April 10- National Day of Immigrant Justice
It's been a busy, hectic week but I wanna make sure that poeple know about the national day of action for immigrant rights and justice on Monday. Check out April 10 for more information about local activities - there's stuff going on all over the country, so try to come out and support wherever you are.
Asian Americans need to make our voices and presence felt in a big way - immigration is not just a Latino issue, and the press and public need to know that.
***UPDATE: NYTimes has an article about the Chinese immigrants who survived the infamous "Golden Voyage" ship that carried many undocumented workers, only a few of whom were allowed asylee status. It includes the story of Y.C. Dong, who was turned down for asylee status in '93 only to be deported to China where he was forcibly sterilized under the one child policy. He then scraped together enough money to return to the US, where his appeals were rejected again.
These peoples' stories and lives are why immigration reform matters to our community. These men could be your friends, your brother, your neighbor or lover. They are Chinese American the way that my friend at Harvard Medical School is. Recognize them as your brothers, their fight is our fight.
Just because the Senate immigration bill has come to a temporary standstill doesn't mean that we don't keep fighting for good and fair legislation, and it sure doesn't mean that the Republicans won't try to ram through xenophobic divisionary laws. The struggle remains the same.
Asian Americans need to make our voices and presence felt in a big way - immigration is not just a Latino issue, and the press and public need to know that.
***UPDATE: NYTimes has an article about the Chinese immigrants who survived the infamous "Golden Voyage" ship that carried many undocumented workers, only a few of whom were allowed asylee status. It includes the story of Y.C. Dong, who was turned down for asylee status in '93 only to be deported to China where he was forcibly sterilized under the one child policy. He then scraped together enough money to return to the US, where his appeals were rejected again.
These peoples' stories and lives are why immigration reform matters to our community. These men could be your friends, your brother, your neighbor or lover. They are Chinese American the way that my friend at Harvard Medical School is. Recognize them as your brothers, their fight is our fight.
Just because the Senate immigration bill has come to a temporary standstill doesn't mean that we don't keep fighting for good and fair legislation, and it sure doesn't mean that the Republicans won't try to ram through xenophobic divisionary laws. The struggle remains the same.
Labels: immigrant rights
posted by powerpolitics @ 5:15 PM
2 Comments:
At 5:41 AM,
Beth said…
It is just the beginning of a long fight for human rights in this country. I think these immigration rallies and marches have woke the sleeping giant.
At 9:18 PM,
powerpolitics said…
I'm not sure that I think of the immigrant workforce as a sleeping giant. We have always been fighting for human rights in this country, each iteration of American has struggled for recognition and a voice.
The immigrant rights movement has been around a long, long time, but usually it has been very fragmented amongst different ethnic groups.
But because almost everyone in the US is descended from an immigrant, the average person has some general sympathy towards the undocmented worker's plight. As my partner reminded me today, there is no one who came here without a struggle, for even the Pilgrims were fleeing persecution.
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