Wash­ing­ton, DC., May 2020:

The COVID-19 pan­dem­ic is exac­er­bat­ing the inequities we’ve known for cen­turies. As mem­bers of the South Asian Amer­i­can dias­po­ra, we are unfor­tu­nate­ly well-aware of the effects of dis­crim­i­na­to­ry ide­olo­gies; our com­mu­ni­ty remains one of its biggest tar­gets, as gov­ern­ment offi­cials use Islam­o­pho­bia and xeno­pho­bia to sur­veil, police, and detain brown Americans.

This Asian Pacif­ic Amer­i­can His­to­ry Month, SAALT is remem­ber­ing the role of mutu­al aid, both in our past ral­lies for equi­ty and in the on-going fight for anti-racist lib­er­a­tion. Our com­mu­ni­ty of Asian and Pacif­ic Islander Amer­i­cans would not be where it is with­out the sup­port, his­to­ries, and lives of our Black, Lat­inx, and Indige­nous allies. In their hon­or, this “Guide to Giv­ing” high­lights mem­bers of SAALT’s com­mu­ni­ty — both South Asian Amer­i­can and oth­er­wise — who have been, and con­tin­ue to be, cru­cial to fight­ing white suprema­cy across bound­aries of race, eth­nic­i­ty, and migrant status.

Support South Asians in NY by donat­ing to the groups ​list­ed below. New York — and espe­cial­ly Queens​, Brook­lyn, and the Bronx — have some of the high­est COVID-19 infec­tion rates in the coun­try. These orga­ni­za­tions are work­ing to ​both pro­vide aid to com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers through food deliv­ery, med­ical and PPE aid, cash assis­tance, and trans­la­tion ser­vices ​and build pow­er by edu­cat­ing their mem­bers and advo­cat­ing for just policies.

Desis Ris­ing Up & Mov­ing
Adhikaar
Sap­na NYC
Sikh Coali­tion
Mus­lim Com­mu­ni­ty Net­work
Jaha­jee Sis­ters
Caribbean Equal­i­ty Project
Chhaya CDC
CAAAV
Brook­lyn Mutu­al Aid Net­work
Fund for Undoc­u­ment­ed Bangladeshis
Queens Mutu­al Aid
Bronx Mutu­al Aid Network

Support South Asian Domestic Violence Survivors by donat­ing to the gen­der-based vio­lence groups list­ed below. Since COVID-19 began, there’s been a sig­nif­i­cant drop in cri­sis calls from con­stituents, like­ly due to sur­vivors ‘shel­ter­ing-in-place’ with abusers; there’s also a lack of space in domes­tic vio­lence shel­ters because of infec­tion fears. These orga­ni­za­tions are deliv­er­ing gro­ceries, help­ing sur­vivors apply for pub­lic ben­e­fits, and devel­op­ing alter­na­tive shel­ter arrangements.

Daya Hous­ton
Rak­sha
Nari­ka
Asha Kiran
Sahara
South Asian Net­work (SAN)
Apna Ghar
Sahe­li, Inc
Maitri
Man­avi

Support South Asian Immigrants by donat­ing to the immi­grant jus­tice groups list­ed below. Folks who are undoc­u­ment­ed have no access to gov­ern­ment aid or relief — despite pay­ing over $27 bil­lion in tax­es. Many South Asian migrants are detained in crowd­ed ICE facil­i­ties where there have been pub­lic reports of COVID-19 out­breaks, and face depor­ta­tion to unsafe coun­tries of ori­gin. These orga­ni­za­tions are fight­ing to ensure that immi­grants of all sta­tus­es have con­tin­ued access to legal and finan­cial sup­port, as well as assis­tance as they nav­i­gate an uncer­tain econ­o­my and job market.

APALA Com­mu­ni­ty Fund
African Com­mu­ni­ties Togeth­er
Believ­ers’ Bail Out
Fron­ter­i­zo Fian­za Bonds Fund
Esper­an­zo Hope Fund
Jakara Move­ment
South Dako­ta DREAM Coali­tion & South Dako­ta Voic­es for Peace
Jus­tice for Mus­lims Col­lec­tive Com­mu­ni­ty Relief Fund
Detained Migrant Sol­i­dar­i­ty Com­mit­tee
AVID in the Chi­huahua Desert
Free­dom for Immi­grants
Equal­i­ty Labs
Deten­tion Watch Net­work
Asian Pris­on­ers Sup­port Com­mit­tee
Undoc­u­ment­ed Wom­en’s Fund
Sanc­tu­ary DMV
SIREN Immi­grant Rights
SAALT