✊ I had to do something.

My name is Marpheen Chann, a board member at the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center and a volunteer organizer with Mainers for Accountable Leadership; and I had to do something.
In a recent blog post, I wrote:

I am a first-generation U.S. citizen born in California to a Cambodian refugee family. After we moved to Maine in the mid-90s, I was separated from my family and later adopted.

So when I first heard the story of a Congolese mother and how they took her daughter, without any explanation or justification, and detained her over 2,000 miles away; I had to do something.

When I heard of babies being ripped from their mothers arms, baby jails, and kids being kept in cages; I had to do something.

When I heard the audio of kids crying for their moms and their families, it reminded me of my first night in foster care when I made the same cries.

And I had to do something.

Thousands of Mainers came together from all over our big and beautiful state to say that we have zero tolerance for the Trump Administration’s zero tolerance policy and the separation of migrant children from asylum-seeking families.
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But now, we have to put our money where our mouth is by making a donation, signing up, and laying the groundwork to get out the vote this November and elect leaders who respect the will of the people.

These next few months and the 2018 Midterm Elections in November will be OUR referendum on the Trump Agenda; OUR moment to reaffirm our values as a society and as a people.

That is why we cannot afford to stay on the sidelines and sit out.

If President Trump’s separation of immigrant families makes you mad as hell, turn that anger into action.

If President Trump’s Muslim ban makes you mad as hell, turn that anger into action.

If the Trump administration’s attack on women’s rights makes you mad as hell, turn that anger into action.

If the Trump administration’s war on civil rights, human rights, voting rights and LGBTQ rights makes you mad as hell, turn that anger into action.

President Donald J. Trump is a clear and present danger to our democracy and it’s going to take OUR DEMOCRACY to fight back.
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This July 4th holiday, let's celebrate and declare our interdependence together as a community, as lights in the darkness in the fight to save the soul of America. Join me in taking action today.

Sincerely,
Marpheen Chann
Mainers for Accountable Leadership