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 ­­ 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