1.) SAJA- Desi Spotting: Desi Stuff All Over the Sunday NYT
2.) How NAFTA Helped Spread Swine Flu
3.) Slaughter in Sri Lanka and M.I.A
4.) Racial and Ethnic Discrimination and Their Effect on Mental Health in Children
5.) Doctor, Scholar Urge Four Nations to Drop Food and Medicine into “Safe Zone” in Sri Lanka
Today, May 1st, also known as May Day, is a celebration of the struggles of workers around the world. May Day is celebrated all around the world, and today, across the United States, folks are encouraged to take to the streets in rallies that acknowledge the struggles of immigrant workers. The rallies will also sound a cry for the importance of immigration reform – a series of legislative and administrative changes that can fix the broken immigration system. For workers of all immigration statuses, the need for immigration reform is critical. H‑1B workers have no job portability and often wait years in order to receive green cards. Guestworkers who are here on temporary, H‑2B visas have very little worker protections and find themselves in vulnerable situations that can be exploited by unscrupulous employers. Watch this video clip from the American News Project to learn more about the Indian guestworkers in the Gulf Coast who spent two years highlighting the exploitation they endured.
Then, head out to one of the immigration rallies this afternoon in your city –visit www.anewdayforimmigration.org for information on May Day marches and rallies.
1.) Obama backs off pledge of swift immigration reform
2.) Desi Spotting: Amrit Singh, Torture Documenter
3.) Would you say South Asians in the U.S. are more assimilated than South Asians in Canada?
4.) Exploring Our Resources: Philanthropy By Pakistani Diaspora in the USA
5.) Voting Rights Act still has work to do for states
SAALT ChangeMaker Award recipient, Asm Rahman
Asm Rahman, one of the recipients of the inaugural SAALT ChangeMaker Awards, is profiled in the Detroit Free Press. Elected the President of the Hamtramck NAACP, Rahman is a lifelong supporter of civil rights and education. Check out the article here <http://www.freep.com/article/20090427/NEWS02/904270359/>. I had a chance to talk with Mr. Rahman about what motivated him to take a leadership role in the NAACP as well as what he envisions for the South Asian community nationally and in the Detroit area.
Q: How did you get involved with the NAACP?
A: After 9/11, I realized that many people in my community were unaware of their civil rights. They did not know why they should become citizens or that many were confronting post‑9/11 racism. While Detroit was not affected like some areas with open harassment, they did go after many people, especially Middle Easterners, in a way that seemed related to race. When I first came to this country, I had learned about Martin Luther King, Jr and Frederick Douglas and such during February, Black History Month, at Hamtramck High School. I realized that after 9/11, we, as a community, need to learn about and join this movement for civil rights. For our community, we need to see that freedom did not come cheap and we have to respect the African American community’s contribution to our freedom.
Q: What do you hope for your community, in Detroit and around the country?
A: I hope that the community can come together and get involved about the issues that we face. That’s why we formed BAPAC (Bangladeshi American Public Affairs Council). We saw that there were smaller organizations providing social services, but in terms of political engagement or civil rights, we were behind. Voting and politics are different in South Asia and it is important to educate our community about how the system works here. We run workshops like how to vote where we use a sample ballot to help Limited English Proficient or older voters navigate the process. The excitement that we saw during the Presidential elections must be maintained. This election was the first time I saw the Bangladeshi community getting involved in national politics. There was this sense that even if our votes did not count before, this time it will matter. My mother was watching the election like her son was running.
Q: What do you think the community needs in order to become engaged?
A: Firstly, I would say we need education and I do not mean just academics. We need to become familiar with the power structure. Knowing that can help us be prepared for emergencies, when people really need help. For instance, in terms of education, many immigrant parents do not know how they should get involved. By knowing what is already in place, community members can make a bigger impact on the issues that matter to them. Second, I would say it is leadership. This community needs leaders who really know what the problems are and how to address them. Ultimately, our numbers do not matter unless the numbers are doing something.
1.) South Asian Philanthropy Project: Live-Blogging at the SAALT Summit!
2.) Racewire: Asian Americans Increasingly Favorable of U.S.
3.) Bangladeshi American to become First Asian American to Head NAACP Chapter
4.) Indian-American helps design energy-saving PCs
5.) Bangladesh-US venture to build country’s first solar panel plant
Check out Deepa Iyer, SAALT’s Executive Director on Tuesday’s ARC call “Race in Review: The First 100 Days”. The call is at 4pm EST/3pm CST/1 pm PST. Learn more (and RSVP!) here <http://www.arc.org/content/view/594/1/>
1.) Delta Closes Indian Call Centers After Complaints from American Customers
2.) One Pakistani American’s Plight at Guantanamo
3.) New Report on Airport Searches of Muslim, South Asian, & Middle Eastern Communities
4.) Brown Girl Magazine: Smart. Hip. Beautiful
5.) Mac & Cheese with Masala
1.) Kahani Movement. Check it out.
2.) Searching For My Pakistani Identity
3.) Kathak to African-American Poetry
4.) Illinois: Zion’s Islam community, FBI speak out on faith, hate crime
5.) Two Indian-Americans get Key Posts in Obama Team
1.) Obama names Aneesh Chopra first US Chief Technology Officer
2.) U.S. to Sit Out U.N. Conference on Racism
3.) From Racialicious. Hoagland’s Hogwash: Islamophobia in the Washington Post
4.) An Indian American Oberves Easter in India
5.) “Being Indian” and “Being American”: A study of how second generation Indian Americans approach dating
1.) Mumbai: US Student raped, three arrests made
2.) Sudhir Venkatesh in FORBES Magazine
3.) Pipe from India Incenses Illinois Town
4.) Aziz Ansari on “Pipes and Recreation”
5.) Asians In America: Profile on Bharatanatyam dancer and educator Shobana Ram