San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
REFUGEES CARAVAN TO PROTEST VIOLENCE AGAINST CIVILIANS IN MYANMAR
As he witnesses from afar the growing unrest and violence in Myanmar, San Diego refugee Saw Htoo remembers well the fear and brutal force of the military he experienced as a youth and later as an adult in his home country before fleeing.
While he cannot return to the country he still knows as Burma, he decided to join with fellow refugees and other residents of City Heights in a caravan Saturday morning to show support for the civilians facing the same oppression. So far, at least 81 people have been killed — 10 of them on Saturday — during recent protests challenging Myanmar's Feb. 1 coup in which the military overthrew the country's fragile democracy.
Amid honking horns, some four dozen cars with protest signs affixed to doors and bumpers headed out to University Avenue as the rally participants hoped to raise awareness of the struggles faced by ethnic groups 8,000 miles away.
“What is happening in Burma is very painful for me, and I am here today because I want to demand democracy so the people there don't have to go through the persecution and violence I went through,” said Htoo, who fled Myanmar for Malaysia in 2007 and ultimately made his way to San Diego in 2014 with his wife and then two children. A former fisherman and farmer, he now works in the seafood department of 99 Ranch Market and also is an Uber driver.
“This is to show our support for the ethnic people of Myanmar regardless of ethnic status,” said Htoo, 41, “so they can gain democracy there and not have to go through this violence going on in Myanmar right now.”
The Karen Organization of San Diego, which provides support for the Myanmar refugee population here, helped put together the Saturday caravan. Rallies in other parts of the country, including St. Paul, Minn.; Syracuse, NY; and Nashville, Tenn., were also planned for Saturday. The organization estimates that more than 2,000 refugees from Myanmar have settled in City Heights.
“We are deeply concerned about the violence committed by the Burmese military against the citizens,” said April Moo, youth program coordinator for the Karen Organization, addressing the rally attendees in a City Heights parking lot. “People are protesting and marching, and because of this, more than 2,000 people are being detained. You are here today because you care about human rights. We cannot let the people of the world forget about the Myanmar people's struggle.”
Mya Khine, originally from Myanmar and now working as a housekeeper in a senior living community, said she too has great empathy for those still living in her home country and hopes that rallies like Saturday's caravan will persuade the U.S. government to extend a helping hand to the people living there.
On Friday, the Biden administration offered temporary legal residency to people from Myanmar who are already living in the U.S.
“I'm here because the military is killing the civilians,” said Khine, who explained that she and her husband fled Myanmar after her husband, who was in the military, was falsely arrested. They escaped to Malaysia in 2006 and nine years later came to San Diego, where they are raising two sons.
“I very, very much want to help my people in Myanmar,” she said, crossing her arms on her chest.
Viraj Ward, a recently retired schoolteacher, who for the last 10 years taught English to young people in the local refugee community, said she wanted to participate in the Saturday protest, in part, to support her former students. She earlier had taped a sign to her car stating, “Solidarity with people of Myanmar/burma. End military rule!”