Tag: equality

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Celebrate 2026 AAPI Heritage Month with AABANY!

In celebration of AAPI Heritage Month this year, AABANY is presenting or co-sponsoring several events this month. We hope to see you all there! Follow the links for more details, and please note the registration deadlines. This blog post will be updated throughout the month, as new events get added on, so check back for any updates.

May 2, 2026 

AABANY Co-Sponsors: Korean Hat Day at Yankee Stadium

1:35pm – Yankees Stadium, 1 E. 161 E. 161st Street

This event has already occured.

May 3, 2026

AABANY Sunday Run Day

11:00 am – Start at Bedford Ave (L); End at Canal St. & Chrystie St.
This event is preparation for the May 23 AAPI 5k run.

This event has already occurred.

May 5-7, 2026

Asian Comedy Fest 2026: AABANY Discount Available

7pm and 9pm – Sugar Mouse NYC, 47 3rd Avenue, Lower Level, New York, NY 10003

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May 6, 2026

AABANY Co-Sponsors: Power in Unity: Strengthening Communities Together

1:00 pm – Kings County Supreme Court, Criminal Term, Courtroom 2.95, 320 Jay Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201

This event has already occured.

May 6, 2026

AABANY Co-Sponsors: Beginner’s Mahjong

6:00pm – Sparrow’s Nest Studio, 35 W. 35th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10018

This event has already occured.

May 6, 2026

AABANY Presents: Dumplings & Discussion Series Featuring Judge Pamela K. Chen

6:00pm -Midtown location – to be emailed to registrants.

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May 9, 2026

AABANY Bi-Monthly Brooklyn Pro Bono Legal Clinic

12:30 pm – 2:30 pm – CPC Brooklyn Community Services, 4101 8th Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11232

This event has already occurred.

May 10, 2026

AABANY Sunday Run Day

11:00 am – Start at Bedford Ave (L); End at Canal St. & Chrystie St.
This event is preparation for the May 23 AAPI 5k run.

This event has already occurred.

May 12, 2026

AABANY Co-Sponsors: Reflections of Unity and Strength in our AANHPI Communities

12:30pm – Queens Supreme Court – Civil Term, 88-11 Sutphin Boulevard, Ceremonial Courtroom 25, Jamaica, New York  11435

For more details, click here.

May 16, 2026

AABANY Presents: 3rd Annual Wellness Retreat

10:00 am – 5:00 pm – Blue Cliff Monastery, 3 Mindfulness Rd, Pine Bush, New York 12566

For more details and to register by May 14, click here.

May 16, 2026

AABANY Co-Sponsors: Asian Americans and the Law, Featuring Hon. Denny Chin

2pm – White Plains Public Library, 100 Martine Avenue, White Plains, New York  10601

For more details, click here.

May 16, 2026

AABANY Co-Sponsors: 2026 Southern Brooklyn AAPI Heritage Month Celebration

11am – New Utretcht High School, 1601 80th St., Brooklyn, NY 11214

For more details, click here.

May 17, 2026

AABANY Sunday Run Day

11:00 am – Start at Bedford Ave (L); End at Canal St. & Chrystie St.
This event is preparation for the May 23 AAPI 5k run.

For more details, click here.

May 18, 2026

Appellate Division, First Dept., Presents “Fred Korematsu and His Fight for Justice: A Historical Reenactment”

5:45pm – Appellate Division, First Department, 27 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010

For more details, click here.

May 19, 2026

AABANY Corporate Law Committee – General Body Meeting

1:00pm – Zoom

For more details and to register by May 18, click here.

May 19, 2026

AABANY Co-Sponsors: New York County Civil Court’s Screening of “Voices Against Anti-Asian Hate”

5:30 pm – 7:00 pm – 111 Centre Street, Room 107, New York, New York 10013

For more details, click here.

May 19, 2026

AABANY Judiciary Committee Presents: 2026 Annual Judges’ Reception

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Nexus Club, 100 Church Street, New York, New York 10007

For more details and to register by May 17, click here.

May 19, 2026

AABANY Book Club Presents: We Do Not Part by Han Kang

6:00 pm – Anderson & Associates, 347 W 36th St, Suite 1003, New York, New York 10018

For more details and to register by May 17, click here.

