Born in 1952 in Newark, New Jersey, Helen Zia is an activist, author, and former journalist. She is a Chinese-American advocate against racism and hate crimes that affect the Asian-American community. She is also involved with LGBTQIA and feminist issues. Helen has been outspoken on topics ranging from human rights and peace to women’s rights and countering hate, violence, and homophobia. She became a leading voice in protesting and organizing Asian Americans after Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, was killed in 1982 after a racially motivated bar fight. She is featured in the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” and was profiled in Bill Moyers’ PBS series, “Becoming American: The Chinese Experience.” Zia’s activism has included fighting hate crimes, organizing for battered Asian American women, and speaking out against ethno-rape or rape motivated by racial bias. Zia served as the president of the New York Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) - an organization devoted to fighting media stereotyping of Asian Americans. AAJA encourages members to advance in their field and publicly protest specific acts of racism, often in the journalistic arena. The organization tracks incidences of racist and stereotypic journalistic reporting. Some of her accomplishments as AAJA president included organizing a community protest about a journalist who made racist and sexist remarks about a Korean-American reporter. In many ways, Helen Zia’s activist work has strengthened and built coalitions among various Asian-American cultural groups, and she continues to fight against the racism that Asian communities experience to this day.

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