There are around 13.5 million Uyghur Muslims worldwide, including 11.8 million in China, where they face severe persecution, and close to 9,000 in the United States.

“Local Uyghur school preserves language and culture amidst persecution in China,” by Lily Ogburn and Lance Wilhelm, Fairfax County Times, July 12, 2024:

When Irade Kashgary was a little girl, she fled East Turkestan with her parents out of fear they would disappear at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party like others in their town. Since leaving in 1999, they’ve never returned to their homeland.

East Turkestan, also called Xinjiang by the CCP, is home to the Uyghur people, a predominantly Muslim Turkic ethnic group. The Uyghurs have faced persecution for decades, but since Xi Jinping took power in 2013, the CCP’s oppression of the Uyghur people has heightened. Over the past few years, the CCP has forced the population to work in poor labor conditions, detained Uyghurs in internment camps, forcibly sterilized Uyghur women, and attempted to destroy the culture.

The Kashgary family’s heritage put them at risk in East Turkestan. They eventually settled in Fairfax, home to the largest population of Uyghurs in the U.S.

Uyghur advocacy in Northern Virginia and D.C.

Many Uyghurs left East Turkestan when the CCP intensified its persecution after the Ghulja Massacre in 1997, a major Uyghur protest of the CCP’s control of East Turkestan. When these Uyghurs came to the U.S., they wanted to advocate for their loved ones and their nation, prompting them to settle near Washington, D.C. Since then, the community has continued to grow.

Through this activism, Uyghur issues have recently gained traction in Congress. The Uyghur Policy Act, which seeks to better use U.S. resources and agencies to preserve Uyghur culture and pressure the Chinese government to end the CCP’s persecution, passed on Feb. 15 with overwhelming support in the House of Representatives.

For Kashgary, it is crucial that legislation like the Uyghur Policy Act passes while Uyghur issues are in the spotlight.

“We don’t know how the political spectrum is going to look like in the next 10 years,” Kashgary said. “So if we get these legislations passed while this issue is being really highlighted and focused on, then we can make a more permanent impact.”…