Up with People Reunions, Arizona, and Racism

Five years ago I travelled with the WorldSmart Fall 2005 crew of Up with People across the US, Japan, and Europe and had the best time of my life.

This year was supposed to be my first crew reunion, hosted by the Up with People International Alumni Association. I had been looking forward to this event ever since my tour ended. I even still have my Time Capsule bag, with memories and letters from our crew (and a piece of chocolate I have to replace). The reunions are always held in Tuscon, Arizona (because it was past UWP HQ?), and while there are sometimes reunions in Europe and elsewhere, the big one is always in Arizona. It's the wone everyone goes to.

I was elected as Crew Representative. It's my job to hype up our reunion - our first one, especially - to get people to register, show up, and party. I had ideas for our reunion. I wanted to get everyone's baby photos and cast photos and put them together. I was half-considering an UWP burlesque routine. I was going to open that Time Capsule and see what was inside.

Then Arizona decides to sign in new laws that claim to be against "illegal immigration' but is really a license for thinly-veiled racism. This law allows the police to detain anyone suspected (not even proven) of being an illegal immigrant, and makes it a crime to not have your papers on you.

If you can't produce your passport, green card, or citizenship certificate on demand - and who walks around with them in their pocket every day? - the police can detain you.
If you look brown, and talk with an accent - the police can detain you.
If you happen to be wearing the wrong shoes - the police can detain you.

Getting to the US is already frustrating enough, given that most of our crew (including myself) come from outside the US and are either students or are in relatively low-paying jobs. Some of us went through great hassles just to get US visas for our tour; one of our crew members, a Russian girl, couldn't even join us in the US because her visa wasn't approved on time. And this was with tons of paperwork on UWP's side explaining the tour and providing an itinerary - the UWPIAA reunion crew isn't going to be that thorough. Yet for some reason, for those of us with the dreaded "green passports", a short holiday in the US means surrendering your bank statements and travel details of the past 10 years, just to prove that you won't hang around illegally (if Arizona police don't catch you).

My US visa expired last year and I wasn't sure if or how I was going to renew it in time for the Reunion, especially since it'd probably cost more than I could afford (they wouldn't be too impressed with my irregular freelancer/artist income). But the new Arizona laws directly target people like me - people who happen to look "foreign", people with weird accents and dark skin, people who don't have the privilege of looking like a white middle-class American.

I know what it's like to have your residency questioned, to be always on edge because you never know if or when you'll be kicked out due to a misunderstanding, to have to go through excruciating processes just to get permission to stay or travel. The new Arizona laws threaten my safety, and those of many of my crew members (some of whom are either Latino or can pass; I get mistaken as Mexican in the US). Our reunion might just be in jail.

Ironically, part of our UWP tour happened to be at Border Control at San Diego. We were right at the border of the US and Mexico. I poked my arm through a hole in the fence; a Korean friend managed to slide herself through the thinly-spaced poles meant to keep people out. I saw dolphins swim past the edge of the fence that went into the water. One of the border control people asked me where I was from, and when I replied "Malaysia", he said "...that's in the Philippines, right?"

There's been a disappointing lack of response from UWPIAA or UWP about the racist Arizona laws and how they relate to the reunions in Tuscon. The Boycott UWP Alumni Reunions group on Facebook has 12 members - twelve. There are more letters being passed around, mostly by older White Middle-Class Privileged American alum, about how we shouldn't boycott the reunion as it affects local businesses and it's still a fun event. And hey! It's Up with People! We're all about "bringing the world together", right? Our presence will make a difference, right?

How much of a difference can you make when you're cushioned in a bubble, the outside world thinks you're just an old-fashioned "happy clappy Christian cult", and the people who would actually make a hell of a difference get caught trying to get into your bubble because they look wrong?

How much of a difference are you making when you stay silent or promote the voices that maintain the status quo, instead of thinking about how your choice of location alienates a growing part of your membership - now that more and more people from developing countries are participating in Up with People?

How much of a difference are you making when you just take care of the people with privilege?

