Please write 4 sentences to each student’s post.
1. Nowadays a lot of migrants are coming especially from Russia and Ukraine. Because there is a war, a lot of people decided to take their families to a safer place to live. Why do we need to help those families, is it because living somewhere where the war taking a lot of lives could be stressful and we need to help those people to recover their mental health? By trying to look from Yuri Kochiyama’s eyes I think she would fight for their rights and as she said ” We have to speak up for our rights”(00:25) from AAPI Civil Rights Heroes – Yuri Kochiyama. We need to help them to speak up for their rights as immigrants from the country where the war is going around.
A lot of people would think about how should they help those families. Yuri Kochiyama has a good frame from the video that we saw, Metting Malcolm X – Yuri Kochiyama “No matter what I’m going to at least try”(1:27). We need to show that people, doesn’t matter how hard it is going to get don’t stop fighting and keep looking for more opportunities.
Also helping families to be reunited would be a better opportunity for them to feel stronger and have a supporting hand next to them. “Let’s get every child reunified with family,'” as it said in the video Nearly 600 Migrant Children Who Were Housed at Long Beach Shelter Reunited With Family, Sponsors. Children need to be with their complete family for a good and healthy environment. I am pretty sure that Yuri Kochiyama would fight for this too and would like to reunite families together.
2. Hello everyone. My name is Yuri Kochiyama and I have time traveled to be here in the year 2022 with all of you. I have done so to see what has happened to migrant families. If you don’t know much about me and my past work, there should be an article or two, maybe even a video, to show you a little about my doings. There is a video, the Asian American and Pacific Islander Civil Rights Heroes video, that said I was a “Japanese American Grassroots activist who has dedicated her life to pan-ethnic social justice and human rights movement” (00:10). As you can see, I am very passionate about human rights and families. Some of you may know the people that I have worked with. One of those people includes Malcolm X. The first time I met him, I reached out to shake his hand and thanked him for giving people direction and according to the Meeting Malcolm X video that I told this story in, “He really changed his attitude and he came out of the circle of people around him and put out his hand” after I said that (3:00). My reason for being so passionate about human rights and social justice is because of my past. As stated in The Slatest article, “life that included several years in a Japanese internment camp.” I think it is especially important that we advocate for issues that don’t affect us right away and for people that do not look like us because that is how change will occur. Seeing the separation of migrant families in this year is truly heartbreaking. But as time progresses, so does technology, so does resources, so does our ability to help others. Reading about the 600 children who have been reunited with their families makes me joyful and proud. As stated in the ABC News article, “the migrant children are being temporarily sheltered as part of the federal government’s national humanitarian effort to support unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the southern borders.” It is places like the Long Beach Convention Center that take in these migrant children and provide them with necessities is the type of change that I was referring to when saying that it is important for us to advocate for issues. A bigger crowd of advocates will do so much in aiding than those who self-advocate. Advocacy means to take action. It is a way of allowing other’s voices to be heard. It gives them a chance to share their views and hopes to be considered and have something be done about it. If we plead on behalf of others and join them in their fight, we will have an influence no matter the size. Reminding people that they are not alone and that we have their back is the best form of help. The deaths of those children in detention centers at the US border is further proof why change needs to happen and it needs to happen by advocating. I believe that these horrible situations wouldn’t occur, or would occur way less if we all decided at once to help put an end to the deaths and the separations.
