Reports | Tes­ti­mo­ny & Pol­i­cy Rec­om­men­da­tions | Fact­sheets & Brochures | Train­ings & Webi­na­rs | Mul­ti­me­dia Projects

Reports

SAALT’s work in the after­math of 9/11 focused on doc­u­ment­ing the lived expe­ri­ences of com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers, pro­vid­ing rec­om­men­da­tions for struc­tur­al and pol­i­cy change. In the final 10 years of the organization’s his­to­ry, the reports shift­ed to iden­ti­fy­ing the under­ly­ing caus­es of hate vio­lence aimed at South Asian, Mus­lim, Sikh, and Arab Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ties, linked to the U.S. gov­ern­men­t’s poli­cies of sur­veil­lance and the War on Ter­ror. In its final years, SAALT exam­ined the addi­tion­al dis­par­i­ties result­ing from the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic. We invite you to revis­it our reports and publications:

• Amer­i­can Back­lash (2001):
  Released with­in two weeks of Sep­tem­ber 11th, this report doc­u­ment­ed 645 inci­dents of harass­ment, phys­i­cal vio­lence, van­dal­ism and bul­ly­ing tar­get­ing South Asian, Mus­lim and Arab communities.
• From Maca­cas to Tur­ban Top­pers: The Rise in Xeno­pho­bic and Racist Rhetoric in Amer­i­can Polit­i­cal Dis­course (2010):
  SAALT doc­u­ments the rise in racist, xeno­pho­bic and Islam­o­pho­bic rhetoric with­in polit­i­cal dis­course, and how it affects polit­i­cal par­tic­i­pa­tion and civic engagement.
• SAALT Issue Briefs on Impact of Racial and Reli­gious Pro­fil­ing in South Asian Com­mu­ni­ty (March 2010): SAALT pro­duced pol­i­cy briefs that high­light the impact of racial and reli­gious pro­fil­ing on the South Asian com­mu­ni­ty in the con­texts of trav­el, immi­gra­tion and surveillance.
• Com­mu­ni­ty Resilience (2011):
  On the 10 year anniver­sary of 9/11, SAALT presents sto­ries of resis­tance and resilience of indi­vid­u­als, orga­ni­za­tions and com­mu­ni­ties with exam­ples of sol­i­dar­i­ty practice.
• In Our Own Words, Nar­ra­tives of South Asian New York­ers Affect­ed by Racial and Reli­gious Pro­fil­ing (2012):
  Along with our part­ners, Desis Ris­ing Up and Mov­ing, The Sikh Coali­tion, UNITED SIKHS, South Asian Youth Action, Coney Island Avenue Project and Coun­cil of Peo­ples Orga­ni­za­tion, SAALT released a report that doc­u­ment­ed nar­ra­tives of South Asian New York­ers who endure height­ened scruti­ny in their dai­ly lives, affect­ing their per­son­al lives and sense of iden­ti­ty, as well as basic deci­sions regard­ing liveli­hood, wor­ship, and education.
• SAALT State­ment for U.S. Com­mis­sion on Civ­il Rights (2012):
  SAALT pro­vid­ed writ­ten tes­ti­mo­ny dur­ing a meet­ing of the US Com­mis­sion on Civ­il Rights focused on AMEMSA communities.
• In the Face of Xeno­pho­bia: Lessons to Address Bul­ly­ing of South Asian Amer­i­can Youth (2013):
  In this col­lab­o­ra­tion with SAALT, Mon­isha Bajaj, Ameena Ghaf­far-Kuch­er and Kar­ish­ma Desai pro­vide exer­cis­es and les­son plans for edu­ca­tors work­ing with South Asian Amer­i­can youth.
• Under Sus­pi­cion, Under Attack: Xeno­pho­bic Polit­i­cal Rhetoric and Hate Vio­lence against South Asian, Mus­lim, Sikh, Hin­du, Mid­dle East­ern, and Arab Com­mu­ni­ties in the Unit­ed States (2014):
  SAALT’s report finds that South Asian, Mus­lim, Sikh, Hin­du, Mid­dle East­ern, and Arab com­mu­ni­ties are sub­ject to an increas­ing­ly hos­tile cli­mate in the Unit­ed States, char­ac­ter­ized by fre­quent hate vio­lence and ris­ing xeno­pho­bic polit­i­cal rhetoric in the nation­al polit­i­cal debate.
• Pow­er, Pain, Poten­tial: South Asian Amer­i­cans at the Fore­front of Growth and Hate in the 2016 Elec­tion Cycle (2017):
  SAALT pro­vides the first com­pre­hen­sive report doc­u­ment­ing hate vio­lence and xeno­pho­bic polit­i­cal rhetoric aimed at South Asian, Mus­lim, Arab, Sikh, Hin­du, and Mid­dle East­ern Amer­i­cans dur­ing the his­toric 2016 elec­tion cycle. This report exam­ines the dra­mat­ic demo­graph­ic growth of South Asians across the Unit­ed States, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the South, and reveals how this growth inter­sects with his­toric sys­tems and poli­cies of injus­tice lead­ing to a sharp rise in vio­lence dur­ing the most divi­sive Pres­i­den­tial elec­tion in mod­ern Amer­i­can history.
• Com­mu­ni­ties on Fire: Con­fronting Hate Vio­lence and Xeno­pho­bic Polit­i­cal Rhetoric (2018):
  SAALT’s report doc­u­ments hate vio­lence and xeno­pho­bic polit­i­cal rhetoric aimed at our com­mu­ni­ties from Elec­tion Day 2016 to exact­ly one year lat­er in 2017, reflect­ing lev­els of vio­lence not seen since the year imme­di­ate­ly after Sep­tem­ber 11, 2001. The report also under­lines the way inter­sec­tion­al­i­ty informs hate — both the iden­ti­ties of vic­tims tar­get­ed and the sys­tems that crim­i­nal­ize our communities.
• Unequal Con­se­quences: The Dis­parate Impact of Covid-19 Across South Asian Com­mu­ni­ties (2020): SAALT’s report looks at the impact of the ear­ly months of the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic by cen­ter­ing accounts from local South Asian Amer­i­can orga­ni­za­tions rep­re­sent­ing those most affect­ed, as well as find­ings from SAALT’s com­mu­ni­ty sur­vey that elicit­ed near­ly 400 respons­es. The report exam­ines not only COVID-19 infec­tion and fatal­i­ty rates in South Asian Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ties, but also inter­sec­tions with esca­lat­ing threats to immi­gra­tion, work­ers rights, men­tal health, hous­ing, lan­guage access, as well as hate vio­lence and domes­tic violence.

