Hello! Welcome to the last Did You Eat Yet? of 2025. Thanks for organizing with us during this tumultuous year.
This year, we launched our membership program, rapidly growing our membership to over 80 active members! From New York City to California, from Colorado to Florida, Asian Americans are ready to organize and build a political home for the Asian American left.
But this didn’t happen overnight. Over the summer months, we hosted socials and events in key cities to build up our membership. In the fall, we held workshops and orientations, and had nearly one hundred 1:1 conversations with Asian American organizers across the U.S.
Alongside our Membership Programming, we…
- Held our first-ever Asian American Momentum Training, located in sunny California, sharpening the skills of 30+ incredible Asian American organizers.
- Worked closely with NAKASEC to fight for the release and pardons of Will and Emily – and won!
- Launched a campaign to call in one of the biggest movement funders, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, when they defunded us for our Instagram post on Palestine.
- From the experience of being defunded to digital security, we also spoke to the media and on panels at conferences throughout the year.
- Worked with Korean organizations to free Yunseo in New York City.
- Held a reportback on the People’s Conference for Palestine, one of the largest convening of organizations, organizers, and activists fighting for Palestinian liberation with over 2,500 attendees.
- And launched our Theory of Change!
And we continue to organize and mobilize for campaigns across the U.S…
- In New York City, we’re fighting against the Flushing casino.
- In Los Angeles, we’re supporting the Stop the Gondola campaign.
- In Oakland, we’re working to get an arms embargo to stop weapon components from being shipped out of Oakland airport.
- We’re fighting against the political repression and censorship of activists like Yaakub and to keep big tech out of ICE and police.
This year was hard. Each day, this administration and authoritarian forces continue to chip away at our rights. But this year, we have also done incredible things. This year, we:
- Held 4 IRL socials & events in Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, and the Bay Area.
- Hosted 6 political education events. From Donor Organizing to Campaigns 101 to Facilitating Disagreement, we trained over 331 people!
- Trained over 2,247+ people in digital security in over 18 sessions.
- Over 3,000 people viewed our digital security training videos so far this year.
- Mobilized over 2,000 people to sign on to block weapons being used against Palestinians.
This year was also filled with grief. Many of our incredible movement leaders have joined our ancestors, including our former Board Member Alice Wong; Sins Invalid founder and disability activist Patty Berne; trans activist Miss Major, and movement leader Assata Shakur.
In this space, in this moment, close your eyes. Then, envision an ancestor you hold close and take a breath. Remember their words. Recite them, out loud or internally.
As we make space for grief, we must also make space to transform our movement ancestors’ words into action. As we head into 2026, we must carry the legacy of our ancestors. We must continue to organize, to change, to transform. Here’s to the new year and new beginnings.
In solidarity,
Leyen, Sunee, Sonia, Turner, Van, Sharmin, Allison, and Irma – the 18MR Team
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