In August 2020, a partnership of the Bulosan Center, housed in the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California Davis, and People’s Collective for Justice and Liberation, the University for Justice and Liberation (UJL) offered an opportunity to deepen understanding, skill and network to build transformative cross racial solidarity. UJL was a series of dynamic webinars and critical conversations to ground community in the history of organizing by people of color and serve as a bridge to current campaigns, thought leaders and organizations advancing justice and liberation for all people.

The curriculum for the UJL brought together knowledge and experience from seasoned social justice activists with the insights from the academic field of Asian American (and broadly Ethnic) Studies. Though principally shaped by the work of the People’s Collective for Justice and Liberation and building upon courses previously offered in Asian American Studies at UC Davis, the curriculum was vitally shaped by an advisory board composed of organizers from Asian Solidarity Collective, the California Nurses Association, Can’t Stop! Won’t Stop! Consulting, Center for Empowered Politics, ChangeLab, Hmong Innovating Politics, New Breath Foundation, UCLA Labor Center, and more.

This moment found us fighting two viruses--a global pandemic and health crisis with COVID-19 and also racism as we witness uprisings across the country and globe in response to police violence with people declaring Black Lives Matter. Both make clear the systems were designed to work against us and we have a responsibility to honor our ancestors by continuing the struggle and together, we can and will win.