TODAY: #StandWithMuslims Day Of Action

The Supreme Court has chosen the wrong side of history. Join community groups to Stand With Muslims tonight in downtown San Diego.

When: Today, 7PM today, Tue Jun 26
Where: Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building
Address: 880 Front St San Diego, CA 92101

Leaders of the Syrian Community Call on San Diegans to Demand an end to War in Syria

The Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans - PANA works to promote the fair treatment and equitable inclusion of refugee communities and to develop refugee leaders. The Syrian Family Council is strengthening the spirit of unity, solidarity, self-expression among Muslims and the larger community by providing community psychosocial and ethical support. The Palestinian Youth Movement San Diego works to build grassroots community-based organizing, addressing the needs of Arab communities, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), builds coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding with the broader community.

“We speak today with heavy hearts and a commitment to help raise awareness here in the United States of the humanitarian crisis in Syria, where the government has conducted an 9-day military campaign targeting the civilian population, which has already killed more than 500 people and injured thousands in Ghouta alone.”

Banah Ghadban, member of the Syrian Family Council

“We demand our elected officials to end imperialist intervention and focus their efforts on internal support and resources for the displaced refugees scattered throughout the US.”

Hatem Mohtaseb, Director of the local Palestinian Youth Movement.

"San Diego's refugee community is understandably profoundly traumatized, knowing that the civilians being targeted include family members, colleagues, friends and neighbors. It is shameful that despite the uptick in violence causing increased suffering to the Syrian people the U.S. government has chosen a policy that rejects the principles of diversity and inclusion that this country was founded on. The San Diego Union Tribune reported last week that because of President Trump's various refugee bans, the number of refugees resettling in San Diego County tumbled by 96% compared to last year, resettling only 40 refugees so far in fiscal year 2018.”

Ammar Kowkab, a Syrian refugee and community organizer at PANA.

“Our world has seen too many instances of innocent civilians being targeted by government forces to achieve political goals. International law calls for protections for unarmed civilians and forbids the targeted kind of attacks, indiscriminate killings, and forced displacement taking place in today's Syria. Groups providing humanitarian aid are not allowed inside the besieged area, leaving the population in nothing short of a death spiral.”

Hanif Mohebi, Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Diego Chapter

"Families like those who are speaking out today have experienced trauma in the homeland they were forced to leave, and now from afar, as a reign of terror descends on their loved ones. We refuse to be silent in the face of these atrocities and demand action to end the violence".

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The Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA) promotes the fair treatment and equitable inclusion of refugee communities using organizing to achieve collective impact and policy change. Founded in 2014, has been a powerful voice for refugees in San Diego, including leading efforts to create a powerful refugee voter participation block, & educating and advocating against recent anti-refugee legislation in congress.

Since 2015, hundreds of San Diegans mark International Human Rights Day with a day of action: showing up for refugees locally, and everywhere.

This year, The Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans will partner with United Nations Association-San Diego Chapter, Climate Action Campaign and CAIR- San Diego, to return to the Waterfront Park in downtown San Diego on Sunday, December 10th.

Get updated with the details:

Join us in raising awareness for refugees through art, poetry, and stories. The Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA) with the support of The Mingei International Museum will be hosting an event to show the plight of refugees. The experience of being a refugee, their journey, their life, their people's history. To give a platform to the voices rarely heard, so we can better understand what it means to be a refugee. Sharing thier experience through poetry, oral stories, photography, paintings, and other creative/artistic mediums. Come join us for a special night of solidarity, and reflection. 

Join Flip the Script on November 2, 2017 to honor the bold and brave women of San Diego who are driving the progressive agenda forward and leading us toward a brighter future.

Linda Sarsour, nationally acclaimed civil rights activist and Co-Chair of the Women's March on Washington will keynote.

The awards ceremony includes a delicious lunch, catered by Kitchens for Good.

We must remember history and mobilize against any targeting of our communities.

Join us in declaring #NoMuslimBanEver on October 10 and stand in community with our Muslim, newcomer, and immigrants brothers and sisters. RSVP today.

Panelist Info

1. Moderator Tom K. Wong, associate professor of political science, UC San Diego

2. Susanne Arani, CAIR Staff Attorney (Council on American-Islamic Relations)

3. Khalid Alexander, founder and board president of Pillars of the Community San Diego

4. Pedro Rios, director, American Friends Service Committee U.S./Mexico Border Program

5. Emcee Ramla Sahid, executive director, Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans

The U.S. Supreme Court has canceled oral arguments that were set for next month on President Donald Trump's travel ban executive order. The Court removed the case from its oral argument calendar while both sides file new briefs on the impact of the new directive. PANA will hold a public conversation the evening of Wednesday, October 10, 2017, 5:30 p.m., with a legal analysis and reactions from affected community members.

The executive orders from the Trump Administration temporarily bans travel from six Muslim-majority countries (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) and suspends the refugee admissions process.

The Muslim and refugee bans are discriminatory, unconstitutional and inhumane in the same vein as the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Japanese American incarceration, and special registration after 9/11. 

We must remember history and mobilize against any targeting of our communities.

Join us in declaring #NoMuslimBanEver on October 10 and stand in community with our Muslim, newcomer, and immigrants brothers and sisters.

@PANASanDiego on Twitter will be one of many anchors to the #NoMuslimBanEver twitter town hall from 10am-11am Pacific on Thursday, September 28.

How to take part

1. Right now, log into Twitter and go follow all the other anchor Twitter accounts along with @PANASanDiego
2. On Thursday at any time between 10am-11am Pacific, log into twitter and view the newest tweets with the #NoMuslimBanEver hashtag.
3. We'll be asking and answering questions about the bans. Now you're part of the conversation! Like, retweet, comment and share your voice!

The #NoMuslimBanEver campaign is a grassroots awareness and mobilization campaign that will happen in the weeks leading up to and on October 10, 2017, when the United States Supreme Court will hear legal challenges to the executive order from the Trump Administration that temporarily bans travel from six Muslim-majority countries and suspends the refugee admissions program. The Muslim and refugee bans violate the Establishment Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution. We ask you to join us to declare #NoMuslimBanEver between September 5 and October 10.

The campaign is being organized and led by the following organizations, MPower Change, the MASA Organizing team, Asian Americans Advancing Justice –Asian Law Caucus, and Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)’s San Francisco-Bay Area chapter, in partnership with allies including refugee rights groups, Indivisible, and others. Register your event below and review our toolkit at www.nomuslimbanever.com for general information, downloadable graphics, and more.

Excited to announce our youth dinner. September 23rd at the East African Cultural Community Center.

#CommunityConversations