SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — The Karen community of Syracuse will hold a march this Saturday to bring awareness to the violence their people have been experiencing at the hands of the Burmese military for decades.
The Karen are an ethnic minority group in Myanmar. The Burmese army has burned homes and planted anti-personnel landmines in Karen civilian areas, forcing many to flee to refugee camps on the Thailand-Myanmar border. The Karen are restricted from leaving the camps while applying for resettlement. As a result, they are unable to earn a living or higher education.
Shawnai Ku lived in a Thailand refugee camp until she immigrated to the United States at 6 years old. She remembers the process her family went through to start a new life.
“We would practice how to get on a plane because we didn’t know what planes are. We never rode in a car,” Ku said. “So they had to explain to us the process, and they told us to bag what we needed because we had no luggage. We came here in a bag.”
Now a senior at Corcoran High School, Shawnai Ku realized many people in Syracuse know nothing about her people. She joined other members of her community to organize the march for people to learn about the Karen people and their unspoken history in Myanmar.
“The reason why we chose them is to let others know it’s real,” said Shally Da, a Karen refugee and organizer of the event. “It’s really important for these speakers to just get the chance to tell them what happened in their lives, what made a huge impact on them because of the Burmese people.”
The Syracuse march is working together with the Karen people in Tennessee and Minnesota. Their communities will also be holding marches on the same day in support of the independence of Kawthoolei, the proposed state of the Karen.
Emmy Naw, another organizer of the event, believes Americans have a certain view of immigrants without understanding their past. She hopes the city of Syracuse will learn more about her community by participating in the upcoming march.
“Nobody knows about the Karen people, so raising awareness means a lot to us right now,” Naw said. “We are proud to be going through with the march.”
The community plans on holding a march annually if this year proves successful. They want to continue sharing stories about the Karen so future refugees will have a smoother transition into the larger Syracuse community.