Testimony and Policy Recommendations

With the sup­port of allies, includ­ing those in the NCSO, SAALT advo­cates for pro­gres­sive pol­i­cy change on Capi­tol Hill by orga­niz­ing and col­lab­o­rat­ing on Con­gres­sion­al Brief­in­gs, writ­ten tes­ti­mo­ny, and tar­get­ed lob­by­ing to advance pol­i­cy recommendations.

• 20 Years Lat­er (9/11) Vir­tu­al Con­gres­sion­al Brief­ing: Resilience and Recog­ni­tion of Grass­roots Pow­er and Pol­i­cy (orga­nized with Jus­tice for Mus­lims Col­lec­tive, 2021)
• SAALT joint­ly authors and sub­mits let­ter of con­cern to House Judi­cia­ry Com­mit­tee re: Con­gres­sion­al hear­ing on hate crimes and white nation­al­ism (2019)
• SAALT joint­ly authors and sub­mits let­ter of con­cern to House Home­land Secu­ri­ty re: Con­gre­sion­al hear­ing on domes­tic ter­ror­ism (2019)
• The First Con­gres­sion­al Brief­ing on Caste (orga­nized by Equal­i­ty Labs, 2019)
• Con­gres­sion­al Brief­ing: Deten­tions, Hunger Strikes, Deport­ed to Death (2019)
• Con­gres­sion­al Brief­ing: 17 Years After 9/11 (Deten­tions, Depor­ta­tions, Dimin­ished Civ­il Rights) (2018)
• SAALT tes­ti­fies on impact of hate vio­lence before U.S. Com­mis­sion on Civ­il Rights pub­lic hear­ing “In the Name of Hate: Exam­in­ing the Fed­er­al Government’s Role in Respond­ing to Hate Crimes” (2018)
• Con­gres­sion­al Brief­ing on Hate Vio­lence fol­low­ing release of “Com­mu­ni­ties on Fire” (2018)
• Con­gres­sion­al Brief­ing: 16 Years After 9/11 (2017)
• Con­gres­sion­al Brief­ing as part of Nation­al South Asian Sum­mit (2017)
• Con­gres­sion­al Brief­ing on Immi­gra­tion Enforce­ment (orga­nized by SEARAC, 2016)
• Con­gres­sion­al Brief­ing as part of Nation­al South Asian Sum­mit (2015)
• SAALT sub­mits writ­ten tes­ti­mo­ny for House Judi­cia­ry Com­mit­tee hear­ing on revised DOJ guid­ance on racial pro­fil­ing (2014)
• Con­gres­sion­al Brief­ing on release of “Under Sus­pi­cion, Under Attack” (2014)
• SAALT sub­mits a State­ment of the Record for the House Judi­cia­ry Com­mit­tee on “Enhanc­ing Amer­i­can Com­pet­i­tive­ness through Skilled Immi­gra­tion” Hear­ing
  (March 2013)
• SAALT sub­mits a State­ment of the Record for the House Judi­cia­ry Committee’s Immi­gra­tion Hear­ing (Feb­ru­ary 2013)
• Com­ment by SAALT and oth­er orga­ni­za­tions on Eli­gi­bil­i­ty or Employ­ment Autho­riza­tion for Bat­tered Spous­es of Cer­tain Non-immi­­grants (Jan­u­ary 2013)
• SAALT State­ment for U.S. Com­mis­sion on Civ­il Rights (Decem­ber 2012)
• State­ment Oak Creek from South Asian Amer­i­cans Lead­ing Togeth­er (SAALT) (August 2012)
• A Nation­al Action Agen­da: Pol­i­cy Rec­om­men­da­tions to Empow­er South Asian Com­mu­ni­ties in the Unit­ed States (2008)

Factsheets and Brochures

Through these bite-size doc­u­ments, SAALT presents crit­i­cal infor­ma­tion around key issues (like cit­i­zen­ship and (im)migration, vot­ing rights and vot­er reg­is­tra­tion, jus­tice-cen­tric health and safe­ty, and region­al demo­graph­ics) more acces­si­ble for South Asian Amer­i­cans. Many of these resources are avail­able in South Asian lan­guages, thanks to sup­port from Respond Cri­sis Trans­la­tion and oth­er lan­guage jus­tice part­ners in our network.

