Shortly before we started observing Black History Month, we celebrated the Biden administration’s repeal of the Muslim and African bans. As we noted, CAIR, alongside its partners and leaders from impacted communities worked diligently against the Trump administration’s efforts to take America’s immigration system back to an ugly past.
An important aspect of this work included engaging our elected officials in meetings at their district offices, hosting them in our institutions, leading digital campaigns with our partners, and advocating for our rights directly in Washington, DC. We are thankful to every individual who showed up to a meeting, anyone who picked up their phone to call elected officials, and to all our partners for their support.
We thank all elected officials who refused to give in to the language of fear, discrimination, and exclusion and stood against the Muslim and African bans.
Many in our Pennsylvania congressional delegation supported our cause. We are recognizing everyone today and including a video message from Congresswoman Susan Wild (PA-7, representing Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties) who lent us her voice in support and worked to repeal the bans.
We realize there is a LOT more work to be done and we look forward to working with all our elected officials to educate them on these issues and advance those causes.
This work includes, but is not limited to, getting the US to take a tougher stance on the ongoing genocide in Myanmar related to the Rohingya, the plight of the Uyghurs in China, the many overlooked atrocities in Africa, and advancing our fundamental right to protest human rights violations worldwide — including via the BDS movement to highlight the plight of the Palestinians.
Review our 2020 Civic Engagement work and sign up today to be involved in civic engagement in 2021!
