nwasianweekly.com
Feb. 24, 2007

Photo provided by Refugee Women's Alliance

Someireh Amirfaiz, the founder of Refugee and Immigrant Legislative Day, speaks to participants at the Feb. 20 rally in Olympia.

In Olympia, the birth of civic engagement

Inspiration can come from anywhere. In the case of Tuesday’s first-ever Refugee and Immigrant Legislative Day, inspiration came directly from the Asian community.

Three years ago, Someireh Amirfaiz was participating in a well-attended Asian Pacific American Legislative Day in Olympia when it dawned on her. The refugees and immigrants of Washington needed to make their presence known to lawmakers. To ensure adequate funding of the services these populations need most, like ESL and citizenship classes, they needed to speak up.
So Amirfaiz, the executive director of the Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) in South Seattle, set out to achieve her goal. But she soon learned how difficult it would be.

Capitol schedulers initially denied her a Legislative Day due to timing and security issues. Then she couldn’t find a date. Finally, to make it onto this year’s agenda, she had to call up union organizers who had already scheduled a Legislative Day on Feb. 20 to see if they would be willing to share time. They agreed, and Refugee and Immigrant Legislative Day was on. But getting participants to come was another matter.

Some refugees and immigrants said they didn’t want to go because they feared taking part in a public demonstration. They were scared it would jeopardize their opportunities in America. In many countries, people are persecuted for criticizing the government. Amirfaiz had to spend a lot of time alleviating fears.
For all her efforts, Amirfaiz was able to get 800 people to the state Capitol to advocate on behalf of refugees and immigrants. In terms of civic engagement, this was a great starting point for refugee and immigrant communities.

Even though Gov. Christine Gregoire didn’t appear at this Legislative Day, the event was still a success. The fact that refugees and immigrants were able to get on the schedule was an achievement. Not everyone is granted the privilege. In addition, the governor was made aware of their presence on the Capitol grounds. Legislators also knew they were there because the event was on the day’s agenda and a few of them, notably Sen. Steve Hobbs and Rep. Eric Pettigrew and made time to speak to the visitors.

All this from an idea sparked by APA Legislative Day. For years, organizers of the immigrant and refugee day have paid close attention to how the Asian community put on its own Legislative Day. They made note of what worked, even asking Asian community leaders to help them draw up position papers. It was as if the Asian community was mentoring the immigrant and refugee groups all these years, preparing them for their own “coming-out party” in Olympia this week. And what a great party it was.

In addition to the millions of dollars it has secured in the state budgets over the years, APA Legislative Day can also count among its successes this: the birth of Refugee and Immigrant Legislative Day. Like mentors, organizers of APA Legislative Day have passed down their knowledge to empower others. That is a great gift not only to immigrants and refugees, but also to the future of this state.

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