South Asian Americans
Leading Together

SAALT launches new hate violence project

Hearing, Mapping, and Contextualizing: How South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, and South West Asian (SAMSSWA) Hate Violence Survivors Perceive Healing and Justice 

Our new approach to hate vio­lence, launched in 2022, is to enable the par­tic­i­pa­tion and lead­er­ship of hate vio­lence sur­vivors by think­ing out­side con­ven­tion­al par­a­digms of heal­ing and jus­tice, often tied to pol­i­cy and law enforce­ment. Instead, we will offer trans­for­ma­tive jus­tice (TJ) as a modal­i­ty of healing.

We will select 15 sur­vivors affect­ed by inter­per­son­al and struc­tur­al hate crimes—including but not lim­it­ed to ones dri­ven by racism, Islam­o­pho­bia, casteism, col­orism, gen­der, sex­u­al­i­ty, immi­gra­tion sta­tus, phys­i­cal and men­tal abil­i­ty, and a his­to­ry of carcerality—both at the hands of unknown attack­ers (e.g., gen­dered Islam­o­pho­bia, harass­ment and vio­lence in pub­lic spaces, van­dal­ism and prop­er­ty destruc­tion, and dox­ing and oth­er forms of dig­i­tal vio­lence) and at the hands of known attack­ers (e.g., gen­der-based and domes­tic vio­lence, child abuse, and insti­tu­tion­al dis­crim­i­na­tion in work­places, health and edu­ca­tion settings).

Click here to learn more! 

Join this pro­jec­t’s mail­ing list!

In part­ner­ship with We Can Do This, a cam­paign run by the US Depart­ment of Health and Human Ser­vices, SAALT is shar­ing in-lan­guage pub­lic edu­ca­tion tools, trans­lat­ed by our allies at Respond: Cri­sis Trans­la­tion, that you and your com­mu­ni­ty can use to advo­cate for #Vac­cinEquity and ensure our col­lec­tive safe­ty from the coro­n­avirus.

Want to learn more? Vis­it www.vaccines.gov.

• Toolk­it for Peo­ple with Disabilities
  • Ara­bic, Bangla, Eng­lish, Gujarati, Kan­na­da, Nepali, Tamil, Urdu
• Get­ting Vaccinated…
  • Pro­tects You and Those You Care For
    • Ara­bic, Bangla, Eng­lish, Gujarati, Kan­na­da, Nepali, Tamil, Urdu
  • Should Be Pri­or­i­tized, and Can Be Eas­i­ly Scheduled
    • Ara­bic, Bangla, Eng­lish, Gujarati, Nepali, Tamil, Urdu
  • Can Be Made More Acces­si­ble to Those Most Mar­gin­al­ized in Your Neighborhood
    • Ara­bic, Bangla, Eng­lish, Gujarati, Kan­na­da, Nepali, Tamil, Urdu
• A Social Sto­ry: How Do I Get My Vaccine?
  • Eng­lish, Gujarati, Kan­na­da, Nepali, Tamil
• Access­ing Free Child Care When You Get Vaccinated
  • Bangla, Eng­lish, Gujarati, Kan­na­da, Nepali, Tamil, Urdu
• On-Site Vac­ci­na­tion Clin­ic Toolkit
  • Ara­bic, Bangla, Eng­lish, Gujarati, Kan­na­da, Nepali, Tamil, Urdu
• Pro­tec­tion for Unvac­ci­nat­ed Agri­cul­tur­al Field Workers
  • Bangla, Eng­lish, Gujarati, Kan­na­da, Nepali, Tamil, Urdu

