The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Redeemer Cup builds stronger ties
Redeemer Church: Soccer tournament fosters ties between refugees, Utica community
UTICA, N.Y. » On Aug. 18-19, the human rights advocacy organization Burma Task Force/Justice for All sponsored a team in the Redeemer Cup, a soccer tournament meant to foster ties among different communities in Utica. This year, the event was at Proctor Park in Utica, and 16 diverse teams competed.
The Redeemer Cup highlights the power of pluralism in the positive contributions and influences of the diverse refugee and immigrant population in Utica. Sponsored by the Redeemer Church, this tournament brought together dozens of immigrant and refugee groups in Utica. In addition to the team sponsored by Burma Task Force, there were 15 others who represented East Africa, Guatemala, Iraq, Rus- sia, Liberia, and more. The Burma Task Force team flew the U.N. flag, as some of its diverse refugee players are stateless
One of these players is Rohingya Khin Maung Tint, who played soccer in the Youth Division One in his home country Burma until authorities refused to let him play because of his ethnicity. Such discrimination is becoming more widespread in Burma, and his family has also received numerous death threats, especially after his marriage to a Burmese Buddhist. Recent Burmese laws have made such interfaith unions illegal.
Because the situation puts their whole family in danger, Tint and his family are applying for asylum.
“I amhappy to be part of a diverse team in partnership with the Midtown Utica Community Center.”
– Rohingya Khin Maung Tint
“I hope we will play well,” said Tint before the game. “My wife and son will be watching me play. I am happy to be part of a diverse team in partnership with the Midtown Utica Community Center.”
Burma Task Force is an NGO based in Chicago, with branches in Washington, New York, and Canada. This organization, with accreditation at the U.N., is working on behalf of the Rohingya, Kachin, and other minorities in Burma currently being persecuted. Together with sister organizations Faith Communities Against Genocide in Burma and Jewish Alliance of Concern Over Burma (JACOB), Burma Task Force is working to increase outreach to the Utica community.
Utica has a large Burmese population, though few Rohingya refugees. Despite their persecution by the Burmese authorities, U.S. refugee policies have not brought many Rohingya to the United States. But while their 7-year-old son is already fluent in English, husband and wife are taking classes to improve their command of the language. Both are educated, which is rare in the Rohingya community, as most of them have been systematically denied access to jobs, education, health clinics and voting rights. Burma has displaced hundreds of thousands of families through land grabbing, village burning and mass atrocities.
More than 1 million Rohingya have been forced into Bangladesh, and most likely tens of thousands have been killed since the latest round of displacement began in late August 2017. Additionally, the U.N. found that 52 percent of the Rohingya refugee women admitted to having been raped by the Burmese military, although the actual number is suspected to be higher. Both the U.S. and the U.N. have failed to place significant economic and political pressure on the perpetrators of this genocide or on the Burmese au- thorities responsible for serious abuses against other ethnic minorities, like the Kachin, Karen, and Shan peoples.