Views From The Edge: #WomensMarch

Filipino/Americans joined the Women's March in Oakland, California last Jaan. 21.

RISE! RESIST! UNITE!

In a strange way, Donald Trump is uniting us.

The momentum from last weekend's Women's Marches across the country and supportive demonstrations around the world, the likes of which we haven't seen since the anti-Vietnam demonstrations of the 60s and 70s, is not faltering. On the contrary, the resistance is building.

Today, (Jan. 26), over a hundred Asian/American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations have committed to resist President Trump and his Administration, by signing a Letter of Resistance. The signatories feature a variety of national organizations, local groups, and student organizations of South Asians, East Asians, Southeast Asians, Muslims, Buddhists that focus on a range of issues from worker rights and economic justice to health and racial justice advocacy.

The joint statement rejects making racism, hate, xenophobia, and sexism normal, and details principles by which organizations will advocate, mobilize, and organize their respective constituencies together in our collective resistance and solidarity efforts.

Johanna Puno Hester, National President of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO and Assistant Executive Director of United Domestic Workers of American/AFSCME Local 3930, said:

GABRIELA-USA chair Irma Shauf-Bajar in a video
stating organization's position.

“It is so dangerous for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders – and any other communities of color and marginalized communities – to engage with the Trump administration. With an administration full of right-wingers and white supremacists whose statements and track records already have proven to be toxic for the new American majority and the planet as a whole, we need to lean on each other, collaborate, and co-conspire in the dark times ahead. Millions marched this weekend, including APALA members across the country, and we are ready to continue resisting.”

“We need to come out in full force and resist this new administration, which has already promised to dismantle the rights of AAPI women and our communities," said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, Interim Executive Director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. "Now more than ever, we need to reaffirm our solidarity with all who are fighting for justice, whether that’s across the street or across the nation.”

Below please find the statement in full and the complete list of signatories. We continue to welcome new co-conspirators to our collective resistance.

As Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, We Will Resist

We stand at a critical juncture in world history. The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States represents a direct threat to millions of people’s safety and to the health of the planet. As Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) committed to equality, inclusion, and justice, we pledge to resist any efforts by President-Elect Trump’s administration to target and exploit communities, to strip people of their fundamental rights and access to essential services, and to use rhetoric and policies that divide the American people and endanger the world.

Mr. Trump’s campaign used explicit racial appeals to win the support of disaffected white voters, promising to restore their economic and social standing by deporting millions of immigrants, building a wall, creating a Muslim registry, banning Muslim immigration, and punishing Black dissent. He also engaged in deeply misogynistic language and behavior throughout his campaign. He insulted all people of color; people with disabilities; and women – all of whom amount to the majority of America. In the global arena, he has signaled at a new nuclear arms race, promised to expand the use of torture, and disparaged the United Nations.

Since his election, Mr. Trump has chosen known white nationalists, corporate moguls, religious zealots, climate deniers, hawkish ex-generals, anti-Islam spokespersons, and anti-government crusaders to serve in his Administration. Right-wing extremists now dominate his party, which will control all three branches of the federal government and the majority of state legislatures, and are positioned to jeopardize the future of the Supreme Court for the next generation and beyond. Together this new realignment of forces seeks to turn back the clock on civil rights and environmental protections, to maximize corporate profits by privatizing the public sector, and to create a racially and culturally exclusive America.

This is not business as usual, and we will not engage in business-as-usual tactics and strategies.

As AAPIs, our lives are rooted in the long arc of U.S. history, which was born out of racial violence and has been shaped by the struggles for freedom of oppressed peoples domestically and internationally. Some of our ancestors first arrived in what is now the United States as subjects of European empire over 400 years ago. Some of us are indigenous to this country as our ancestors' lands were occupied and colonized by the United States as they sought to expand their global military and economic power. In the centuries since, AAPIs have faced indentured servitude, exclusionary immigration laws, bars to citizenship and land ownership, mass deportation, mass incarceration, war, sexual and gender-based violence, forced displacement, vigilante violence, surveillance, and racial and religious profiling.

Today our movements include Southeast Asian refugees organizing to end criminalization and deportation; Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs and South Asians fighting surveillance, profiling, war, and hate violence; women reclaiming their bodies against trafficking, domestic violence, exploitation, and criminalization; low-wage workers standing up against wage theft, poor working conditions, and abusive employers; Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders building a generation to fight against generational poverty caused by loss of sovereignty, militarization of lands and people, forced displacement, and criminalization; and trans, gender-non-conforming, and queer people putting their bodies on the line to demand a different, more humane world. We have always fought injustice, and we are resolute to continue doing so.

The majority of AAPI voters rejected Mr. Trump’s candidacy. Indeed, while Mr. Trump won the Electoral College – a problematic system with its own deep history rooted in slavery and racial inequities – he lost the popular vote. And with only 58% of eligible voters casting ballots in this election, the vast majority of American voters did not vote to elect Mr. Trump. He and his Administration have no mandate to govern.

