#FreeAuntieLynn We came out today to strongly oppose and condemn the detention of elder Auntie Lynn by ICE in Tacoma. We know that this detention is part of a mass detention strategy - continued and exaggerated by the current administration - that continues to terrorize and criminalize our communities. Auntie Lynn was on her way home from visiting family abroad when she was detained, and has been kept at Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma since February. She is 64 years old, and has been a resident of the US since she was 14 - this is shameful. Private corporations making money off of holding our elders and community members in cages is inhuman and violates what should be the basic human right of migration and freedom. Geo Group has the potential to make roughly, grossly $20 million dollars a year off of keeping people in cages at Northwest ICE processing center. Threats from ICE, especially detention, destabilize our communities, when we know our communities thrive on community. From Alma Bowman in Atlanta to Teacher Visas in Hawaii, we see the pattern of Philippine community under attack and we uplift the voices of the Phillipine movement across this nation. We also see people like Auntie Lynn and people like "One" (Sereyvath) here in Philly who are now essentially being charged again - or in better perspective, forever - for instances that happened decades ago and for which they have already completed the government-distributed consequences and yet still cannot have freedom. Cases like Bay, a man from Mongolia who is deaf, who has been held in detention for over 80 days without access to a Mongolian Sign Language interpreter, or my community member in Louisiana who has been held in detention for 10 months without seeing a judge - prove this system isn't actually about defense or justice, as it claims. But is only about unfair, inhuman control over our communities for corporate profit. Our communities are people, our families are people, and we deserve to all live in peace without constant threat of imprisonment and separation from families. We condemn the attack on Auntie Lynn and join the call for her release. (fb)

Fighting for Chinatown brings our communities closer together! Today @governorshapiro visited Philly's Chinatown to hear from local leaders, small businesses, and AAPI families that make our state great 🌸 Grateful to lift up our collective needs and community goals alongside @apipennsylvania @chinatownpcdc @asiacrafts @vivibubble_philly and PA United Chinese Coalition (fb)