TAIMIN LIAO

UNITED STATES / CHINA, 18

Project: Silence for Human Rights

Taimin Liao is the founder of Silence for Human Rights, a student-run organization that empowers youths from indigenous and ethnic minority communities to engage in constructive dialogues with dominant narratives through creative writing and community activism. Since its inception in 2019, Silence4HRs has campaigned to include ethnic studies handbooks in government-run boarding schools, publish creative writing brochures by indigenous young writers & poets, and connect ethnic minorities from rural, and peripheral urban regions for collective storytelling and identity exchange.  

In addition to working with Silence4HRs, the 18-year old social activist and entrepreneur mobilizes a hotline responding to ICE enforcement activities that serves as a check against police brutality targeting immigrants of color. 

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How does your work address systemic prejudice?

Nile Rodgers used song to bridge separation; Silence for Human Rights is no different. We believe collective storytelling catalyzes cross-cultural understanding and acceptance. In our Pan-Ethnic Forums, members of eight minor ethnicities co-write and exchange narratives in search of common ground, using our diversity as a bridge to one another. Our work shows creative writing’s transformative potential, opening dialogues to negotiate among peers and, most importantly, with governments. 

“With goodwill, we counter hostility. With respect, we build family. With love, we dispel hatred.”

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