Black Lives Matter: Connecting with the Karen Community
Ehler Win, former co-chair of the FIUTS CulturalFest Performance Showcase Committee and 2020 alumna of UW, partnered with a childhood friend to translate the “Dear Mom and Dad” letter into the Karen language in support of Black Lives Matter. Continue on to read about Ehler's work to build bridges between the international Karen community and Black Lives Matter....
Ehler visiting a Karen Village in Northern Thailand.
My name is Ehler and I am a recent graduate from University of Washington with a degree in Global Health and a minor in International studies. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with FIUTS for the past two years through the SUSI program and my role as a co-chair for the CulturalFest Performance Showcase Committee. I can confidently say that my experience with FIUTS is easily one of the highlights from my undergraduate years. Through FIUTS, I was able to participate in cool community events, grow my leadership skills, and build friendships with people whom I least expect to be friends with. Recently with the much-needed reigniting of the Black Lives Matter movement, I’ve been reflecting on the roles I play as a student and community member, and the multicultural spaces that I have the privilege to frequent and benefit from.
In all honesty, race and racism is still a very new and uncomfortable topic for me to bring up in my household and community as whole. Being from a community that is predominantly with refugee and immigrant backgrounds, I know that my family and community members escaped persecution in their homeland to seek safety and refuge in foreign countries (U.S, Australia, Canada, et cetera). The last thing they want to talk about are race and politics; which often brings up trauma of them being forced to flee their villages and persecuted by the military government that wanted to Burmanize everyone and ultimately have every ethnic minority group be under their military rule/hegemony.
“Karen” performing at FIUTS CulturalFest Performance Showcase in February 2020. Their performance had a dual purpose: to invite the audience to come together to celebrate the New Year, and to encourage the ethnic people of Burma to keep unity and preserve cultural traditions.
Now that a lot of ethnic refugees have been able to resettle to the U.S, I think it’s important that we try and be more than the average good hearted and hard working citizens. It’s important that we recognize our positionality and learn how this country was built. As immigrants and non-Black persons of color, we do enjoy certain levels of freedom that our Black community does not, and often perpetuate racism toward the Black community even if we don’t like to admit it.
Recently a childhood friend and I translated the “Dear Mom and Dad” letter into the Karen language with the hopes of helping our community understand the protests and why things are unfolding the way they are. Personally, I was really nervous about putting the translation out in public because I feared that not everyone in the community is on the same page; however I truly believe that it’s important that we do our part and use whatever privilege we have for this cause. I’ve also been really encouraged by other young Karen leaders who are putting themselves out there to educate their peers and constantly looking for ways to advocate for this movement.
(1) “Mom, Dad, Uncle, Auntie, Grandfather, Grandmother: we need to talk”
(2) “You may not have many Black friends, colleagues, or acquaintances, but I do. Black people are a fundamental part of my life: they are my friends, my neighbors, my family. Today, I’m scared for them.”
(3) “You might be thinking, we are also a minority. We’ve managed to come to America with nothing and build good lives for ourselves, despite discrimination, so why can’t they?”
(4) “I want to share with you how I see things. I am telling you this out of love, because I want all of us, including myself, to do better.”
(5) “I am proud and eternally grateful for the struggles you have endured in a country that has not always been kind to you. We have been blamed for bringing poverty, disease, terrorism, and crime. You’ve suffered through a prejudiced America, so that I may have a better life.”
(6) “All this together, and we cannot feel safe until our Black friends, loved ones, and neighbors are safe. The world that we seek is a place where we can all live without fear. This is the future that I want- and I hope you want it, too.”
(7) “With love and hope, your children.”
In the end I believe that we should stand up for people simply because it’s the right thing to do. This is not a White vs. Black issue, but a movement against racism as a whole. Racism is practiced everywhere; both on a macro and micro level and every possible level in between. I see it here in the States, back home in Burma and everywhere else in the world. And as refugee/immigrant communities of color who know first hand what it feels like to be discriminated against, I think that gives us all the more reasons why we should not be okay with what’s happening to our Black brothers and sisters and stand alongside them as they fight racism.
And lastly, I want to end by publicly saying that I will not tolerate racism anywhere, donate where I can, and vote accordingly. I also want to encourage other young people in my community to not be afraid to talk to our parents and grandparents about racism and the Black Lives Matter movement. I initiated the conversation with my parents with a preconceived notion that they might completely reject what I had to say. However, it turned out to be the opposite. They were curious and sympathized with what’s happening. With this, I want to remind us to show grace to your elders when you are explaining information because they, too, have had a share of persecution that we will never understand. Recently, former president Obama reminded us that the “call-out” culture is not activism. Instead, let's be people who act upon what we preach and use our privilege and resources where it will do the most good.
Ehler (third from right) standing with FIUTS friends at the Quad at the University of Washington.
Guest posts on the FIUTS blog represent the experiences and views of individual writers. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FIUTS or any organizations or institutions affiliated with our programs.
Read other posts in our Black Lives Matter series
