The Roles of Settings in Supporting Immigrants’ Resistance to Injustice and Oppression: A Policy Position Statement by the Society for Community Research and Action

• Published in: American journal of community psychology 2021-12, Vol.68 (3-4), p.269-291
• Main Authors: Buckingham, Sara L., Langhout, Regina Day, Rusch, Dana, Mehta, Tara, Rubén Chávez, Noé, Ferreira van Leer, Kevin, Oberoi, Ashmeet, Indart, Monica, Paloma, Virginia, King, V. Elizabeth, Olson, Bradley
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Decolonization; Empowering settings; Healing justice; Immigration; Oppression; Resistance; Settings
• ISSN: 0091-0562; 1573-2770
• DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12515

In 2018, in response to increasingly oppressive and widespread federal immigration enforcement actions in the United States (U.S.) and around the globe – including family separation, immigration raids, detention, deportation of people who have lived in the country for much of their lives – the Society for Community Research & Action produced a statement on the effects of deportation and forced separation on immigrants, their families, and communities (SCRA, 2018). The statement focused exclusively on the impacts of deportation and forced family separation, documenting the damage done by oppressive U.S. policies and practices. We felt it was imperative to document this harm, and yet were uncomfortable producing a narrow paper that focused solely on harm. There are multiple ways immigrants and their allies resist deportation and other forms of oppression. This resistance is done individually, collectively, and in settings that vary in size and scope, including community‐based, faith‐based, direct care, and educational settings, as well as entire municipalities and transnational organizing settings. Settings facilitate resistance in many ways, focusing on those who are oppressed, their oppressors, and systems of oppression. In this statement, we describe the unique and overlapping ways in which settings facilitate resistance. We situate this review of the scientific and practice literature in the frameworks of change through social settings, empowering settings, healing justice, and decolonization. We also document recommendations for continued resistance. Highlights Oppression of immigrants is organized, unrelenting, and embedded into all aspects of societies. Immigrants and allies resist oppression individually and collectively in overt and covert ways. Settings varying in size and scope can facilitate resistance through their structures and practices. Settings can focus on systems of oppression, oppressors, and those being oppressed. To facilitate resistance, settings must start by dismantling oppression within their own systems.