Last weekend at least 200 people congregated on D.C. to workshop around South Asian American issues and social justice.

With the nation confronting urgent issues such as the economic downturn and reform of the immigration system, more than 200 individuals, including representatives from 33 organizations in 17 states, gathered for the 2009 South Asian Summit to amplify local voices and experiences at the national level. The Summit, co-sponsored by South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) and the South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA) of American University Washington College of Law, was held from April 24th-April 26th in Washington, DC.

“The 2009 National South Asian Summit created a space for organizations, community members and activists to reconnect with each other and strengthen networks and strategies that will enable us to continue our work to support social change movements,” said Deepa Iyer, Executive Director of South Asian Americans Leading Together. [SAALT]

It was personally a great experience. I’ve been working as an organizer for 11 years now and in the South Asian community for six of those years, and I think this was the first time where I saw social justice activism merge with the South Asian American community in a strategic, efficient, and meaningful manner at the national level. I know Abhi’s experience was slightly different than mine, and I think we approached the space in different manners. I approached it as a lifetime organizer – many of the people in the room were people I had organized with back in my SAAVY days. The Summit provided space for a continuing dialogue on the evolution of South Asian social justice in America.

But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to Naila and Rahul.

Or listen to Prashant and Shilpen from Trikone in Seattle.

Or Taha. Or Mona and Brij. Or Maha.

I’m not quite sure what it was about this space that set it apart from other conferences I’ve been to, which are usually schmooze fests with card exchanges. At this one, I felt real deep connections were made. The only thing that comes to mind is that SAALT was able to provide a safe space where we were able to discuss frankly the issues, disparities, and injustices in our Desi communities and a variety of solutions of how different community groups across the nation were approaching them. Though you can peep the agenda on what was discussed, issues that peaked my interested were civic engagement, limited English language access, race and gender discrimination, domestic violence, census 2010 data collection, and online media. Thirty two of thirty four of the National Coalition of South Asian Organizations were present.

The two two things that I really enjoyed was the Advocacy Day where we convened at the Capitol and spoke to our representatives about key legislation on immigration and racial profiling that would affect the South Asian community. The second was the Subcontinental Drift hosted Open Mic on Saturday night. I got to jump on the mic for a few minutes, and was appreciative of the meaningful conversations that my poetry was able to open up with other people for the rest of the Summit. It’s rare that space is provided where political organizing and art activism can convene, and I’m a firm believer than when it does, it sparks meaningful interactions and honest engagement of a peoples. I don’t think we as a community do that enough – though here in Los Angeles I’ve been jumping into art activism with groups like Be The Cause and their upcoming Blazing Hope III. The open mic at the Summit had activists of all kinds jumping on the mic, from a youth DRUM hip hop artist from NYC, to a shalwar wearing aunty that sang a Nepalese folk song.

Maybe that’s what it was – that the space created was not only diverse to include the range of ages, privileges and variety of national ethnic origins, but people felt comfortable to share. As a young Bangladeshi-American woman from a blue collared family, I’m often intimidated in “South Asian” spaces which are really Indian/older/male/rich/privileged. But the attention spent in diversifying the participants really built up to discussions on issues of intersection of gay rights with Desi communities, prevalence of domestic violence, and an increase of STIs in urban Desi teens. Safe space beget safe dialogue beget a fascinating and truly inspiring weekend.

If you can’t wait for Abhi to profile the organizations that attended the Summit, you can find links to the individual organizations here. For more information on SAALT, please visit their website here. SAALT should be posting up more videos (panel presentations, performances, etc…) and you can follow those by subscribing to SAALT’s YouTube channel for updates.