Aryani Ong

Aryani Ong is TAAF's Director of Anti-Hate & Belonging, and a Chinese-Indonesian American civil rights attorney. She wrote an early community response guide to hate crimes for OCA managed the publication of a national audit of anti-Asian violence and lobbied for stronger federal hate crime law for the AAAJ-AAJC. Aryani has spoken before diverse audiences, including as an invited US expert before the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. She is Founder and President of Montgomery County Progressive Asian American Network and Senior Advisor to Communities United Against Hate. 

A 30-year activist, Aryani carried out landscape studies on Asian American community organizations for Harvard’s Civil Rights Project and the Urban Institute, where she also co-authored Advancing Equity for AAPI Communities. She’s worked on a range of issues, notably the intersection of national security and civil rights. Aryani co-founded the Asian American Federal Employees for Nondiscrimination where she promotes equity to protect Asian Americans from profiling during heightened U.S-Asia conflicts. She also has promoted representation of Asian Americans in media and society, civic participation, ESOL, and educational access. Currently she serves as a board member of Asian American Futures and the Asian American Action Fund. Aryani was named among Maryland's Top 100 Women.