immigration stories – Women Who Submit

Most of us never learned about los desaparecidos from Central America in school, how throughout the 1980s in Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador, American supported militaries disappeared priests, nuns, whole villages who opposed them. Now, four decades later, as vibrant jacarandas bloom purple across the Southland, our cities have become vulnerable to these same United States Federal forces.

As communities resiliently recover from this winter’s devastating fires, as students wrap up the accomplishments of another school year and walk across stages, our friends, neighbors, and family are being pulled from our streets and classrooms, from car washes and fields. As the ongoing genocide in Gaza continues to unfold, our screens have become overwhelmed with images of violence in our streets, schools, and workplaces.

Women Who Submit stands in unwavering support of our vulnerable Latinx communities and all those being racially profiled by these illegal deportation actions. We stand shoulder to shoulder with these Black and Brown communities and all those being treated inhumanely. We call for the immediate release of those callously disappeared from our neighborhoods and families. Women Who Submit opposes the existence of ICE and the presence of the National Guard and military troops in our city. The presence of these forces legitimizes the illegal and cruel efforts of ICE and escalates violence against those engaged in civil disobedience and other forms of protest.

It is Trump, ICE, Border Patrol and the US military bringing violence and chaos to the people of Los Angeles and of the Americas.

We urge our community to take action. We acknowledge the unique and varied ways people are able to push back and urge you to connect to local efforts in your area. If you have the wherewithal to push back financially, here are some funds and resources to pass along.

Vecinos Unidos Whittier: Whittier advocates for how to support our immigrant communities

Centro CSO: Grassroots organization based in Boyle Heights

JailSupportLA raises funds to support jailed protestors (Venmo: JailSupportLA)

Clue Justice has a detained immigrant bond fund

GoFundMe for three siblings affected by detention

GoFundMe to bring Diego back to his family

Immigrant Defenders Law Center

Central American Resource Center

Haitian Bridge Alliance

There are growing opportunities for direct action as well. As we head into this summer, we urge you to lean into the community and resist fascism as it rears its head in all of our communities.

https://www.chirla.org/donatenow/ Organization to advance the human and civil rights of immigrants and refugees.

https://www.idepsca.org/programs Day labor support

http://stopicealerta.ddns.net/ Report and receive updates on ICE sightings and terror

https://ndlon.org/ National Day Labor Network

https://www.ccijustice.org/carrn find your local rapid response network

https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.orgAsian Americans Advancing Justice

https://ajsocal.org Asian Americans Advancing Justice So Cal

https://www.aclunc.org/home ACLU Northern California

https://action.aclu.org/give/now ACLU National

https://www.maldef.org Legal support

Finally, for those in our community personally affected by these raids and acts of terror, know that Women Who Submit supports you, your families, and your loved ones. We see your struggle, and we fight with you.

by Hong-My Basrai

When we finally left communist Vietnam, my father said: “Never look back.” His words had a finality to them. They stuck in my twenty-two-year-old mind, and so I began my never looking back process, starting with learning to communicate predominantly in English.

The acquisition and manipulation of languages were second nature to me. I had been doing it all my life—soaking up Vietnamese in the cradle, French in kindergarten, Chinese from classmates, English to survive, and Gujarati because I had married into a Gujarati Indian family.

Basic English had come to me easily enough. It was just a small step from uttering my first “thank you” to verbal fluency, then progressing fast from ESL writing class to English 1A composition. What was harder was learning to elevate my writing proficiency to a level suitable for a public audience. Since I had picked up English on the go, learning it by imitation, like a baby, with most words borrowed from my prior knowledge of French, I had to pay extra attention to spelling of similar words, particularly homophones like address and adresse, envelope and enveloppe, May and mai; false cognates, words that have similar spelling but different meanings, like infant and enfant, anniversary and anniversaire, song and son; and words of Latin and Greek roots like destroy and détruire, or abnormal and anormal, etc. Continue reading “Writing English as a Polyglot”