Fighting Racism with Intergenerational Courage


Asian American Courage

With anti-Asian racism and violence threatening our communities, how do we draw courage from our parents’ struggles and experiences, so we can find our own strength and find the language to share this with our children? 

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Cyndie Chang’s great-grandfather helped build the Transpacific Railroad. Her grandfather co-owned the historic Far East Cafe in LA’s Little Tokyo. Despite these advances, her parents still lived with racial bias.

The family’s most painful experience racial discrimination was when her uncle, Joseph Ileto, a Filipino American postal worker, was shot to death by a white supremacist in 1999.

As a lawyer, minority justice advocate, and mom, she wants to make a better world for her children. She draws from the lessons of love and hope that her family has shown her, as she continues the fight against anti-Asian violence and discrimination. 


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Cyndie Chang, her parents, her relatives, and her children have been fighting racism for decades.

This story is part of a series produced and written for AARP AAPI in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (2021). Video credits: Candice Quimpo — Supervising Producer, Story Development, Scriptwriting.

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