Reappropriate has proudly joined over a hundred Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations who have come together to sign a statement of collective resistance against the hatred, intolerance, and open discrimination normalized by the election of President Donald J. Trump.
Published in the wake of one of America’s largest coordinated street protests (which engaged AAPIs across the country), the statement rejects “racism, hate, xenophobia, and sexism”, and “details principles by which organizations will advocate, mobilize, and organize their respective constituencies together in our collective resistance and solidarity efforts.”
Reads the statement:
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.
The statement of principles are listed after the jump:
- 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.
“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,” said Johanna Puno Hester, National President of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, which worked jointly with other groups to organize the letter. “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 [in the Women’s March], including APALA members across the country, and we are ready to continue resisting.”
“The communities – organizers, family, and friends – that are impacted the most by national and state policies ground this larger movement and vision for a just society that’s free from repression, bigotry and hate,” said Fahd Ahmed, Executive Director of DRUM: Desis Rising Up and Moving. “Our collective activism and organizing are necessary not only to disrupt unjust systems, but also to build power from the ground up. Otherwise, we shortchange our communities if we don’t stand our ground now.”
Download the full .pdf of the press release and statement — including the full list of signatories — here (or view it on Google Docs here).
Organizations can still add their names to the letter here.
