22 Facts About Samuel Chu

Samuel Chu Muk-man is a Hong Kong and American activist and community organizer.

Samuel Chu is a founding member of the advisory board of the Axel Springer SE Freedom Foundation in Berlin, a senior advisor to the president and CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and a trainer for Midwest Academy, a training school for community organizers in the US.

Samuel Chu is the founder of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, launched in 2019, and was its managing director until August 2021.

The success of HKDC and Samuel Chu in pushing for the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, and for economic sanctions and visa bans by the US on Chinese and Hong Kong officials it deemed responsible for the erosion of Hong Kong's basic freedoms and autonomy, led Hong Kong authorities to issue arrest warrants against Samuel Chu in July 2020, making him the first foreign citizen to be targeted under the Hong Kong National Security Law.

Samuel Chu regularly testifies in front of the United States Congress and Parliaments across Europe.

From 2011 to 2021, Samuel Chu served as the national organizer for MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, leading local and regional campaigns around issues of food insecurity and access in various states.

Samuel Chu was a fellow at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at University of Southern California, where he engages in research, writing and teaching around community organizing, public leadership, and the role of religious institutions in social change.

Samuel Chu served as chair and president of the board of directors of One LA-Industrial Areas Foundation, one of the nation's largest community organizing networks and of 1010 Development Corporation, a non-profit affordable housing developer in Los Angeles rooted in the United Methodist tradition.

Samuel Chu directed special projects for Consumer Watchdog as well as the social justice program, Minyan Tzedek, at IKAR, a Jewish spiritual community that stands at the intersection of spirituality and social justice in Los Angeles, CA, led by Rabbi Sharon Brous.

Samuel Chu graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 2000, majoring in political science.

Samuel Chu completed his studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2002.

Samuel Chu pastored at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, CA from 2002 to 2009, a multi-cultural, social justice congregation on Wilshire Boulevard.

Samuel Chu served on the board of directors of various other organizations such as the California Council of Churches.

Samuel Chu was the executive director of California Faith for Equality and California Faith for Equality Action Fund from January 2009 to March 2011.

Samuel Chu was appointed as interim executive director in January 2009 and later appointed as CFE's first permanent executive director in April 2010 after an extensive national search.

Samuel Chu was the first straight person to head a statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender supportive organization.

In 2011, Samuel Chu was recognized by the city of Los Angeles with the LGBT Pride Award for his leadership in promoting and organizing religious support for LGBT civil rights and marriage equality.

In 2008, Samuel Chu joined the effort, as a national director, to develop the national, bi-coastal network of youth development projects called WorkUp, focusing primarily on asset building, financial literacy, and social entrepreneurship.

Samuel Chu has organized for OneLA where his accomplishments included creating and implementing projects such as the largest community-led enrollment program for the Affordable Care Act in California and the nation's first mortgage principle reduction plan during the foreclosure crisis.

Samuel Chu launched and led the nation's first state legislative effort to expose and address "lunch shaming" in Minnesota.

Samuel Chu was the managing director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council until August 2021, when he stepped down together with fellow core members Victoria Hui and Annie Boyajian.

Samuel Chu is the son of Rev Samuel Chu Yiu-ming, a retired minister who co-founded Occupy Central with Love and Peace and one of the leaders of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong.