Borrowing from the ideologies of the Young Lords and the Black Panthers, IWK organized several community programs and produced a newsletter series promoting self-determination for Asian Americans.

Initially consisting of students from Columbia University, the group worked in conjunction with residents of New York City's Chinatown to address the community's needs for healthcare reform, draft counseling, and childcare.

The organization established itself in New York's Chinatown in late 1969 and is named after the peasant group that fought against foreign intrusion and influence in China in 1898 during the beginning of the Boxer Rebellion, which officially began in 1900.

Translated to "Righteous and Harmonious Fists," it was established by a group of young people and students who participated in the Triple A and Columbia's AAPA, and eventually other radical Chinese nationals (Wei 212-3).

They protested the tourist buses that came into the community; participated in a "housing crimes trial" forum at Columbia University with Metropolitan Council on Housing, Black Panthers, Young Lords, City Wide Coordinating Committee of Welfare Rights Groups, Social Service Employees Union; hosted free movie screenings about the People's Republic of China; organized the first Chinatown Health Fair in 1971 with other organizations in the neighborhood as a reaction against the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association's neglect to the community[1] and worked on demonstrations to raise awareness on how to avoid the draft.