South Asians for Black Lives Matter

It surrounds you everywhere and you cannot leave the house without fear of getting affected by it. You teach your child every day the precautions they need to take before stepping out. You wear a mask to work. For some of us this is temporary and related to a virus but for the Black community this has been a challenge for centuries. Racial injustice is all around us and the Black community in particular has been disproportionately impacted. Many of us are looking to show up as allies to the black community. We at Aram Sei aspire to help you on your journey as being allies is critical to long term reform and change.We are seeking to address allyship to the Black Community via:

• Education
• Community Contributions

We have had multiple conversations within our volunteer and partner community and each time came away realizing that the South Asian community in particular is looking for answers around ‘What can we do?’. We have heard questions and comments that range from ‘This happens to us as People of Color’ to ‘‘I am an immigrant too, how can I influence change?’. These conversations also proved to be a safe space for us to learn from each other and ask questions that are harder to ask in a broader setting. Through our research into allyship we realized we needed resources geared towards the South Asian community. We are looking to help recognize our privilege where relevant and also have an actionable plan for what we can do if we aspire to be allies to the Black Community.To address this we are hosting a series of Webinars on Black Lives Matter(BLM) specifically geared to the South Asian Community. The sessions will take you on a journey back in history to hearing from the community today to a final call to action for the future on what you can do. 

• Session #1 : South Asian and Black History and Connections led by Anirvan Chatterjee, July 18th, 6PM 
• Session #2 : Panel with Community Members on intersection of Black and South Asian Community moderated by Anu Natarajan, July 25th, 6PM 
• Session #3: Call to action led by Anu Natarajan and MR Rangaswami, August 1st, 6PM 

In addition, we believe no change is possible without educating our young community. We will also be running sessions for our youth. 

• Kids Session (Ages 7-12): An interactive session for children to learn more about Black History and contributions, July 18th 4PM
• Youth Session (Ages 13 and above): A hands on experience for youth to share and engage in a path forward, July 25th 4PM