Dear community,
Wow. I’m sure many of you, like me, have been reeling from the events of this past week. Attacks on immigrants on multiple fronts (#MuslimBan #BorderWall), attacks on our native communities (#NoDAPL) and our planet, dismantling the Affordable Care Act, attacks on women’s rights to their bodies.The list continues. The Trump administration is fueling the most painful parts of our country’s history with racism, xenophobia, sexism, and Islamophobia.
As a Latina and a woman of color who has always fought to be orgullosa de quien soy*, my blood boils to know that any of us can be told we are “less than” and denied rights simply because of who we are. And, as a member of an immigrant family who was raised on stories of how US foreign policy has tampered and hurt many in Latin America, I’m worried that as a country we will focus on these immediate actions without remembering and acknowledging that these actions are not isolated instances. These tactics are, in fact, as we would say in Spanish, “friamente calculado,” or meticulously, intentionally crafted as part of a larger strategy.
It’s critical that in this moment we take a step back, connect the dots, and look at the big picture – especially the larger story being told in this moment. The new administration will justify their hateful actions with powerful narratives and stories – of terrorism, of scarcity, of deficit, of needing to protect ourselves from the “other,” of needing to go it alone. Stories that dehumanize entire groups of people – blaming them for everything wrong, reducing them to nothing more than stereotypes, narrowly defining everything of who they are. The story being told right now about all immigrants and refugees by this administration.
This strategy is not new. But, it has taken different forms throughout history. We MUST push each other to recognize this strategy for what it is – one that seeks to divide and conquer, to isolate each of us from our neighbors, and to convince us that white nationalism and blind patriotism are the only way forward. The time to support each other, to pay close attention to what’s going on around us, to organize is new ways, is NOW.
In this moment, we want to make sure it’s known where we stand. We will fight for immigrant and refugee rights, we stand by the principles of sanctuary cities, and we will refuse to comply with the executive orders put forward by the President because we know what they’re truly rooted in.
Just as history shows us the weight of this moment, history also gives us countless examples of resistance, of people like ourselves overcoming the odds to survive, to take back their communities. I think about the Civil Rights movement in our own country, the Zapatistas in Mexico, and so many mujeres revolucionarias* in whose legacy we marched last weekend. I’m grateful to be part of an organization who strives to create a Minnesota where the inherent worth and dignity of every person is seen and valued. The executive orders issued by Trump – to build a border wall, to limit refugees from coming to join their families, to crackdown on sanctuary cities whose leaders refuse to turn over undocumented immigrants for deportation – are inherent attacks on our beliefs. They’re an inherent attack against our collective humanity. We are capable of so much more as a people, when we unite, when we see our differences as things to be embraced and make us stronger, when we walk alongside each other.
Give $20 TODAY to CAIR, and join us in believing and resisting.
In solidarity,
Amanda Otero
- quien soy*: of who I am
- mujeres revolucionarias*: revolutionary women
