You're invited to march with the Phagwah Social Justice Collective in the 37th Annual Phagwah Parade!
Date & Time: Sunday, March 23, 2025 | 11:00 AM
Meeting Location: Liberty Ave & 133rd Street, Richmond Hill, NY 11419 (in front of Sybil's Bakery)
Register here: http://bit.ly/PhagwahCollective2025
Volunteer with us: https://forms.gle/rsDYhdC4qaLB8hzE6
Parade Route: Starts at Liberty Ave & 133rd St, goes West on Liberty Ave, then North on 125th St & Ends at Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto Park (125th St & 95th Ave)
The Phagwah Social Justice Collective, led by the Caribbean Equality Project, is a coalition advocating for social, gender, and LGBTQ+ rights in the Indo-Caribbean and South Asian communities in Queens, New York, harnessing the Phagwah Parade (Holi) celebration to address issues like gender-based violence, immigrant justice, and LGBTQ+ and housing discrimination, promoting equity through a culturally responsive approach to social justice activism.
The 2025 coalition members include Chhaya Community Development Corporation, Jahajee, Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus, South Queens Women’s March, Sakhi for South Asian Survivors, Hindus for Human Rights, NYC Commission on Gender Equity, and NYC Commission on Human Rights. This year, we focus on uplifting messages to protect immigrants, trans people, and LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and advocate for the passage of the REACH Coalition’s AANHPI education bill to teach an inclusive curriculum in NYS. The 2025 Phagwah Social Justice Collective is supported by MetroPlus Health and Keeping It Classic Tassa Group.
It is free and open to all allies, but donations to support this work are welcome. You can donate here.
In 2019, the Caribbean Equality Project founded the Phagwah Social Justice Collective, a coalition of progressive community-based social, gender, and LGBTQ+ rights organizations and faith-based institutions. The collective marched in the 31st Annual Phagwah Parade in Richmond Hill, Queens, to continue advocating for an equitable Caribbean enclave that includes LGBTQ+ and women's rights, immigrant justice, the ending of gender-based violence, and trans justice, and to raise awareness of housing discrimination within the Indo-Caribbean and South Asian communities.
The mission of the Phagwah Social Justice Collective is to facilitate a progressive shift in the cultural landscape of South Queens' Indo-Caribbean and South Asian community around a number of issues affecting the most marginalized voices throughout New York City. Among the multiple-intersectional objectives of the collective are the resisting of systemic gender and sexual violence, the rejection of anti-immigrant narratives, the destigmatization of LGBTQIA+ community members, and the co-creation of a more equitable society at the neighborhood level. For the second consecutive year of the Phagwah Parade, the constituent organizations of this social justice coalition will focus on providing visibility to the community's resistance to sexual abuse, LGBTQIA-related phobias, patriarchy, housing discrimination, and other oppressive forces. The parade has been a pivotal opportunity to share our unifying solidarity message with the people most impacted by these forces and those responsible for perpetuating them.
To learn more about the history of the Phagwah Social Justice Collective, click here.
Holi, or 'Phagwah' throughout the Caribbean, is an ancient Hindu Spring festival known as the Festival of Colors. It celebrates unity, renewal, forgiveness, and new beginnings. It signifies the coming of spring, the joy of friendship, and equality for all. The colored powders used in Holi represent love, happiness, and the freedom to live vibrantly, all principles shared and promoted by the Phagwah Social Justice Collective coalition of community-based organizations and New York City agencies.
To learn more, email us at info@CaribbeanEqualityProject.org or phone us at (347) 709-3179.
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