SAALT celebrates event marking 10th anniversary
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 23 December 2010, 14:02 IST
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New York: South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) celebrated its tenth anniversary in a remarkable event which was attended by was attended by hundreds of members, volunteers, supporters and community leaders from the New York Tri-State region, reports Ajay Gosh of India Tribune. Deepa Iyer, Executive Director of summed up the 10th anniversary celebrations in New York City by observing that "Over the past decade, South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), has been a catalyst, organizer, and representative for South Asians with Congress, the White House and government agencies". "SAALT advocates at the national level on issues such as immigration and civil rights. We believe that policy change at the national level can only occur when organizations work closely together around shared principles and issues," said Deepa Iyer. The key note speech was given by Amardeep Singh, director of programs of the Sikh Coalition, and commissioner of President Obama's AAPI (Asian American Pacific Icelanders) Commission. "The Muslim American community particularly in New York, suffered in ways that were unbelievable, after 9/11. Nobody talks about the fact that there were over 1,200 people, who were detained without charge, without trial, without access to an attorney" That story hasn't been told. So what SAALT is doing for us, is helping us do that research so that those stories, in the lead up to the tenth 9/11 anniversary, can be told and hopefully they are part of the national dialogue." said Amardeep. "The work (SAALT is) doing is critically important. Because the strength of America is its diversity. The strength of America is (that it is) a country that should be based on going forward not living in fear." said Farooq Kathwari, CEO of Ethan Allen, and commissioner of Obama's AAPI Commission.

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