As an orga­ni­za­tion that works with South Asians in the Unit­ed States, SAALT calls upon the Biden Har­ris Admin­is­tra­tion and Con­gress to take imme­di­ate action to address the glob­al health cri­sis unfold­ing in India and across South Asia as a result of the COVID–19 pan­dem­ic.  India has been aver­ag­ing over 2,000 report­ed COVID-19 relat­ed deaths dai­ly since late March. On Sat­ur­day, April 24th, India report­ed 324,000 new infec­tions – a glob­al record.  What­ev­er exist­ing med­ical infra­struc­ture has col­lapsed, as doc­u­ment­ed by haunt­ing images of hos­pi­tals run­ning out of beds, des­per­ate pleas for oxy­gen on social media, and news of over­whelmed cre­ma­to­ri­ums and grave­yards. And this is just what is being report­ed. The Indi­an gov­ern­men­t’s ongo­ing mis­treat­ment of minor­i­ty pop­u­la­tions in India makes it clear that mar­gin­al­ized com­mu­ni­ties are at an even greater risk of dying due to the pandemic. 

South Asians in the Unit­ed States have deep con­cerns about what is unrav­el­ing across India. SAALT joins the calls to action being made by many in the US and around the world to ask the Biden Har­ris Admin­is­tra­tion to:

• Ensure access to and equal dis­tri­b­u­tion of any raw mate­ri­als need­ed for vac­cine pro­duc­tion, with­out threat of sanction
• Ensure the imme­di­ate and equi­table export and dis­tri­b­u­tion of oxy­gen, oxy­gen gen­er­a­tors, and oth­er des­per­ate­ly need­ed med­ical supplies.
• Ensure that the Indi­an gov­ern­ment is prac­tic­ing eth­i­cal lead­er­ship that cen­ters pub­lic health includ­ing equi­table care, and access to vac­cines and test­ing for all peo­ple. Indi­vid­u­als his­tor­i­cal­ly mar­gin­al­ized and exclud­ed in India, includ­ing Dalit, Pas­man­da, Adi­vasi, Chris­t­ian, Mus­lim, Jew­ish, Sikh, Bud­dhist, Jain, and Kash­miri com­mu­ni­ties, must receive equal access.

Any and all that are inter­est­ed in sup­port­ing the Indi­an peo­ple can direct their resources and sup­port here or here, and sign on to sup­port efforts here. 

This state­ment is also endorsed by:
18 Mil­lion Ris­ing
Amer­i­cans for Kash­mir
Anoth­er Gulf Is Pos­si­ble
Apna Ghar, Inc.
Asian Amer­i­cans and Pacif­ic Islanders for Jus­tice (San Anto­nio)
Asian Pacif­ic Amer­i­can Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO
Asian Pacif­ic Amer­i­can Labor Alliance, Philadel­phia
Asian Pacif­ic Pol­i­cy & Plan­ning Coun­cil (A3PCON)
Asian Sol­i­dar­i­ty Col­lec­tive
Asso­ci­a­tion of Chi­nese Amer­i­cans, Inc.
Cen­ter for Ideas, Equi­ty, and Trans­for­ma­tive Change
COOLJC Region 8 (SJEREC)
Dalit Sol­i­dar­i­ty Forum
Equi­ty Mat­ters
Friends of Human Rights
Human Rights Cities Alliance Steer­ing Com­mit­tee
Immi­grant Alliance for Jus­tice and Equi­ty
India Civ­il Watch Inter­na­tion­al
Indi­an Amer­i­can Mus­lim Coun­cil
Inter­na­tion­al Com­mis­sion for Dalit Rights
Laal
Land Loss Pre­ven­tion Project
The Light­house | Black Girl Projects
Mal­colm X Grass­roots Move­ment
The Mis­sis­sip­pi Farm to School Net­work
Mis­sis­sip­pi Votes
MP Asso­ciates
Nation­al Asian Pacif­ic Amer­i­can Wom­en’s Forum (NAPAWF)
Nation­al Coun­cil of Asian Pacif­ic Amer­i­cans (NCAPA)
North Car­oli­na Asso­ci­a­tion of Black Lawyers
Reviv­ing the Islam­ic Sis­ter­hood for Empow­er­ment (RISE)
Rise Up India
Sap­na NYC
Sikh Coali­tion
South Asian Bar Asso­ci­a­tion of North Amer­i­ca (SABA)
South Asian Pub­lic Health Asso­ci­a­tion (SAPHA)
South Asian Sex­u­al and Men­tal Health Alliance (SASMHA)
South Asia Sol­i­dar­i­ty Ini­tia­tive (SASI)
Yale Envi­ron­men­tal Law Asso­ci­a­tion
Yale Law Lat­inx Law Stu­dents Asso­ci­a­tion
Yale Law School Asian Pacif­ic Amer­i­can Law Stu­dents’ Asso­ci­a­tion
Yale Law School Out­Laws
Yale Law School South Asian Law Stu­dents’ Asso­ci­a­tion
Yale Law School Yale Law Women
Yale School of Management