• Know Your Rights Resources for Detained Immi­grants & Their Allies (2022)
• #WeCan­DoTh­is: In-Lan­guage COVID-19 Pub­lic Edu­ca­tion Resources (2021)
• Black Lives Mat­ter (2020)
• SAALT’s South Asian Guide to Giv­ing (2020)
• COVID-19 Resources for South Asian Amer­i­cans (2020)
• Demo­graph­ic Snap­shot of South Asians in the Unit­ed States (2019)
• Com­mu­ni­ty Guide to Advo­ca­cy for Legal Immi­gra­tion Reform (H‑1B and H‑4 Visas) (2018)
• Com­mu­ni­ty Guide on H‑4 EAD Rescis­sion (2018)
• Com­mu­ni­ty Guide on South Asian Pover­ty and Pub­lic Charge (2018)
• Fact Sheet on Pro­posed Changes to Immi­gra­tion Pol­i­cy (2017)
  • Pre­pared by Mira Scarnecchia 
  • TPS Bill Com­par­i­son Chart (2017) (pre­pared by UndocuBlack network)
• Under­stand­ing the Mus­lim Ban (2017)
• Mus­lim Ban 3.0 Fact Sheet, pre­pared by Mus­lim Advo­cates, ADC, and Penn State Law Cen­ter for Immi­grants’ Rights Clinic
• Mus­lim Ban 3.0 Fact Sheet, pre­pared by Mus­lim Advo­cates, ADC, and Penn State Law Cen­ter for Immi­grants’ Rights Clin­ic (URDU)
• Com­mu­ni­ties Against Hate Palm Card (2017)
• Know Your Rights pow­er­point pre­sen­ta­tion pre­pared by the Cap­i­tal Area Immi­grants’ Rights Coalition 
• A pock­et guide from the Coun­cil on Amer­i­can-Islam­ic Rela­tions on “Know­ing Your Rights and Respon­si­bil­i­ties as an Amer­i­can Muslim” 
• Immi­gra­tion and Cus­toms Enforce­ment (ICE) Know Your Rights pock­et cards (pre­pared by Asian Amer­i­cans Advanc­ing Jus­tice-Atlanta, Sikh Fam­i­ly Cen­ter, and Maitri) in Ben­gali, Burmese, Gujarati, Hin­di, Nepali, Pun­jabi, and Urdu languages
• Pow­er, Pain, Poten­tial: South Asian Amer­i­cans at the Fore­front of Growth and Hate in the 2016 Elec­tion Cycle (2017)
• Cur­rent Sta­tus of Immi­gra­tion Pol­i­cy (August 2016)
• A Demo­graph­ic Snap­shot of South Asians in the Unit­ed States (Decem­ber 2015):
  South Asians have grown at a rapid rate in the last ten years, grow­ing in both met­ro­pol­i­tan areas and immi­grant gate­way cen­ters. over 4.3 mil­lion South Asians live in the Unit­ed States today, and com­prise the sec­ond largest Asian eth­nic group. South Asians are becom­ing an increas­ing­ly pow­er­ful and robust seg­ment of the Amer­i­can electorate.
• Resources for DACA (Deferred Action for Child­hood Arrivals)
• A Demo­graph­ic Snap­shot of South Asians in The Unit­ed States (2015)
• Guide for South Asian undoc­u­ment­ed youth (2013): Eng­lish, Ben­gali, Hin­di, Urdu
• Are you a DREAM­er? DACA Could Improve Your Life (July 2014)
• Why DACA Isn’t Enough: Quotes from DACA­ment­ed South Asians (July 2014)
• Afford­able Care Act Fact Sheet for South Asians (Octo­ber 2013)
• In the Face of Xenophobia:Lessons to address the bul­ly­ing of South Asian Amer­i­can youth (2013)
