“Having duly considered the plight of the Ukrainian people in their native but foreign-occupied and enslaved Ukraine, we, representatives of American-Ukrainian political, fraternal and cultural organizations, convened in the Congress of American Ukrainians in Washington on, Friday, May 24, 1940, do regard it our privilege and duty, at this time when our kinsmen over there are gagged by their oppressors, to take a stand in defense of their right to free and independent national existence, and to declare that the Ukrainian people will never cease their centuries old struggle until they have achieved the establishment of a free, independent and democratic state of Ukraine.”
These are the words of the preamble of the first Memorandum of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, the nation’s oldest unifying assembly of Ukrainians and Ukrainian organizations. When our community’s fraternal associations – led by the Ukrainian National Association and including the Ukrainian Workingmen’s Association, Providence Association and Ukrainian National Aid Association – saw fit to convene such a congress, a host of socio-political, cultural, scholarly and regional associations – over 800 delegates – joined the movement to unite in spirit and deed to develop the political capital necessary to help our people.
And in 1940, the people of Ukraine needed all the help that could be mustered: the country having recently been decimated by genocide, and invaded by the forces of both Nazi and Soviet totalitarianism. Coming together to unite as one in our nation’s capital, the groundwork was laid for the eventual enactment of the federal law admitting displaced persons from Europe in the aftermath of World War II, which was adopted by Congress in 1948, and resulted in over 100,000 Ukrainians being admitted into the United States.
Since 1940, 20 further Congresses have come together quadrennially, continuing the UCCA’s goal of finding common ground across a politically and geographically diverse community. In the intervening 75 years, significant goals were realized:
• establishing the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee in 1944, which to this day continues to provide for the needs of Ukrainians affected by war and tragedy, coordinating efforts throughout the American diaspora with that of our sister organizations in the Ukrainian World Congress and the government of Ukraine;
• initiating the public law to erect a monument to Taras Shevchenko in Washington;
• initiating the government recognition of Captive Nations Week, recognizing all nations imprisoned under communist governments;
• initiating the publication of the only English-language scholarly journal on Ukraine for its time – The Ukrainian Quarterly – which continues to be published, and is consistently listed as one of the top sources of insightful analysis of Ukrainian and Central European affairs;
• promoting the establishment of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, which currently boasts a roster of 50 members of Congress;
• garnering annual resolutions in support of Ukraine’s independence by elected legislatures on the local, state and federal levels;
• advocating for a resolution in Congress granting federal land in Washington to erect a monument to the victims of Ukraine’s Genocide of 1932-1933 (Holodomor); and
• spearheading legislative efforts condemning Russia’s latest efforts to enslave Ukraine and the passage of the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014.
These accomplishments, and so many more, came to be through countless volunteer hours, including those of the UCCA leadership and its presidents – Nicholas Muraszko, Stephen Shumeyko, Dmytro Halychyn, Lev Dobriansky, Ignatius Bilinsky, Askold Lozynskyj, Michael Sawkiw and Tamara Olexy – who have guided this organization over the years. Together, Ukrainians in America accomplished many such goals for our Ukrainian homeland and the Ukrainian American community.
Perhaps some of you came to know our organization by registering for election monitoring in Ukraine. The UCCA has organized and led delegations of international election observers monitoring every presidential and parliamentary election in Ukraine since 1994, including the largest delegation of observers ever registered with Ukraine’s Central Election Commission (over 2,400) to monitor the 2004-2005 presidential elections.
Perhaps you own DVDs of Ukrainian historical films such as “Metropolitan Andrei” or “The Undefeated,” not knowing that the UCCA co-produced these films and others with director Oles Yanchuk, to educate the public about important Ukrainian historical events.
I have met many of you face-to-face through our Ukrainian Days of advocacy, where busloads of Ukrainians converge on Washington up to four times a year to personally ask our representatives and senators in Congress to support Ukraine through legislative initiatives.
In many ways, the work of Ukrainian Americans organizations is needed more now by our family and friends in Ukraine than in recent memory. And so the work of the UCCA continues, as we begin preparations for the 22nd Congress of Ukrainians in America in 2016. I believe we can look to 1940 and those early delegates for inspiration, finding common ground and purpose, and unity in making a stand for our kinsmen.
Andrij Dobriansky is an executive board member and media spokesman for the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (ucca.org), the largest organized representation of Americans of Ukrainian descent.