Click here!

An inau­gur­al report by South Asian SOAR, launch­ing in July 2022.

A note from our leadership

SOAR is an organization that is co-created by and for survivors and community leaders — and this report is a reflec­tion of that phi­los­o­phy. We cre­at­ed Togeth­er We Rise with our mem­ber­ship of 30+ front­line orga­ni­za­tions to ampli­fy their voic­e­sand ultimately generate increased funding, improve research & data collection, and drive policy changes that accurately grasp and meet survivors’ needs.

“Survivors are being failed by the system…We don’t have enough resources, or it’s so obsolete that what is there is not working anymore. That’s the challenge that we are facing here.”

— Anti-Vio­lence Pro­gram Advocate

Wash­ing­ton, D.C. — 24 May 2022

The recently leaked draft majority opinion from SCOTUS threatens an alarming reversal of federal protections for abortion rights. Amidst grief and rage, we know — as South Asian survivors, immigrants, community-based organizations, and movement leaders — that we must act swiftly and unitedly to protest and prevent this from passing.

Build­ing upon decades-long attacks on repro­duc­tive jus­tice, the pend­ing deci­sion to over­turn Roe v Wade could gut abor­tion rights in near­ly half of the Unit­ed States. Unde­ni­ably, this would have a dev­as­tat­ing impact on South Asian fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties — espe­cial­ly on sur­vivors, immi­grants, queer and trans peo­ple, and work­ing class people.

“Abortion restrictions in this country have always targeted, and fall hardest on, people of color and low-income people. They are meant to keep people like us powerless and in our place. Abortion bans are racial violence. They are gender-based violence. Abortion bans are class warfare.” - Shiv­ana Jorawar, Esq., Co-Direc­tor, Jaha­jee Sisters

In the face of these unprece­dent­ed restric­tions, it is imper­a­tive that we push for bold solu­tions that ensure afford­able and acces­si­ble abor­tions for every­one. With­out the right to abor­tion, the health and well-being of preg­nant peo­ple, entire fam­i­lies, com­mu­ni­ties, and future gen­er­a­tions are at risk.

In con­trast to mod­el minor­i­ty stereo­types, South Asians face per­va­sive sys­temic bar­ri­ers includ­ing eco­nom­ic, legal, lan­guage, and cul­tur­al hur­dles to access­ing repro­duc­tive health­care. Though there is a dearth of data on abor­tion rates among South Asians, a recent study found that Indi­an Amer­i­can women in New York City have the high­est rate of abor­tion amongst Asian Americans.

“South Asians are especially vulnerable - without access to resources in the multitudes of languages we speak, and the shame and stigma that comes with accessing reproductive health care, we are marginalized further without policies that support people’s whole lives, including better access to hospitals and clinics, healthcare provided by people our communities trust, insurance that actually covers our real needs, and policies that eliminate barriers to care because of racism and inequities.” - Sharmin Hos­sain, Cam­paign Direc­tor, Lib­er­ate Abortion

In 2012, Savi­ta Halap­panavar, a South Asian den­tist liv­ing in Ire­land, trag­i­cal­ly died after being denied a time­ly abor­tion. In 2014, Purvi Patel, a South Asian woman from Indi­ana, was one of only two women to be pros­e­cut­ed under the statewide feti­cide bill. Her case demon­strates the vio­lent hypocrisy of the U.S. gov­ern­ment, which has a well doc­u­ment­ed his­to­ry of forced ster­il­iza­tions of women of col­or, par­tic­u­lar­ly Black women, while at the same time crim­i­nal­iz­ing abor­tion, as demon­strat­ed through racist sex-selec­tive abor­tion bans. If those in pow­er were to pri­or­i­tize well-being, they would address the short­age of baby for­mu­la, lack of paid fam­i­ly leave, denial of access to health­care, and the short­age of afford­able and free child­care in this country.

