Grab Bag of Updates: April Edition
What are you doing April 24 (and June 13)?
OIA is back at the Columbus Arts Festival on June 13 after last year’s highly-acclaimed “Pulaagam: A Celebration of Fulani Heritage.” This year, we’re bringing Mauritanian-American pop star Salif Sarr to the stage for an incredible performance, alongside artist Shema Asifiwe and OIA’s Advocacy Director, Demba Ndiath.
For those of you who came to the Family Reunion last year, you already met Salif. And you already know this is going to be an incredible concert! Here’s the info you need:
On April 24 we’re hosting a Zoom chat and concert preview with Salif, Demba, and Shema, so you can learn more about the event and ask questions. It starts at 3:30pm and is geared toward the media, other content-creators, friends, and OIA family! Read more and get the link here.
June 13 at 3pm we will be at the Columbus Arts Festival, center stage. ARRIVE EARLY. There’s so much to experience at the festival, and sometimes it’s slow to move around. You don’t want to miss even a minute of our show. Read this guest blog by Charlie Stewart in the Columbus Free Press.
The coolest people will be wearing Salif Sarr t-shirts. Get yours now! Watch our unboxing video and purchase shirts in every style and color. The OIA team will be wearing ours at the concert, and you should too!
How About the Week of May 23-30?
Local leaders are calling for a week of prayer vigils and other actions to demand an end to ICE jail across the state. Join one of the events already in motion (in Seneca, Geauga, Mahoning, and Butler Counties) or host your own. They can take place anywhere, outside immigration jails or in other public spaces, on any day that week. Read more and submit your event here.
Coloring Outside the Lines
At the Arts Festival we will share OIA’s forthcoming coloring book, “Ohio Is My Second Country.” Drawn by Cincinnati high school artist Shema Asifiwe, the book contains 19 drawings representing Ohio immigrants’ first homes in 16 countries. It also teaches words in their family languages. The final illustration shows Shema and his friends hanging out at Riverfront Park. Publication is expected late spring/early summer. Read more and download a free coloring page here.
For the Tattoo Person in Your Life
Have you heard about our #BraveOfUs Tattoo Contest? Tattoo artists and apprentices from around the country are invited to imagine what immigrant solidarity looks like, in tattoo form. The winners will receive cash prizes, and the top designs will be made available for permanent and temporary tattoos. Read about it in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Details are spelled out here; June 30 is the deadline.
What Else Have We Been Up To?
Our Organizing Director, Maryam Sy, is leading a virtual “Build The Nest” training with Welcome Toledo-Lucas County and Toledo Lucas County Public Library on April 21. Learn more and sign up here.
OIA submitted a comment to a proposed federal rule that would decimate the appeals process for immigrants at the Board of Immigration Appeals. Read it here.
We joined hundreds of human rights groups speaking out against U.S. intervention in Iran. Read more here.
We joined the ACLU of Ohio in the release of their new report about 287(g) agreements, “ICE in Ohio.” Read and watch here.
OIA was featured in a News 5 investigative report about a possible ICE expansion in northeast Ohio. Our report on the first year of the Ohio Immigrant Hotline was covered by numerous outlets, including Spectrum News in Cleveland and Columbus, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Today in Ohio podcast.
OIA celebrates and thanks the many creative people, artists, makers, performers, and restaurants who have come up with inventive ways to raise money to support our work. Read more in our running blog.
Want to help, but don’t know how? Sponsor a day, week, or month of operations at the Ohio Immigrant Hotline, or donate to our Detained Immigrants Commissary Fund.
Thank you everyone! We are so grateful for all of your help and support.
