Open Letter to the American People from Burma/Myanmar Human Rights/Activist Groups
Editor’s note: This open letter was originally published on Facebook and is reprinted here with the permission of the authors.
Open Letter to the American People from Burma/Myanmar Human Rights/Activist Groups
#BlackLivesMatter #EndRacism #SayNoToRacism
Date 2nd of June, 2020
We are deeply saddened to witness the current devastating developments in the United States. We are inspired to see the American people rising up against racism and discrimination. People of America waited not a day to express zero tolerance on racism and police brutality.
We, people of Burma/Myanmar have experienced a long history of cultural and structural violence and were projected to develop hatred towards people of different colours, religions and minority ethnicities. Since long time ago, American people have supported our fight for freedom, democracy and human rights and stood up in solidarity for our struggles towards federal democratic nation.
Now, We, Burma/Myanmar organizations stand in solidarity with American people protesting against racism and police brutality.
We note that structural and systematic racism and social injustices are rooted both in our societies for centuries now and they won’t go away easily. We need structural changes in both of our societies with the power of people. Racism and the injustices must end immediately.
We ask the US Government to respect freedom of expression of each individual.
We deeply urge the US President to stop spreading racist comments and start acting to resolve structural problems.
We strongly demand law enforcement authorities to show solidarity with American People and stop arresting peaceful protestors brutally.
We appreciate the support of American people throughout our times of hardship during our democratic transition. Now, we hope you recover from this socio-economic crisis amid a Covid-19 pandemic as soon as possible. We hope US Government will sustain and respect the values and principles of democracy and human rights.
We, young activists and human rights organizations will keep supporting the civil rights movement of multiracial people in America while committing that we will also fight to root out racism from our dear land.
Human Rights and Activist Organizations and Individuals
1. Action Committee for Democracy Development (ACDD)
2. Athan- Freedom of Expression Activist Organization
3. Citizen’s Action for Transparency
4. Generation Wave
5. Genuine People’s Servants (GPS)
6. Land in Our Hands (ဒို့မြေကွန်ရက်)
7. Myanmar Cultural Research Society (MCRS)
8. Myanmar Free Press
9. Myanmar Peace Bikers
10. Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica
11. Oway Education and Youth Institute
12. Pace on Peaceful Pluralism
13. Synergy Social Harmony Organization
14. Taang Women Organization (TWO)
15. Yangon Youth Network (YYN)
16. Food Not Bombs (Myanmar)
17. The seagull: human rights peace & development
18. Kachin National Youth Network
Individuals
1. Myat Thet Thitsar (Researcher)
2. Min Maung (Democracy and Human Rights Activist)
3. Zin Linn (Artist)
Media Contact:
Thet Swe Win [kothetsince1986@gmail.com]
Thinzar Shunlei Yi [thinzarshunleiyi@protonmail.com)
Banner image: “We stand in solidarity with the Americans’ ‘Black Lives Matter’” courtesy of Saw A Tun.