two Justice in Action Awards were presented. Recipients included TV star Daniel Dae Kim, recently nominated for a Tony as Broadway star of David Henry Hwang’s Yellowface, and the Save Chinatown Coalition in Philadelphia (supported by Asian Americans United). The group stopped arena construction by the 76ers basketball team that would have negatively impacted the community. Slant, an Asian American band, provided entertainment. They were led by Perry Yung and Rick Ebihara performing Working for the MTA.

AALDEF has been nestled in the heart of Tribeca at 99 Hudson Street since 1991. They once shared office space with Janai Nelson’s Legal Defense Fund for Black communities and Lourdes Rosado’s LatinoJustice. The three groups were influenced by the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund.

After a chat on the history of Asian Americans, including the landing of Filipinos in California in 1587, Stuart Sia, AALDEF’s communications director and a young activist, shared his own story. “I joined in 2021 because I saw the rise in anti-Asian violence during the pandemic. Also, I wanted to work for my community and be part of the ‘we.’ I had worked for nonprofits but not for an Asian American organization, and the day AALDEF put an ad in the Idealist (a hiring website) I saw that AALDEF needed a communications person. Margaret Fung hired me.”

Fung, a distinguished lawyer, was AALDE’s executive director for 50 years. During her tenure she oversaw the legal help given to tens of thousands of people. She stepped down last year and Li has taken over.

AALDEF was founded in 1974 in San Francisco during the “end of the movement, anti-war, [amid the] emerging identity of Asian Americans,” Sia said. Its 24 staff members are a vibrant team serving the nation’s 24 million Asian Americans, winning court battles and representing clients by a national network of pro bono lawyers. It is supported by community donations and some businesses. The organization’s main projects include Housing and Environmental Justice, such as ensuring NY’s Chinatown got health resources after 9/11, and backing a Korean American group in Queens against a casino. The AALDEF is also litigating against Florida’s refusal to allow Chinese residents of the US to buy houses in the state. Its longstanding Immigration Rights Team now distributes info to students from 58 Asian countries in a “Know Your Rights” format. Sia also said that AALDEF focuses on “impact litigation” that will have a domino effect on many other cases, multiple communities and individuals. If you want to refer someone, the link is: aaldef.org.