This Fight Starts at Home: A letter from the Executive Director

Dear Community, 

Our streets have erupted with justified anger and frustration. The time has come for a radical reckoning. All of us have a role to play in ending the racialized terror and the institutionalized injustices that have led to the continued brutalization and oppression of Blacks. We at Chhaya are outraged by the murder of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others. 

As immigrants, we know our freedoms and opportunities are a direct result of the long fight led by Black Americans. Immigrants must now take up the mantle to further this fight for justice. 

We stand hand in hand with our Black brothers and sisters to fight for a new future; one where hate has no place and freedom and opportunities belong to all of us. This fight starts at home – it starts with recognizing the deep-seated anti-Blackness that pervades our mindsets, and taking a zero-tolerance stance to racism in our homes, places of worship, and communities. Silence equals complicity. 

Here are three actions you can take beyond your community to effect greater change: 

• Call your state senator and state assemblymember to support Senator Bailey & Assemblyman O’Donnell’s bill to repeal the police secrecy law, Section 50-a that hides the records of abusive officers. Find your NYS Senator here.
• Sign this Color of Change petition calling for the end of police violence against Black people.
• Donate to a bail fund to provide relief for activists seeking justice for George Floyd. Here is a list of bail funds across the country.

In Solidarity,

Annetta Seecharran

Executive Director