A bad-ass speech against the detentions, round-ups and disappearances of Musliim, South Asian, and Arab immigrants as well as an assault against the whole juggernaut of war and oppression that is being promoted in this country.
"we believe that as people living in the united
states, it is our responsibility to resist the
injustices done by our government, in our names."
I like to start off with this because I feel like the
very reason that I come out here is because the
government is saying that everything happening behind
those walls over there is being done in the name of my
safety. In the name of our safety. They’ve started
collecting information, fingerprints, personal
contacts, and photos. They’re firing up detention
centers that they’ve had in place since the 80’s,
getting water and electricity hooked up, getting ready
to house large masses of people at a time. They’re
getting ready to go to war, they’re putting out calls
for the arrest of people they think "slipped in" when
in reality they’re nowhere near the US, demoninzing
entire communities, setting fear ablaze across the
country and fanning the flames of hate. they’re
beating their war drums and making their lists. All
in the name of national security. Supposedly, all in
the name of my security.
Not in our name will you erode the very freedoms you
claim to fight for!
I say fuck that! We all know that the only country to
ever use a weapon of mass destruction has been the
United States. It doesn’t make me feel more secure to
know that families will be torn apart, to know that I
might see the police coming for one of my neighbors,
or worse yet, that I won’t see the police, that I
won’t know they’re gone till it’s too late. It
doesn’t make me feel more secure to know that first
it's the arabs and muslims who will be taken from
general society, and then who knows. next it might be
the koreans, the somalians, the communists, the
socialists, or the antiwar activists. it might be
anyone who doesn't go along with their program. and
the longer we wait, the harder it's going to be to
stand up. we can't afford to lose each other, we
can't afford to lose each other's voices.
My grandmother graduated from high school from behind
barbed wire, out in the desert. Like most other
Japanese families living in this country at the time,
they lost everything when those trains rolled in and
everyone was told to get on board with only what they
could carry. And sixty some odd years ago, there was
another similar gathering of names. Like this one.
I can't stand by and do nothing as history repeats
itself, and as the crimes that this government
committed in the past lumber in front of us, just far
enough for us to see, but not quite verify what's
going on. We need to catch up to it, grab it by the
neck, stare it in the face and say "Goddamnit, I see
what you're doing and you're not taking out another
community like you did before. You can sanction
whatever fear you want, whatever racism and
justification for your greedy ugly acts that you want
but you aren't doing it on my behalf!! I see through
your lies and I'm not stopping till everyone else sees
thru them, too. Till the streets are filled with
people, standing with each other hundereds in front of
hundreds saying you have to come thru us to get to
them, and then hundereds more in front of them saying,
you have to come thru us to get to them. Till our
voices are so loud that they aren't telling us how
it's going to pan out anymore, we're telling them.
That happened in a small way this week. The
government knows we're watching them. Thanks to
thousands raising their voices in LA and the hard work
of a lot of people here that garnered media attention,
they knew they couldn't just throw handcuffs on people
left and right like they did in december. But our
work isn't finished, because they're still
"registering" people, they're still prying into
people's lives and creating instability. We can't
rest until the government stops atttacking innocent
people, at home and abroad. Talk to your neighbors,
your co-workers, your friends. Write letters to your
elected officials, come join us on February 20th for
National Day of Solidarity with Arabs, muslims and
south asians. Come out and march against an unjust
war on January 18th. We must create a climate of
resistance, where speaking up is the norm, and where
standing up for each other is celebrated.
"We pledge to make common cause with the people of the
world
to bring about justice, freedom, and peace
another wold is possible,
and we pledge to make it real!"
Original: A Must Read Speech From January 10