Chinese Progressive Association
華人進步會
PRESS STATEMENT
June 30, 2018
Contact: Shaw San Liu
Bone and Flesh: Chinese community must defend dignity of all families
The Chinese Progressive Association stands firmly for all families to be treated with dignity and compassion regardless of where they come from or their immigration status. We join the world in shock, anger and grief at the horrific border crisis where families are separated and imprisoned, at the upholding of the racist Muslim Ban and call on the Chinese community to join the movement for justice for all immigrants and people of color.
The Chinese community and other communities of color have long experienced the violence and trauma of family separation in the name of immigration policy and enforcing the law, from detention and interrogation at Angel Island and denying entry due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, internment of Japanese families, and separation of Black families during the slave trade to today’s broken immigration system. Already, because of war, police and state violence, and the criminalization of Black and Brown communities, children are being separated everyday from families. Under a white nationalist administration, it is clear that no community of color is exempt from criminalization and attacks on our families. We cannot stand idly by when the government is targeting and criminalizing communities of color and immigrants, stripping away due process and democratic rights. Now more than ever, we must not give in to divide and conquer schemes, and not be tricked into thinking we can be safe from being targeted and not be impacted.
In Chinese, an expression for family is Bone and Flesh- the pain and trauma when bones are separated from the flesh is unimaginable and inhumane. #FamiliesBelongTogether, and we must take a stand in this pivotal moment for Bone and Flesh – immigrant families, for Muslim families, and for our larger family of all those who believe in justice. CPA has been fighting alongside immigrant and working families for over four decades for a just society in which everyone can thrive, regardless of where they are born and what color their skin is. The stakes are high, our families are on the line and we urge everyone to stand united against racism, xenophobia, and the criminalization of immigrants and people of color, take action and protest the injustice inflicted upon us.
About Chinese Progressive Association Founded in 1972, the Chinese Progressive Association is a nonprofit that educates, organizes and empowers the low income and working class immigrant Chinese community in San Francisco to build collective power with other oppressed communities to demand better living and working conditions and justice for all people.
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