Migration is an act of courage. Of hope. Of survival.
Some of the people I love most have left countries and continents to push the limits of who they could become, to leave behind unrest, to follow love.
Even in the best of circumstances, leaving your home and everything you know requires grit and guts. The reality today is that few people experience immigration under the best of circumstances.
Instead, thousands of people make impossible decisions every day: to leave behind loved ones, or bring young children with them on dangerous desert or sea crossings. And if they are lucky enough to arrive at their destination, their journey to build a new life is often just beginning.
In 2017 when the #muslimban went into effect. I took my anger and heartbreak and painted the piece, “Migration is an Act of Courage”. Now, it’s 2020 and the newest travel ban includes: Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and a country close to my heart, Eritrea. In those three years, human rights abuses committed against adults and children attempting to seek asylum and trying to immigrate to the U.S. have raised red flags at the UN and around the world.
We must do what we can to stand up for the most vulnerable members of our global community.
Here’s one place to start: Radici Studios is partnering with Freedom for Immigrants, a non-profit devoted to abolishing immigration detention. Freedom for Immigrants is the only nonprofit in the country monitoring the human rights abuses faced by immigrants detained by ICE. They provide a national hotline and network of volunteer detention visitors. Through these windows into the system, they gather data and stories to combat injustice at the individual level and push for systemic change.
To support them in this work, I created a limited edition version of the Migration T-shirt with black and gold ink. It comes in three different colors in all sizes (Unisex, Women’s, Kids) and will be available until March 7th.
All profits will support the work being done by Freedom For Immigrants.
Consider supporting this fundraiser by purchasing a shirt, and forwarding this email to 5-10 people who might be interested in supporting, too. If you are on social media, please help spread the word. (You can screenshot images from my feed or repost from @RadiciStudios)
And please reply and share your immigration stories if you’re willing. I’d love to hear them. These stories need to keep being told. Here’s to those in our lives who inspire us all to be more courageous every day.