{"id":5294,"date":"2008-07-16T23:29:18","date_gmt":"2008-07-17T04:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=5294"},"modified":"2008-07-20T14:13:54","modified_gmt":"2008-07-20T19:13:54","slug":"a_south_asian_a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/16\/a_south_asian_a\/","title":{"rendered":"A South Asian American Agenda?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Periodically, we’ve discussed whether there is any real solidarity amongst the different South Asian communities in North America. What do wealthy 2nd gen suburban doctors, for instance, really have in common politically with recent immigrants working as shopkeepers and taxi drivers in ethnic enclaves in the inner city? It’s a difficult question to answer, though that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying<\/em> to answer it.<\/p>\n\n

A recent blog post<\/a> by Dr. Anonymous at Pass the Roti<\/a> drew my attention to an attempt to find a common agenda by a number of South Asian American Groups, including South Asian Americans Leading Together<\/a> (SAALT). The groups have come together to form the National Coalition of South Asian Organizations to release a position paper, which attempts to assemble a political agenda that will find broad support amongst various constituencies who can all be described as “South Asian American.” The groups that have endorsed the document are pretty diverse — including a number of South Asian women’s groups, gay rights groups like Trikone<\/a>, and progressive youth groups like SAYA<\/a> and DRUM<\/a>. Interestingly, one finds three Sikh advocacy groups endorsing the agenda (SALDEF<\/a>, Sikh Coalition<\/a>, and United Sikhs<\/a>), but not, as far as I can tell, any groups that are specifically oriented to advocacy for Hindus, Muslims, Jains, or Desi Christians. I’m curious about where that seeming imbalance comes from.<\/p>\n\n

The full agenda<\/a> (PDF) has nine categories, which Dr. Anonymous was kind \nenough to transcribe from PDF to HTML for us. I think most of us might agree with the first header (below) as a high priority in an election year, though I’ve been writing for Sepia Mutiny long enough to know that it’s almost never true that everyone<\/em> agrees with anything:<\/p>\n\n

Civic and Political Participation: Ensure full and equal participation for all in the civic and political process<\/strong>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Promote naturalization and voting among South Asians
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Preserve voting rights of South Asians by eliminating voter intimidation and suppression
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure limited English proficient citizens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 access to the right to vote
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure that votes by all eligible voters count
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Eliminate xenophobic comments against South Asians and other communities of color in political discourse
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Increase political participation and civic engagement of South Asian community members<\/blockquote>\n\n

The only point here that seems questionable to me might be “Eliminate xenophobic comments against South Asians… in political discourse.” I’m not sure how that could ever be made to happen, so why put it on an agenda?<\/p>\n\n

Some of the other headers might be more controversial\/debatable for the readers of this blog, who, as we’ve seen, span the ideological spectrum — left, right, and center. For instance, the “economic justice” category might have some readers disagreeing:<\/p>\n\n

Economic Justice: Promote economic justice and financial security for South Asians<\/strong>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Support the right to collect a decent living wage with benefits
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure work environments are free from exploitation and provide protections for labor trafficking survivors
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Support the rights of workers who seek to organize regardless of occupation or immigration status
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Provide protections for those affected by workplace discrimination
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Cease immigration enforcement at the workplace
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure access to financial education and vocational training opportunities for immigrant and limited English proficient workers
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure enforcement of tenants\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rights and fair housing policies
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Support affordable housing for immigrants
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure access to fair and affordable credit for immigrants
<\/blockquote>\n\n

I personally strongly support the points related to housing and tenants’ rights (many recent immigrants I’ve known live in quite poor conditions, and sometimes they are unaware that landlords have certain legal obligations to their tenants.). I’m less clear on the question of “immigration enforcement at the workplace,” because I think USCIS raids at factory, hotel, and restaurant could be defended along the lines of “well, it’s the law.”<\/p>\n\n

I also personally strongly support the subheader on Gender Equity:<\/p>\n\n

Gender Equity: Advance gender equity within the South Asian community<\/strong>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Support programs aimed to address and prevent gender-based violence within the South Asian community
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Support programs that provide linguistically accessible and culturally appropriate services for South Asian domestic violence survivors
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Support policies that protect and empower immigrant domestic violence survivors
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Support immigration policies that protect and empower dependent visa holders
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Strengthen policies aimed to prevent all forms of trafficking and provide meaningful resources to survivors
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Develop policies aimed at curbing transnational abandonment of spouses
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Increase culturally and linguistically appropriate health services for South Asian women
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Promote programs and policies that foster the economic empowerment of South Asian women<\/blockquote>\n\n

And finally, one more SAALT<\/s> NCSO agenda item I feel strongly about is reform of the immigration system:<\/p>\n\n

Immigrant Rights: Promote immigrant rights and just reforms to the immigration system<\/strong>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure a just and humane approach to reforming the immigration system at the federal level
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Expedite immigration application background checks related to security-related delays
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure the naturalization process is accessible to all eligible immigrants
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure that the immigration system promotes the reunification of families
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Support immigration policies that protect the rights of immigrant workers
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Support immigration policies that protect and empower domestic violence survivors
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Support immigration policies that protect and empower all dependent visa holders
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Cease enforcement initiatives and national security measures that disproportionately affect immigrants and promote profiling
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure that immigrants are not deported from the United States for minor violations of the law
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Cease sharing information among various law enforcement agencies for immigration purposes
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Oppose policies denying public services to non-citizens or permitting state and local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration law
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Ensure compliance of detention standards and provide alternatives to immigrant detention
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Strengthen due process protections within the immigration system
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Standardize the adjudication of asylum-related forms of relief<\/blockquote>\n\n

Ever since the immigration reform bills of the mid-1990s, stories about decent immigrants screwed over by technicalities and minor infractions have been unceasing. And the immigration process as a whole currently causes misery for millions upon millions of immigrants, including those that assiduously play by the rules. (I have blogged my complaints about the indecency of today’s immigration system often; but for starters, see this post<\/a>… with its 341 comments!)<\/p>\n\n

What do people think about the SAALT<\/s> NCSO agenda as a whole? Any nitpicks, or major disagreements? (Read the whole list at PTR<\/a> or here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Periodically, we’ve discussed whether there is any real solidarity amongst the different South Asian communities in North America. What do wealthy 2nd gen suburban doctors, for instance, really have in common politically with recent immigrants working as shopkeepers and taxi … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[47],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5294"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}