Members of Congress, civil rights group join the vigil; Trump urged to speak up.
WASHINGTON, DC: Braving a late winter cold snap, dozens of South Asian Americans and members of various civil rights groups gathered on the steps of the Capitol for a vigil to honor the victims of hate crimes nationwide on Friday.
A number of members of Congress and civil rights activists were among the attendees at the vigil, organized by the South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT).
In the past month, four Indian Americans, including a Sikh American, were shot and two them fatally — one in Olathe, Kansas, and the other in Lancaster, South Carolina. In two of the shooting incidents, the assailants yelled at the victims to go back to their countries.
Indian American engineer shot dead in Olathe, Kansas, in apparent hate crime (February 23, 2017)
The United States also witnessed a series of incidents of mosque-burnings and intimidation of members of immigrant communities. SAALT said in a press release that Friday’s vigil was “a collective moment to mourn the injuries and loss of life our communities have suffered and to also demand just laws, policies, and leadership in response to increasing violence against our communities.”
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“This is a very important moment,” said Rep Pramila Jayapal, one of the four members of Congress who attended the vigil. “I have tremendous sympathy and condolences for the families across the country who are dealing with hate crimes and who are literally suffering at home, sometimes in silence, unsure of whether they can go out or not.”
Besides Jayapal three other members of Congress attended the vigil — fellow Indian American Reps. Ami Bera (D-CA) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY).
Gun man shoots Sikh American in Kent, Washington, in another apparent hate crime (March 4, 2017)
The organizations that partnered with SAALT for the vigil included the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Arab American Institute, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Desis Rising Up & Moving (DRUM), Indiaspora, MPowerChange, the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, the National Network For Arab American Communities, the Sikh American Legal Defense & Education Fund (SALDEF) and the Sikh Coalition.
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“At a time when South Asian, Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, and Arab community members are facing hate violence and harassment on nearly a daily basis, we need real leadership from Washington to stem the tide of injustice,” said Suman Raghunathan, Executive Director of SAALT, a South Asian civil rights group.
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Addressing the gathering, Crowley that “there needs to be more love, more acceptance, more tolerance now in the United States than ever before, and I believe also that the violence we’ve seen taken against people who don’t necessarily look like me is something we all need to be concerned about.”
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He said that the attack in Kansas — in which Indian American Srinivas Kuchibhotla died — “did send a shiver down my spine.” The New York congressman added: “Whether you’re a South Asian, whether you’re a Muslim, whether you’re Jewish, whether you’re Christian, whether you’re Hindu, whether you’re Sikh, whether you’re Buddhist, it matters not. An attack against one is an attack against all of us.”
Bera, the longest-serving Indian American member of Congress said the “disturbing acts of violence not only attack our communities, they are an assault on all Americans.” He added: “Attacking someone based on where they come from or what they look like insults the very core of everything that we stand for as a nation of immigrants. As a nation, we must stand up to these hateful attacks, which means doubling down on our commitments to safety, equality, and the American values of liberty and justice for all.”
Fellow California Democrat Khanna, a freshman, said: “I have a fundamental belief in the goodness and decency of the American people. This is not a partisan issue. I have had Republicans and Democrats approach me on the floor appalled by some of the recent acts of violence. The country must stand together against hateful words and actions, and we must prosecute any hate crimes to the full extent of the law.”
SAALT and many of the speakers blamed President Trump, especially the divisive campaign he ran, for the violence and charged that the Republican is not doing enough to stop it.
A report the organization released in January listed more than 200 incidents of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric aimed at South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Arab, and Middle Eastern Americans during the campaign. Of these, SAALT found, 95% of incidents were motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment and Trump was responsible for 21% of the xenophobic political rhetoric.
“Waiting nearly a week before commenting on a deadly shooting in Kansas won’t do it,” Raghunathan said. “Issuing a second toxic Muslim Ban won’t do it. We need direct action from this administration to forge inclusion, justice, and hope in this quintessential nation of immigrants. SAALT will continue fighting for laws and policies that light a path toward a just and inclusive future for us all.”
“The President’s response to the attacks against our communities has been woefully inadequate,” SAALT said in the press release. “His dangerous rhetoric and destructive policies have fanned the flames of violence that we’ve experienced in recent weeks and months. SAALT calls upon the President to reverse course and lead our nation down a path of justice, inclusion and equality for all Americans. This is the moment for our nation to come together, and SAALT will continue to fight until our country has reached that important goal.”
Crowley said: “I know that this is something that unfortunately has developed because of hate rhetoric and hate speech that developed during the campaign and has continued afterwards. President Trump not only has to speak out against this, he has to take action against this as well and put resources out there to ensure the South Asian community in the United States is protected.”