CORE COMMUNITY RACIAL JUSTICE TRAININGS
AAJIL’s Core Community Racial Justice Trainings are for EVERYONE. We offer them in order to equip you with histories and critical frameworks that can deepen the work of antiracism in your lives and in your communities. This three-part series intentionally integrates what is often left out of general racial justice education: Asian American experiences and decolonial values. They represent our beliefs and values as an organization and are the foundation for organizing emergent community-led labs for mutual care, community-building, collaboration and innovation.
This is a three-level program, with Fundamentals designed for people who care about racial justice but feel like they are just starting out on their journeys. Foundations is for those who are further along but who could use a deeper dive— this level focuses on aspects of systemic racism that ideologies of whiteness strategically invisibilize: the function of Asian racializations and oppressions within a white-dominant societal complex built upon anti-Indigenous and anti-Black infrastructures. Fundamentals and Foundations together aim to show why all of us need to know both our own histories as well as the histories of communities who don’t look like us. They represent our beliefs and values as an organization and are the foundation for organizing emergent community-led labs for mutual care, community-building, collaboration, and innovation.
Formations is the third level of our core trainings program that focuses on a small cohort of community lab organizers who emerge from the Foundations level. Formations offers them a unique community leadership development program that is built upon emergent strategy, decolonial values, and an ethics of solidarity. For Formations eligibility, participants need to: 1) have participated as a member of at least one AAJIL community lab in the past 2) attend all three Foundations trainings.
LEVEL 1: FUNDAMENTALS
In this workshop series, participants will be introduced to different historical and political formations of the Asian American identity. In this session, through dialogue and group interaction, participants will connect their own personal histories to larger themes in the Asian American experience.
*Recommended for those who have limited or no experience with exploring Asian American identity.
Connecting Histories: Collective Stories
May 31, 2025 from 10:00am - 11:30am PT
In this workshop series, participants will be introduced to different historical and political formations of the Asian American identity. This session will explore Asian American identity formations, with participants reflecting on their intersecting social identities, while analyzing the consequences of stereotypes and bias.
*Recommended for those who have limited or no experience with exploring Asian American identity.
Connecting Histories: Social Identities
Jun 1, 2025 from 10:00am - 11:30am PT
LEVEL 2: FOUNDATIONS
This session explores the origin and history of “Asian American” identity, both as a racial construct and as a political movement, as well as the origin of the model minority myth and its function within white supremacy.
History of Asian American Identity
Jun 7, 2025 from 10:00am - 11:30am PT
"Modernity" and Institutional Racism
This session takes a deep dive into understanding systemic racism, with a focus on institutional racism as the historical engine of global “modernity.”
June 8, 2025 from 10:00am - 11:30am PT
Coloniality, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy
This session unpacks the connections between global histories of settler colonialism, militarization, and capitalism with anti-Blackness and white supremacy.
June 9, 2025 from 5:00pm - 6:30pm PT
LEVEL 3: FORMATIONS
Following Foundations, AAJIL provides an 8-month community leadership development program for the cohort of volunteers who step up to lead our community labs for the year. This program is free, and leaders will receive a certificate of honor upon graduating from the program.
For Formations eligibility, participants need to:
1) have participated as a member of at least one AAJIL community lab in the past (or currently in one)
2) attend all three Foundations trainings (in any year)
Our sessions cover topics such as:
Emergent Strategy
Decolonial Values
How to Design a Community Lab
The Colonizing Gaze
Anti-Oppressive Approaches to Accountability
How to Approach Facilitation
Creating Defining Moment
Community and Coalescing
The Nonprofit Industrial Complex
Social Change Ecosystem & Developing Leadership
Cohort Connection and Support
The deadline for applications is Sunday, August 31st, 2025 at 11:59pm PT. You will be notified about the status of your application by Sunday, September 7th, 2025.
The 2025-2026 Formations program meets online every 2nd and 4th Sundays at 3-5 pm PT/ 6-8 pm ET starting September 28, 2025 through May 24, 2026
The first session will be on Sunday, September 28, 2025, so please pencil that into your calendar in case you are accepted into the program.