2/10 FEBRUARY 20, 2002NATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY
WITH MUSLIM, ARAB AND SOUTH ASIAN IMMIGRANTS
First they came for the Communists and I didn't speak
up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn''t speak up
because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't
speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, but by that time, no one was
left to speak up.
--Pastor Martin Niemoeller, Nazi Germany
We call on people everywhere to participate in a
National Day of Solidarity with Muslim, Arab and South
Asian Immigrants. The words of Pastor Niemoeller spell
out the challenge facing all of us as people who seek
justice and a better world. This time, first they are
coming for the Arab, Muslim and South Asian
immigrants. Based on their racial profile, over 1500
have been rounded up and the government refuses to say
who they are, where they are jailed and what the
charges are!!! Already, a Pakistani man has died in
custody. Who will be next? The recent
"disappearances", indefinite detention, the round-ups,
the secret military tribunals, the denial of legal
representation, evidence kept a secret from the
accused, the denial of any due process for Arab,
Muslim, South Asians and others, have chilling
similarities to a police state. We will not allow our
grief for the tragedy of September 11 to be used to
justify this new repression. We are clear that being
an immigrant is not a crime, Muslims, Arabs and South
Asians are not terrorists.
120,000 Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants
were rounded up and put in concentration camps during
World War II. Only after 50 years had passed did the
U.S. government acknowledge that injustice. Let us
work together to build a hospitable community for
immigrants and refugees by resisting and stopping
these new injustices now. Human life is more important
than unjust laws. Join with people across the United
States in observing a National Day of Solidarity.
Stand together with Muslim, Arab and South Asian
immigrants on February 20, 2002. It is only the voice
and action of the people that can STOP these attacks
and assure freedom and justice for all.
On February 20 wear a blue triangle with the name of
one of the newly "disappeared". In the early 1940''s,
German Nazis used many different colored triangles to
categorize and divide people in the concentration
camps. We will not allow the same kind of profiling to
happen here. We will wear a blue triangle in a
positive way to show our solidarity with those being
targeted today.
Find the ways to express your solidarity: churches,
synagogues, unions and schools provide sanctuary for
the persecuted; organize a vigil or demonstration at a
local INS detention center; hold a teach in at your
local school, college, or university; call your
political representatives and demand that these
outrages cease; organize a poetry SLAM or a music
show; write a letter to your local newspaper calling
for justice for all; students demand that your
colleges or universities not turn over the files of
immigrant students to the government; contact local tv
and radio talk shows asking to be part of the program;
sponsor a "Meet the Immigrant" educational and
cultural event so they can tell their stories.
Remember the tragedy of Nazi Germany when so many
looked the other way as their neighbors were
disappeared, persecuted and stripped of their civil
liberties. What would you have done then? What will
you do now?
Initial Signatories:
American Civil Liberties Union of Texas .. Amnesty
International, University of St. Thomas Chapter,
Houston, TX .. Anarchist Action of Rochester, NY ..
Asian-American Legal Defense Education Fund, New York,
NY .. Asians for Mumia/Jericho .. Dave Atwood, Pax
Christi*, Houston, TX .. Black Radical Congress ÂÂ New
York Metro .. Bob Buzzanco, Professor of History,
University of Houston* .. Church World Service
Immigration and Refugee Program o Jack Elder, San
Antonio, TX .. Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, San
Antonio, TX .. Filipino Workers Center, New York, NY
.. Fremont Peace Action, Fremont, CA .. Georgia
Coalition for Peace .. Harris County Green Party,
Houston, TX .. Haitian Coalition, New York, NY ..
Hayward Peace and Justice Coalition, Hayward, CA ..
Houston A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End
Racism) .. Houston Coalition for Justice Not War
(HCJNW) .. INS Watch, San Francisco, CA ..
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia
Abu-Jamal .. Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates
(KIWA), Los Angeles, CA .. Miguel Maldonado, Immigrant
Workers Association, New York, NY .. Travis Morales,
La Resistencia National Council, Houston, TX .. Muslim
American Society .. National Action Network .. October
22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and
the Criminalization of a Generation .. Peace and
Freedom Party, San Diego Chapter (CA) .. Progressive
Workers Organizing Committee of Galveston County, TX
.. Queers for Racial and Economic Justice, New York,
NY .. La Raza Centro Legal, San Francisco, CA ..
Refuse and Resist! o La Resistencia .. Herbert B.
Rothschild Jr., Coordinator, Peace Action* - Greater
Houston .. San Francisco Day Laborers Program, San
Francisco, CA .. Dr. David Michael Smith, Assistant
Professor of Government, College of the Mainland*,
Texas City, TX .. South Asian League of Artists in
America (SALAAM) .. South Asians Against Police
Brutality and Racism, New York, NY .. Southwest
Alliance to Resist Militarization (S.W.A.R.M.),
Tucson, AZ .. Students Against a Violent Earth (SAVE),
Southwest Texas State University* .. United Muslim
Americans Association (UMAA) .. Universal School,
Bridgeview, IL .. Vietnam Veteran Against the War
Anti-Imperialist .. David Wong Support Committee, New
York, NY .. Juanita Young, mother of Michael Ferguson
killed by NYPD .. Howard Zinn (*For identification
purposes only)
Please endorse this call & distribute, post & publish
everywhere! Funds are quickly needed to organize for
February 20. We urge you to immediately send
donations. All actions on February 20 should be
publicized and popularized. Write, e-mail or call the
La Resistencia National Office with news of activities
in your area: P.O. Box 2823, Houston, TX 77252-2823;
(713) 521-3099; laresistencia@laresistencia.org |
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