Sri Lankan Americans Unite
Sri Lanka, the little teardrop-shaped island where my parents came from, is facing an unprecedented economic crisis.
The Sri Lankan rupee has plummeted in value and inflation is skyrocketing. Prices of daily essentials have skyrocketed, and lack of fuel, food and medicine is causing many households to fight each other to stay. Periodic power failure is bringing the country into darkness for several hours every day, and two of our elders are dead while waiting in the sweltering heat in miles for gas.
Niranda Perera, 32 years old, PhD, Indiana University. A student from Nugegoda, a suburb of Colombo, told me he feels fortunate that his middle-income family has avoided the worst effects of the crisis. The crisis has lasted for many years but has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Even his family struggled to find necessities.
“You can have money but then if there’s nothing to buy in the store, what can you do?” he say.
His wife, Dilhara Gunaratna, said her friends could not find formula or formula for their babies and had to give them warm water instead. And as power cuts converge with the hottest season of the year, her friends are laying their children on the tiled floor, hoping to keep them from overheating.
The poor and ethnic and religious minorities, she added, have reduced access to resources due to systemic barriers.
“I wonder how many children are starving,” she said.
My aunt has told our family about how they’re dumping precious food out of the fridge during power cuts, waiting in long lines for fuel, and battling the heat. Many students, including my cousin, who are on difficult college entrance exams, are studying by candlelight.
The situation sparked nationwide protests demanding systemic change and resignation of the president of Sri Lanka. There have been more than 100 protests from the south coast of the country to the Tamil-speaking north since last week, Reuters reported.
My name is Christine Fernandoand I’m a breaking news reporter at USA TODAY. I want to welcome you to this week’s This Is America, a newsletter about race, identity, and how they shape our lives.
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A familiar fear and hopelessness
As I read news stories from Sri Lanka this week, I feel a familiar mix of fear and helplessness. It was the same fear and helplessness I felt as a child, hearing my parents’ silent voices as they talked about decades of civil war devastated the country. I also felt scared and helpless when my kindergarten teacher ran up to me and asked me about my family after The 2004 tsunami. I felt the same fear and helplessness as I sat on the floor of my partner’s apartment, clutching the phone and waiting for my dad to call me with the news that our family members were still alive. after the incident Bombing Easter 2019.
“We feel like we are powerless,” my mother told me this week.
But on Sunday, I saw my parents and many Sri Lankan Americans in my community in Indiana doing something I had never seen them do before: exercise their right to protest.
Perera, who led the rally, said he was expecting only a handful of people. But then he sent an email on the morning of the protest, and it was forwarded from one Sri Lankan American to another until more than 50 people had regrouped.
“We wanted to unite with the people back home and say, ‘You’re not alone,’” Perera said.
I have long watched my parents help from behind the scenes amid the tragedies in Sri Lanka, tapping into the community’s mutual aid networks to collect money and supplies to send home. House. But while a culture of protest has long existed and is good in Sri Lankan communities, I have never seen my community move forward so openly.
Perera told me that generational trauma from the government’s efforts to quell protests over the past decades has made it difficult for our older generations to step out of their comfort zones and exercise. publicly displayed. I see that especially in my mother, who had been trained to keep her head down and was horrified to find herself raising a loud, obstinate daughter. Seeing pictures of my mother holding signs saying “Pray for Sri Lanka” and “Stand up: Sri Lanka is more desirable” brought tears to my eyes.
My mother, Renuka Fernando, told me her favorite moment was seeing the diversity of the crowd at the protest.
“We have people from all communities of Sri Lanka: Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Tamil, you name it,” she said. “Even the younger generation comes from all over Indiana. … It was like seeing our family in a crisis. “
Gunaratna, a former lawyer in Sri Lanka and now a lawyer in Indianapolis, said she was disappointed with the way the Sri Lankan government responded to the protests in her home country.
Law enforcement agencies arrested protesters, enforced a curfew, stationed soldiers armed with rifles, and used tear gas and water cannons. President declared a state of emergency last week after tens of thousands of protesters gathered near his home.
Meanwhile, Gunaratna said politicians were isolated from the struggles of the rest of the country and not held accountable for their part in the crisis.
An impetus for systemic change
Gunaratna and Perera both said they would like to see systemic change, including reducing corruption and letting power no longer be consolidated in the hands of a few politicians.
“People back home are struggling, and we see that there is a grassroots movement among people across races, religions and classes,” Perera said. “People are seeing that there has to be a whole system overhaul.”
Perera also said he hoped the protests organized by foreigners would gain international attention, despite limited media coverage. He said that international pressure can go a long way.
“We’re not asking anyone to save us,” he said. “…But citizens of the United States and other countries have the right to ask that the government (Sri Lanka) listen to its people and help make sure their voices are heard.”
When I looked at the pictures of the protests sent in by my uncles and aunts, I realized that I had never seen a Sri Lankan flag waving next to Indianapolis’s iconic Circle of Monuments.
“We wish we could make that flag fly on a happy occasion,” my mother said. “But even in a sad moment, it gave us more relief.”
I fear for the future of my country. I’m tired of watching my people suffer from afar. I’m not sure what will happen and know there’s no easy fix, but I’m proud of my people. While I worry about things beyond their control, I know Sri Lankans are strong and resilient.
I want them to know that our hearts are broken too, and that we see their despair, anger, and strength as we unite with our homeland.
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Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.
Contribution: Associated Press
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