For all of these reasons, we commit to the following principles and ask all AAPIs to join us:

We will center and stand up for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community members who are likely to face increased levels of hate violence, targeting, and policing. We will center and uplift the experiences and calls to action of undocumented immigrants, Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim, refugees, women, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) community members. We will also support the organizing and resistance strategies of AAPI groups and our allies closest to the ground in local communities.

We will defend all targets of bigotry, repression, and hate made by Mr. Trump’s Administration, or caused by the Trump Effect, with a broad principle of solidarity: “An attack on one is an attack on all.”

We will refuse to legitimate or normalize Mr. Trump’s Administration, which has already violated the core principles of American democracy by using explicit appeals to racial and religious bigotry, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and misogyny to gain political power. We will reject ideas, statements, and policies that strengthen the incoming Administration’s legitimacy, including divide-and-conquer tactics or strategies that position AAPIs as a racial wedge against other communities of color.

We will reject any attempts by the Trump Administration to use AAPIs to make a case for their legitimacy and diversity, and will not compromise our values and agency to gain a “seat at the table” in pursuit of narrow benefits. Nor will we conflate marginal visibility for genuine power and influence for our communities.

We agree to be transparent about our engagement with the Trump Administration, and to be held accountable for our organizational strategies and decisions.

We will raise awareness about how AAPI communities are affected by discriminatory and divisive rhetoric and policies, and will stand firm in opposing them.

We will support those who assume personal and organizational risk to defend democratic institutions and practices including human, civil, and constitutional rights, against unjust laws and actions by the government, any group, or individual.

We will seek unity in pursuit of shared goals, knowing that defending democracy will require various kinds of movements and tactics to weather the coming period of increased repression, and to build a more humane and sustainable world.

We will work tirelessly toward an inclusive and democratic vision that ensures the safety, self-determination, and wellbeing of all people, and we will model this in our resistance and solidarity efforts.

Click here, for the complete list of signatories. For other organizations wishing to sign this Letter of Resistance, click here.

“Unity is the only way forward and will be our protection for one another in resisting a Trump presidency," said Irma Shauf-Bajar, chair of GABRIELA-USA, a Filipino/American organization that signed on to the letter. ".... We must Rise, Resist, Unite!”

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ON JAN. 20, Donald Trump was installed as President of the United States. On Day 2 of his administration, the country held a do-over and Trump - without the help of the Electoral College system - came out on this short end.

The turnout - estimated to be about 2 million worldwide - dwarfed the crowds for Trump's inauguration and that apparently was a major concern of the Trump administration as they felt compelled to criticize the media (again) for underestimating the inauguration turnout.

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Nephews, nieces, cousins and friends joined the celebrities and other AAPI in marching for equity, women's rights, immigration reform, justice and just to be seen as human beings instead of the demons as painted by the Tweeter-in-Chief. and his supporters.

You have to be up to speed on Asian stereotypes to understand this message. Great sign!

This might be my favorite sign on the back of a wheelchair-bound former victim of the WWII internment of Japanese Americans. She is referring to Trump's call for restrictions on Muslim immigration and the call for a Muslim Registry.

Comedian Jenny Yang had a funny sign ... but, it makes its point.

Celebrities, like Gina Rodriguez (above) - who also have the same rights of ordinary folks - voiced their opinions during the march. There were too many to count but some celebrities who made their presence known included Katy Perry, Ashley Judd, who delivered a blistering word poem performance of "Nasty Woman," Scarlett Johansson, Madonna, America Ferrerra, Gloria Steinem, Whoopi Goldberg, Katy Perry, Lena Dunham, Alicia Keyes, Zendaya, Amy Poehler and so many more.

The march in Antartica expands the Women's March to all seven continents. Organizers said they had to limit their march because they wanted to limit their imprint on the fragile environment.

Supporters marched throughout the world, Africa, Europe, South America, Australia and Asia, including Tokyo (above).

'Fresh Off the Boat' actress Constance Wu, right, hooked up with an old friend at the Washington D.C. march.

I'm so proud of my friends and family who took part in this historic event.

The pink hat dubbed Pussyhats, were everywhere Saturday. including San Diego.

"The best thing you can do is not stay silent," Indian/American Padma Lakshmi, who hosts the Food Network's Top Chef, tells The Hollywood Reporter, adding that she thinks that's one of Martin Luther King Jr's most important lessons. "It's not just about saying what's wrong but it's about saying what should be and what's right."

"A lot of things that we took for granted and didn't really appreciate are going to go away," she said. "And they're going to go away unless enough people raise their voice and give their presence."

And the key question is: What next? Can the people who marched keep up their involvement after they come down from the high that came from the March? Will they write the letters, gather the signatures, make the calls, donate the money to groups fighting for our rights, join an action group, question their congressional reps, and organize?

Organize, organize, organize.

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