We are all arbitrarily granted certain privileges and disadvantages based on the circumstances we are born into. This past week at Advancing Justice, I learned exactly how impactful one of the privileges I have, but don’t often think about, can be: my ability to read and write English. Being the first in my family to be born in the United States, I have always been aware how useful this skill that I really didn’t have to work for is - the ability to quickly navigate paperwork, shoot out emails and even read the news, makes life infinitely easier. But at Advancing Justice this week, I learned the impact my privilege can have in far more dire circumstances.
On Wednesday, my supervisor Benjamin Tran and I spoke with Rachel from the Center for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF) and she told us about their programs, as well as the challenges they are facing as a result of the pandemic and other recent events. She told us that CPAF provides victims of domestic and sexual abuse who have limited English-speaking skills shelters and other services they need to navigate whatever situation they are in. They provide victimized individuals with the ability to become a residential client, living in their shelters, or a nonresidential client who still participates in their programming. In addition to housing, CPAF provides their clients with an advocate to assist with divorce cases, restraining orders, and custody work among other legal issues. And further, in order to help their clients emotionally cope with the difficulties they face, CPAF offers their clients counseling services as well.
As Rachel told us about the many services they provide for victims of domestic and sexual abuse, I couldn’t help but find it upsetting to realize how these victims’ problems compound on their other problems to create even more problems. The domestic and sexual abuse they face can make it difficult for them to obtain permanent housing due to eviction and credit histories. Furthermore, they face significant difficulties obtaining information from landlords, as well as any other requisite paperwork that they may need to go on with their lives. Rachel further told us that it is often the case that many of their monolingual clients are immigrants that have citizenship/immigration concerns that make them less willing to ask for help because they would rather not involve certain authorities out of fear. And all these problems are only exacerbated by a distinct lack of access to convenient translation services that would go a long way in making these tough situations easier to navigate.
Rachel also told us how the lack of similar programs specifically providing services to monolingual Asian immigrants means they often get calls from potential clients outside their targeted focus area of LA County. While they make efforts to refer these clients to other programs, she told us how difficult it is without the necessary language-support services. This need for in-language access and greater translation services was a theme that Benjamin and I saw across all of our meetings with other nonprofits. Other folks we met echoed these concerns, talking about how translation services for many Asian languages are less likely to receive institutional funding and support despite the evident need for it. Ultimately, these meetings only reinforced for me the need for greater Asian American representation in the halls of power that determine the kinds of programs that receive funding. As our CAUSE programming comes to a close, I find myself more determined than ever to be the kind of advocate that fights for these resources for our community.
Sitting in gratitude