Brown people STAND UP - Part 1

Last week I attended the SAALT Summit in Washington DC. SAALT is the acronym for South Asian Americans Leading Together, a group I affectionately describe as "the NAACP for Brown people". They do work from a social justice and civil rights framework and every two years they bring together South Asian activists, advocates and community members from all over the country for the summit.
I went to my first summit two years ago, when I worked as an advocate at Manavi, an NJ based organization that works to end violence against women in the South Asian community. This year however, I was representing myself and my blog Us Ordinary People, which I would be discussing at a panel session . This was my first time being a panelist at a conference so I was super excited.
The main theme at this years Summit was the 10 year anniversary of September 11 and what has changed in these 10 years. The issues that plagued the South Asian community when 9/11 hit are sadly the same issues today. Islamaphobia is rampant, and the recent shooting and deaths of two elderly Sikh men in Sacramento was one incident that highlighted this. Though the mood of the conference was friendly and unified, I sensed a somber air during the weekend. Issues regarding the rising number of deportations and the cutting down of labor rights added the sense of overwhelming odds for the movement as a whole. During my panel on community documenting, the need to document the stories of individuals and communities facing these issues was apparent. Alongside me in my panel were Dinu Ahmed and Moumita Zaman from Khadija's Caravan, an organization that provides photography workshop series for young Muslim youth in NYC, and Luna Ranjit from Aadikar, a Nepali human rights organization. All three of us were providing documentation in different ways, but the need was clear. If we did not provide the opportunity to tell these stories, then perhaps nobody would. I went to a few other workshops, but I must say that the highlight of my day was just lounging around with other activists. I made new friends, reconnected with people I knew before and I took a TON of pictures (as usual). I met the other co founder of NYTWA, Javaid Tariq, and we shared our love of photography and human rights. Seriously, with my hectic East coast trip, it was nice to just relax for a bit and actually connect with people, which I don't think always happens at conferences. I also loved listening to people tell me about their work, the passion behind what they do is apparent and it really pushes me to work towards my passions to help others as well.

The next day had some open circle discussions and roundtables with government agencies such as Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. I always love the open sessions at the Summit. It's really a chance to sort of kick back, sit in a circle and just share different perspectives. I attended an open space session on art due to my interest in photography. From radio hosts, filmmakers and playwrights, it was an awesome session where I was able to exchange e-mails and ideas with other artists. Afterward I attended the government roundtables, focusing on the ones relating to Immigration and Civil Rights Issues. I often wish that there was some way to work with the government instead of feeling like I am constantly fighting against government policies and budget cuts. I do feel that SAALT is taking the right steps to build those bridges between government and civic groups, this bridge building could be seen at the roundtables, as well as the next and final day of the summit, where summit attendees were able to advocate on capital hill at the house of representatives.

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