Our Mission
The Chinese Progressive Association is a grassroots membership-based organization that empowers the Chinese community in the San Francisco Bay Area and promotes justice and equality for all people. CPA’s campaigns and programs improve the living and working conditions of low-income immigrants and give ordinary community members a stronger voice in the decision-making processes that affect them. CPA supports other disenfranchised communities fighting for human rights and self-determination. CPA works for world peace and sustainability and promotes U.S. China people’s friendship.
Our History
1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Resistance and Unity – The Eighties
The inauguration of President Reagan in 1981 ushered in some of the most conservative social and economic policies of the post-civil rights era. Military build up, suburban tax revolt, the decline of the industrial sector, and the emergence of colorblind racial ideology led to several funding cuts in public education and social services, challenging civil rights and organized labor.
Vincent Chin
In June 1982, U.S. born Chinese American Vincent Chin was beaten to death by two unemployed autoworkers who accused “Japs” of “stealing jobs from Americans.” The murderers were each fined $3,000 and sentenced to three years probation; despite further investigation and prosecution, they still have never spent a single day in prison for his murder. Chin’s killing was a milestone for Asian Americans across the nation, who responded in outrage. It also reminded us that race remains a salient feature of U.S. society, not merely in terms of blatant physical violence or prejudice, but most especially as discrimination within the institutional and discursive domains of power. CPA helped build the movement for justice by sponsoring a west coast tour for Lily Chin, Vincent’s mother, to raise awareness and money for legal action.
Fighting the Tide
Vincent Chin’s murder pointed out the increasing need to organize against institutionalized discrimination to protect civil and political rights. Recognizing this in the context of a conservative politics and increasing immigration, CPA initiated English and citizenship classes to help immigrants pass their naturalization examinations and assert their rights. We also launched voter registration and educational campaigns and joined the Rainbow Coalition electoral movement with other people of color and disenfranchised communities. In response to resurgent anti-immigrant sentiment, CPA worked in broad coalitions to fight reactionary policies such as the “English Only” California Proposition 63 (1986) and the Federal Simpson-Mazzoli immigration bill (1982) which proposed to eliminate the ability of U.S. citizens to sponsor brothers and sisters for immigration.
Educational rights were another major front of CPA organizing in the 1980s. CPA worked with community groups locally and statewide to demand increased funding for public education and expanded bilingual education and ESL programs. In April 1987, we organized one of the largest contingents in the March on Sacramento for Education, a broad statewide action that included over 7,000 parents and students.
Closing a Tumultuous Decade
While the Reagan-Bush years were difficult, CPA was inspired by the fact that grassroots people everywhere not only withstood the conservative assaults, but responded with ever-increasing power and resolve. CPA weathered the conservative tide and continued to develop and expand our community base and alliances.