We Are the Change We Seek
Dear Friend,
Before he became President, Donald Trump made racist comments about immigrants and promised increased border enforcement by building a wall on our southern border and cracking down on undocumented immigrants. He threatened to ban Muslim refugees from entering the country, and to create a Muslim registry. He promised to eliminate Obamacare, while offering no replacement plan. He signaled opposition to street demonstrations for police accountability such as those led by Black Lives Matter. He bragged about sexually assaulting women, and said women who terminated their pregnancies should be punished. He denied climate change, and said he would promote fossil fuels industries. He mocked a reporter with disabilities. His rhetoric was xenophobic, racist, sexist, Islamophobic and divisive. His running mate spoke against marriage equality and transgender rights.
Since the election, as the 45th President, Donald Trump has appointed an avowed white nationalist as his chief political strategist in the White House. He has nominated as Cabinet Members many people who have a track record inconsistent at best, and in conflict at worst, with the purpose of the agencies they would lead. He is issuing Executive Orders and actions which would have devastating impacts on women, people of color, immigrants, refugees, and Muslims, here and around the world, and seeks to reopen oil pipeline projects opposed by the sovereign nations of Native Americans whose land, water, and culture they would threaten. He threatens to punish Sanctuary Cities and other local governments which insist on respecting the Constitution and which, as is their right, refuse to cooperate with unjust and inhumane edicts.
Millions in our country and around the world have demonstrated through the largest Inaugural protest march in our nation’s history, the women’s march; through rallies and peaceful demonstrations in the streets, our state legislatures and our nation’s airports; and through messages to elected officials daily since then, that we will not allow the clock to be turned back on the gains made by women, people of color, immigrants, refugees, religious and gender minorities, workers, people with low incomes and people with disabilities, and everyone who wants clean air, clean water, unpolluted land, and an end to the catastrophic consequences of accelerating climate change. The tributaries of the social justice movement are coming together in cross sector organizing in a mighty roar to strengthen our rights and our democracy.
ACRS was born of the social justice movement, and we have never lost sight of our roots and our people. We know the pain of racial discrimination and exclusionary immigration policies, detentions and deportations, of registries and mass incarceration, of discrimination on grounds of religion and national origin, and of the loss of health, land and countries to the effects of climate change. We have had the highest rate of people in the nation without health insurance and have suffered the consequences. We have endured forced reproductive choices, sex trafficking, lower wages and sex role stereotyping. We have experienced wage theft and inadequate minimum wage levels. Though we are entering challenging times, we have been here before, and we know what to do.
Our Asian American and Pacific Islander communities comprise people of color and include all genders, immigrants, refugees, citizens, people of all major religious traditions including Muslims, people with low incomes and people with disabilities, and people on the front lines of fighting climate change. As we have through time, ACRS will stand, rally, march, and act with our community and sisters and brothers of all communities, to protect and advance all our rights and the air, water, and land that sustains us. Now is the time for all who believe in the same values to act. Please join us in strengthening our democracy through your civic engagement, whether peacefully and loudly in the streets, at the airports, at City Hall and County Council, at the State Legislature or in the halls of Congress.
Demonstrate, advocate, naturalize if you are able, register to vote if you are eligible, and vote if you are registered. ACRS can help you with all of the above. Contact the White House at (202) 456-1111. Call your own Congressional Representatives at the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and while you are at it, call Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who can be reached through the same number. Call your Governor and state legislators at the legislative hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Remember that local governments also directly affect our lives, and are more important than ever. Call your County and City elected officials to voice your ideas and concerns, and to support or oppose policies and legislation you care about.
We need to show up and call up to support what we believe in and to resist the attacks on our rights and environment. We need to stand up for each other and stand up for ourselves. We can do this, if we do it together. Look out for action alerts from ACRS, and alerts from our sister organizations, and act immediately. Every important gain was made with a movement behind it. As the 44th President, Barack Obama once said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Sincerely,
Diane Narasaki
Executive Director
Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS)