May 20, 2026

AABANY Monthly Manhattan Pro Bono Legal Clinic

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm – Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE), 111 Norfolk St., New York, New York 10002

For more details and to register by May 18, click here.

May 21, 2026

AABANY Issues Committee Monthly Meeting

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm – Zoom

For more details and to register by May 19, click here.

May 21, 2026

AABANY’S Solo & Small Firm Practice Committee Presents: Networking Night at Blue Panda Office Spaces

6:00pm – Blue Panda Office Spaces, 134 Broadway, 3rd and 4th Floors, New York, NY 11249

For more details and to register by May 17, click here.

May 21, 2026

AABANY’s Membership Committee Presents: AAPI Heritage Night at the NY Liberty

8:00 pm – Barclays Center, 620 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, New York  11217

For more information, click here.

May 22, 2026

AABANY’s Intellectual Property Committee Presents: May Dinner

6:30pm – Blue Blossom NYC, 108 W. 39th Street, New York, NY 10018

For more details and to register by May 20, click here.

May 23, 2026

Join Team AABANY for 2026 NYC AAPI 5K to Support AALFNY

8:00 am – Pier 45, Hudson River Greenway, New York, NY 10014

For more details, click here.

May 26, 2026

Kings County Family Court’s AAPI Heritage Committee Presents: A Celebration of Asian Resilience

1:10pm – Brooklyn Family Court, Judges Boardroom, 330 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201

For more details, click here.

May 27, 2026

AABANY Co-Sponsors: Fourth Annual Hon. Randall T. Eng Award Program

12:45 pm – 2:15 pm – New York Supreme Court Appellate Division – Second Department, 45 Monroe Place, Brooklyn, New York, New York 11201

For more details and to register by May 15, click here.

May 27, 2026

AABANY Trial Reenactment: Born American: United States v. Wong Kim Ark

5:00 pm – Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, 200 Liberty Street, New York, New York  10281

For more details, click here. RSVP by Thursday, May 21.

May 27-29, 2026

Lucky FM 2 by Slant – La MaMa Theatre

7:30pm – The Club, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, 74A East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003. Livestream on May 29th.

For more details, click here.

May 28, 2026

AABANY Annual Dinner 2026

5:30pm – 12:00am – Cipriani Wall Street, 55 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005

For more details, click here.

May 31, 2026

AABANY Presents: Match Day at Gotham FC (vs Houston Dash)

3:00 pm – Sports Illustrated Stadium, 600 Cape May St, Harrison, New Jersey 07029

For more details and to register by May 25, click here.

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Hon. Dorothy Chin Brandt Looking Back at the Founding and Legacy of the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission

Three years ago, the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission (originally known as the New York State Judicial Commission on Minorities) released a series of interviews with the Commission’s founding mothers and fathers on the New York Courts Amici podcast site. The series, assembled and organized by John M. Caher, Senior Advisor for Strategic and Technical Communications, concluded with an interview of the Hon. Dorothy Chin Brandt. Justice Brandt passed away on January 27, 2025, and we take this opportunity to look back at her interview and appreciate her legacy of promoting diversity in the judiciary. 

Hon. Dorothy Chin Brandt was the first female Asian American Judge to be elected in the state of New York when she was elected to the New York City Civil Court in 1987. Shortly after being elected, she became a founding member of the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission. Brandt said that “the [New York] courts were perceived as unfriendly or not friendly to minorities,” which paved the way for establishing the Commission, with a mission to “find out what was the perception and how it could be remedied.” Brandt was ecstatic to be part of a commission that would help eradicate racism in the courts. Her personal experiences of discrimination throughout her career would provide valuable context and information for this endeavor.

The Commission collected anecdotes from around New York state to figure out the perception of the courts rather than investigating the courts themselves, because, according to Brandt, “perception is different from reality, but in a lot of ways it’s stronger than reality because that’s what people think and feel is going on, and maybe it’s harder to counteract.”

To combat this perception, the Commission immediately put mandatory diversity and sensitivity training in place for the whole court system. They also looked towards legal education and tried to get more minorities interested in and learning about law because there was such little diversity in the courts at the time. She noted happily that now there are many more minority lawyers, talking specifically about Asian Americans by saying, “We have a lot more Asian-American lawyers. We didn’t have an Asian-American bar at that time in 1988…but now we have a full-fledged bar association, Asian American Bar [of New York], and very full force, very active.”