• A Demo­graph­ic Snap­shot of South Asians in the Unit­ed States: Based Pri­mar­i­ly on Cen­sus 2010 Data (July 2012)
• Your Home, Your Fam­i­ly, Your Secu­ri­ty: A Guide for the South Asian Com­mu­ni­ty (2012): Eng­lish, Urdu, Hin­di, Pun­jabi, Bangla
• Build­ing An Amer­i­ca For All of Us: A Cam­pus Work­shop Guide (Novem­ber 2011)
• Tai­lored to stu­dent groups, this inter­ac­tive work­shop guide pro­vides dis­cus­sion points and engag­ing exer­cis­es designed to explore the impact of the decade since 9/11 on the South Asian, Arab, Mus­lim, and Sikh com­mu­ni­ties in the Unit­ed States.
  Down­load:
  • Facil­i­ta­tors Guide
  • Cheat Sheet: Con­tains plans, sta­tis­tics and policies. 
• SAALT Mont­gomery Coun­ty Resources Brochure (June 2010)
• SAALT and APAL­R­C’s guide to Mont­gomery Coun­ty’s resources on health care, unem­ploy­ment insur­ance, hous­ing, and oth­er social ser­vices — avail­able in: Eng­lish, Bangla, Urdu, and Hin­di.
• SAALT Issue Briefs on Impact of Racial and Reli­gious Pro­fil­ing in South Asian Com­mu­ni­ty (March 2010)
• SAALT has devel­oped 3 issue briefs that high­light the impact of racial and reli­gious pro­fil­ing on the South Asian com­mu­ni­ty. Read the briefs on sur­veil­lance, trav­el and immi­gra­tion.
• Resources on the Health Insur­ance Reform Debate and the South Asian Com­mu­ni­ty (Sep­tem­ber 2009)
• Dur­ing the sum­mer and fall of 2009, Con­gress and the Oba­ma Admin­is­tra­tion have been focused on reform­ing the coun­try’s health care and insur­ance sys­tems. Many South Asians liv­ing in the Unit­ed States would be affect­ed by changes in health care and health insur­ance pol­i­cy. SAALT has devel­oped two resources per­ti­nent to the nation­al dia­logue on health care reform. 
  • “What You Need to Know About the Health Insur­ance Reform” answers ques­tions about the debate; includes basic def­i­n­i­tions for ter­mi­nol­o­gy; and pro­vides ways for South Asians to get involved in the discussion. 
  • “Health Care Issues Affect­ing South Asians in the Unit­ed States” pro­vides infor­ma­tion and resources on health issues impact­ing the community. 
• What You Need to Know to Become a U.S. Cit­i­zen: A Guide for South Asians (April 2008): Eng­lish, Bangla ‚Hin­di, Gujarati
  • This guide pro­vides answers to fre­quent­ly asked ques­tions about how the nat­u­ral­iza­tion process works; obsta­cles faced by South Asian appli­cants; the con­tent of the new nat­u­ral­iza­tion exam to be imple­ment­ed in Octo­ber 2008; and infor­ma­tion to assist elder­ly immi­grants seek­ing nat­u­ral­iza­tion.
• Demo­graph­ic Char­ac­ter­is­tics of South Asians in The Unit­ed States: Empha­sis on Pover­ty, Gen­der, Lan­guage Abil­i­ty, and Immi­gra­tion Sta­tus’ (2000)