Below is a letter I send to the Reunions department of UWPIAA. Goodness knows if they'll read it; there's been some historical animosity and alienation between UWP, UWPIAA, and the 3 WorldSmart crews which tend to be dismissed as "a mistake". But if they're serious about making a difference and bringing the world together, they need to think about what their choices mean for their membership - and how it affects someone who had the best time of their life but can't enjoy it much anymore.

*************

Dear UWPIAA,

I am the current crew rep for the Worldsmart Fall 2005 crew, which has our first reunion this summer. Most of our crew members are from outside the USA, from a diverse range of cultures and races. I myself hold a Bangladesh passport and currently reside in Australia.

Recently the Arizona government passed laws that allowed police to question and harass anyone "on suspicion" of being an illegal immigrant. These can include the way they look, the way they dress, or the way they speak. If the person they apprehend is unable to provide their papers immediately, they are liable to further legal action. All for essentially looking "foreign".

These new laws (as well as simultaneous laws banning "ethnic studies" classes and people with strong accents from teaching English) are racist at their core. They allow for racial profiling, and do not consider that most people wouldn't be walking around with their citizenship certificate, passport, or Green Card (these items would likely be put away for safekeeping). It opens the doors for many people to be unfairly targeted just because they do not look like a typical White American.

It is for this reason that I am not attending the UWPIAA reunion this summer, have told my crew about this decision, and will not attend any other UWPIAA events for as long as they take place in Arizona.

It's already hard enough to obtain a US visa, especially when on a high-risk passport (such as passport from underdeveloped countries or Muslim countries - Bangladesh has the double whammy). The process is long and excruciating; you essentially have to give them your life story and lifetime accounts just so you can go to the US for a week or two! In my crew we had one person from Russia who was unable to join us on the first leg of the tour as her US visa was not approved, and another from Kenya whose passport, like mine, was often scrutinised closely. Also, most of our crew live far away from the USA and are either students or on low-middle income jobs (including a number of non-profit workers); we would not be able to afford the costs of heading to the UWPIAA Reunion.

I have read a number of letters from other UWP alum suggesting we do not boycott the UWPIAA reunions as they affect local businesses and UWP's presence will definitely spark change. These letter-writers come from a position of privilege; they are white middle-class Americans who would never be targeted until Arizona's new laws. They do not know what it is like to continually have your residency or citizenship challenged, to be singled out and harassed solely due to race, to be always on edge in case someone mistakes you for being an "illegal" immigrant. I nearly couldn't enter a club because my passport had hand-written details! The new Arizona laws are a threat to our safety and wellbeing, and it appalls me that more UWP alum and staff aren't openly speaking up, but instead choosing to endorse Arizona's laws by staying silent.

Will UWPIAA's mere presence in Tucson make a difference to Arizona law? That depends - does anyone else in Arizona know about UWP beyond "the super religious happy clappy group"? Will there be direct community outreach especially to migrant communities in Arizona, with something more substantial than "let's plant some trees together"? Is UWP and/or UWPIAA preparing a statement to the Arizona government strongly condemning the recent laws, including their potential to alienate a large and growing chunk of the alumni base? Or is UWPIAA content to stick to tradition and not rock the boat - even when it disadvantages their alumni?

I would like to see the following from UWPIAA:

• A statement condemning the racist laws recently enacted within Arizona
• Plans to bring the reunions outside of Tucson (and outside the USA)
• Recognition that a lot of the newer crews, from about 2000 onwards, were majority non-American, and that more and more UWP alumni come from developing or underdeveloped countries that would end up suffering from the Arizona law
• A statement reaching out to other UWP alum like myself who cannot or will not attend reunions due to these laws, with plans on how they can still be involved with UWPIAA and reunite
• A stronger commitment to action to combat racism and inequality, either as UWP or UWPIAA, not just lip service or token gestures

UWP's motto is "bringing the world together". But maintaining the status quo and ignoring the massive amounts of privilege that make that possible only strives to pull the world apart. I am gutted to not be able to attend my first reunion, an event I had been looking forward to ever since my tour ended, for fear of my safety. Please recognise that many of us would like to attend the reunions if we could, and that we don't deserve to be ignored by UWPIAA just because we happen to have the wrong passport.

Thanks,

Tiara Shafiq
Crew Representative, WorldSmart Fall 2005