Lastly, Brandt attributed much of the major progress in the United States regarding equality in the courts to the work the Commission has done in  New York on the perception of racism in the courts. Through the Commission’s work, they “got people’s attention and presented examples of what was not right, and everybody recognized this is not right.” She further noted that many other states followed New York and set up minority commissions of their own. Brandt ultimately emphasized the importance of the work of the Commission, remarking how if it was not for them, people might still be treated just based on their race, religion, ethnicity, etc. when they enter into the court system. 

To listen to the full podcast, please click here.

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NAPABA Opposes H.R. 734 and Discrimination Against Transgender Persons

For Immediate Release: 
Date: March 9, 2023		Contact:  Priya Purandare, Executive Director

WASHINGTON – March 9. The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) opposes H.R. 734, recently introduced in the House of Representatives as the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023,” which would effectively ban transgender and intersex girls and women from participating in school sporting activities that align with their gender identities.

NAPABA is proud that last month, its Board of Directors ratified a policy resolution sponsored by its LGBTQ+ Network, that affirms the civil, constitutional, and human rights of transgender and non-binary youths, including those within the AAPI community, and recognizes their rights to participate in school sports and to receive the social, educational, developmental, and physical and mental health benefits of athletic participation. NAPABA’s policy resolution also expressly opposes discriminatory legislation that prohibits transgender students from participating in school sports as violative of their rights under Title IX.

Transgender youth experience disproportionately higher instances of bullying, harassment, isolation, family rejection and suicide, and exclusion from the benefits of athletic participation should not be yet another risk they face. H.R. 734 is inconsistent with NAPABA’s values of equality, community, advocacy, relationships, diversity, equity, inclusion, open-mindedness, and the health and wellbeing of our members and the Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, and the organization’s commitment to all underserved and underrepresented communities.

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The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting APA communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of all backgrounds in the legal profession.

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Congratulations to Glenn Magpantay on Receiving the Brooklyn Law School Faculty Award for Excellence in Public Service

Glenn Magpantay received the Brooklyn Law School Faculty Award for Excellence in Public Service

On Tuesday, April 9, 2019, Glenn Magpantay, the Executive Director of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), was honored at Brooklyn Law School’s Public Service Awards Ceremony.

Glenn Manpantay (left) and AABANY GSPI Committee Co-Chair Kevin Hsi (right) at the Public Service Awards Ceremony

Glenn Manpantay, a former AABANY Board member and a current co-chair of the LGBT Committee, was presented with Brooklyn Law School’s Faculty Award for Excellence in Public Service, in recognition of his incredible devotion to educating and fighting for LGBT equality, racial justice and immigrant rights.

Please join AABANY in congratulating Glenn Manpantay for this well-deserved award and honor.

We thank Kevin Hsi for providing the photos for this blog post.

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From NYIC: IMMIGRANTS’ DAY OF ACTION

                                   

*SAVE THE DATE*

IMMIGRANTS’ DAY OF ACTION 

THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014

April 10th is an historic day for our movement.  This year, we will be joining groups around the country for a nationwide mobilization demonstrating the power of our movement and calling on lawmakers at the city, state and federal level to enact policies that promote immigrant rights.  Please join the New York Immigration Coalition and New Yorkers for Real Immigration Reform together with our allies across New York City for a rally to demand fairness and equality for immigrants in New York and across the country.

We hope you can also join the New York Immigration Coalition in the morning for legislative meetings with our City Council and our new Mayoral Administration to push the NYIC’s City Policy & Budget Priorities, which, if enacted, would strengthen New York City as a national leader on immigrant rights. 

Join us and help raise the voice of immigrants in New York City!

To RSVP click here

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NYLJ: Asian Americans Find a Voice Within the Law

NYLJ: Asian Americans Find a Voice Within the Law

The indifference toward Asian American equality is a result of our having been classified under the rubric of the ‘model minority’ and thus viewed as achieving success by keeping our heads down and working hard. But Asian Americans have not achieved the success and equality that we are perceived to have reached, particularly in the legal profession.

Congrats to Mike Huang, AABANY President, whose Law Day article appears in the May 1st issue of the New York Law Journal.

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