“This moment is painstakingly triggering for survivors who are all too familiar with stolen consent and the violation of bodily autonomy. The fight for reproductive justice and survivor justice are intricately interconnected as both are working to advance a world abundant with care, resources, and choices.” - Denise Beek, Chief Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Offi­cer, me too. International

For South Asian sur­vivors who live at the inter­sec­tion of mul­ti­ple oppres­sions, the con­se­quences will be even more grave. Peo­ple in abu­sive rela­tion­ships are far more vul­ner­a­ble to sex­u­al assault, birth con­trol sab­o­tage, repro­duc­tive coer­cion or con­trol, and mis­in­for­ma­tion about their repro­duc­tive rights, and homi­cide, fre­quent­ly by a part­ner, is the lead­ing cause of mater­nal death dur­ing preg­nan­cy and the post­par­tum period.

"As organizations in the southern states, we face some of the toughest abortion restriction policies. This rollback of rights is extremely concerning because it threatens the livelihoods for survivors and people who already have limited access to resources, transportation, and healthcare." - Aparna Bhat­tacharyya, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of Rak­sha and SOAR Board Member

With­in South Asian com­mu­ni­ties, the pre­vail­ing stig­ma, shame, and silence that hin­der dis­cus­sions of sex­u­al and repro­duc­tive health are iso­lat­ing and dan­ger­ous. Unless we nor­mal­ize our choic­es and needs, we are jeop­ar­diz­ing the phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al health and safe­ty of South Asians.

As we mobi­lize in the com­ing weeks and months, we look to the South Asian, Indo-Caribbean, Black, Brown, Lat­inx, Indige­nous, and Asian lead­ers at the fore­front of the repro­duc­tive jus­tice move­ment. Across the South Asian & Indo-Caribbean dias­po­ra, HEART to Grow is sus­tain­ing a repro­duc­tive jus­tice fund for Mus­lims, Jaha­jee Sis­ters is lead­ing actions and host­ing con­ver­sa­tions on abor­tion access, and Sakhi for South Asian Women and oth­er gen­der-based vio­lence orga­ni­za­tions are increas­ing access to con­tra­cep­tion for survivors.

“Make no mistake -- banning abortion does not end the need for abortion care. Abortion is normal, common and one of the safest medical procedures. Banning abortion will not only have devastating effects on women, pregnant people and their whole families but it will have the greatest impact on low-income people of color. As a movement, we are prepared for what's to come and I'm proud to say that we are stronger than ever. We won't give up.” - Dr. Meera Shah, Chief Med­ical Offi­cer of Planned Par­ent­hood Hud­son Pecon­ic, Med­ical Direc­tor of Whole Women’s Health Alliance of South Bend, Indi­ana, and Sakhi Board Member

This is not only a fight to save Roe v. Wade, but also a pivotal moment to reimagine the future of reproductive justice and freedom for all. We must act to ensure that abortion is legal, accessible, affordable, and supported for everyone regardless of income, race, gender, sexuality, caste, religion, and more.

The solidarity and voices of South Asians are needed, now more than ever, to take action, speak out, donate, and to protect choice and freedom for ourselves and the generations to come.

Organizational & Individual Signatories

• AFSSA (Texas)
• Ashiyanaa (Mary­land)
• Daya (Texas)
• Jahajee Sisters (New York)
• Raksha Inc. (Geor­gia)
• Sakhi for South Asian Women (New York)
• Sanctuary for Families (New York)
• SEWA-AIFW (Min­neso­ta)
• South Asian SOAR (Nation­al)
• Manavi (New Jersey)