SACRED Democracy Launch Event

On Tuesday, March 5, 2024, the South Asian American Coalition to Renew Democracy (SACRED) brought together over 50 supporters spanning across ages, faiths, and walks of life to commit to the preservation and advancement of democracy, equality, nonviolence, and collective liberation.

SACRED announced that 15 candidates in the 2023 Chicago municipal elections had committed to rejecting donations from anti-democratic and discriminatory organizations within the South Asian community. Of these candidates, 12 were elected to the Chicago City Council.

The event featured impactful speakers, who discussed why it is critical to act now and sign the 2023 pledge.

Pushkar Sharma, director of SACRED, spoke about the shocking rise of Hindu supremacy in Illinois politics, and the pressing need to organize multiracial, multifaith, anti-caste coalitions to combat the rise of hate.

Extremist organizations are on the rise, but many of them fly under the radar, Denali Dasgupta, SACRED Board Member and 2023 pledge signatory, said.

“It garbs itself in religion, it garbs itself in culture,” Dasgupta said. “A lot of people don’t know South Asian cultures very well. A lot of those organizations — what they are presenting as part of our broader South Asian culture — it promises supremacist ideology.”

Maaria Mozaffar, a civil rights attorney, called the infiltration of hate into Illinois communities “disturbing.”

Chicago Votes CEO Stevie Valles talked about the crucial need to revive the historic alliance between Black Civil Rights icons in the United States and nonviolent, anti-imperial leaders in colonial South Asia.

“Hopefully, together, we spark the new generation of this movement for the future,” Valles said.

Kalman Resnick of HSPRD Legal talked about the importance of standing up to extremist ideologies as a community united to defeat hate, urging everyone to remember that “all our struggles are connected.”