Trainings & Webinars

In vir­tu­al and in-per­son spaces, SAALT engages com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers in dia­logues on issues like com­bat­ting caste suprema­cy, dis­man­tling anti-Black racism, and empow­er­ing anti-colo­nial strug­gles. To sched­ule a small­er train­ing or webi­nar with SAALT, email us at [email protected].

• Earth Bound: A SAALT Series on Our Con­nec­tions to Lands on YouTube 
  • Heal­ing Through the Land on YouTube
  • Through and Beyond Land, Labor, Migra­tion on YouTube
• The Oth­er Half: The Hid­den Men­tal Health Impact of H‑4 Recip­i­ents on YouTube
• South Asian Amer­i­cans on the Road to Abo­li­tion on YouTube
• Elec­tion 2012 and Beyond The Impact of South Asians Vot­ers on Vimeo 
• Health Care Reform and the South Asian Com­mu­ni­ty on Vimeo

Multimedia Projects

SAALT also uses mul­ti-media tools, rang­ing from web­sites and inter­ac­tive maps to video inter­views and curat­ed blog posts, to engage var­i­ous com­mu­ni­ties and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers in a vari­ety of dialogues.

• PROCESS: 20 YEARS SINCE online at 20yearssince.com and YouTube
• This Month In Hate on Medium
• Voic­es From The Com­mu­ni­ty on Medium
• Telling Our Sto­ries, Togeth­er: COVID-19 & South Asian Amer­i­cans on YouTube
• Oak Creek 2‑Year Anniver­sary Inter­views on YouTube
• Rais­ing Our Voic­es on YouTube
• We Build Com­mu­ni­ty on YouTube
• Say It Loud: South Asian Immi­gra­tion Sto­ries on YouTube