The Difference

Today, many Asian American organizations claim to fight for Asian American interests. However, they often engage in some symbolic projects to let Asian Americans “feel good,” such as asking the U.S. Government to apologize for historical discrimination against Asian Americans. Unfortunately, these same organizations lack the courage to actively “do good” for Asian Americans, such as joining the battle against race-based affirmative action—a contemporary discrimination against Asian American children.

Some organizations have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in the name of fighting Anti-Asian Hate. However, they have done nothing to address the root causes that endanger Asian American lives and properties in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia: radical policies of defunding police and condoning crimes.

Worse still, some organizations have betrayed Asian American core interests by supporting race-based affirmative action and DEI programs that discriminate against Asians in education and employment.

What sets us apart is our proven leaders, who have demonstrated exceptional courage, vision, execution skills, and dedication to fight for Asian American core interests with razor-sharp focus:

• Courage: While many community leaders have avoided equal education rights, a politically incorrect cause, AAFEL leaders Bentao Cui, Suparna Dutta, Tony Guan, Sam Ni, Asra Nomani, Xiaoming Sheng, and Yukong Mike Zhao demonstrated their courage to fight for it. Today, public opinion proves that we are on the right side of history. According to the Pew Research Center, 74% Americans support our cause, including majorities across all racial groups.
• Vision: With over 20 years of corporate strategy experience, Mike Zhao has demonstrated his strategic vision time and again. In the summer of 2014, he called upon Asian communities to form an alliance and fight for equal education rights. He thereafter formed the largest alliance in Asian communities—AACE, and fought side by side with SFFA, finally winning the Harvard/UNC cases. In 2017, as soon as President Trump was elected, he drafted policy recommendations on college admission and started lobbying for it. In July 2018, it was adopted by the Trump administration.
• Execution Skills: AAFEL leaders are also capable doers in advancing the agenda of individual organizations. Notably, they demonstrated outstanding skills in organizing the AACE Boston Rally of 2018 and the U.S. Supreme Court Rally of 2022. Bentao Cui, Suparna Dutta, Tony Guan and Sam Ni were among the key organizers of many parent demonstrations in Boston, Northern Virginia, California and New York City, and achieved very successful media coverage for their causes.
• Dedication: All AAFEL co-founders have dedicated their precious time to contributing to Asian communities and the future of America. Extraordinarily, Tony Guan, Xiaoming Sheng, and Yukong Mike Zhao have been working tirelessly supporting SFFA’s lawsuit against Harvard/UNC for over eight years, until Asian Americans won this historical battle. Lily Cummings, Suparna Dutta, and Matt Truong have also been dedicating their precious time to Asian American causes for years.

AAFEL was founded by an all-star team of outstanding Asian leaders of equal education rights. Like what they have accomplished in fighting for equal education rights, leaders of AAFEL will make a major difference in protecting Asian Americans’ life, liberty, and constitutional rights!