When a group is seen as less than human, others become desensitized even when a genocide is unfolding before their eyes as they scroll through social media. A genocide is exactly what is happening right now in Gaza, and it is vital we speak and show up for Palestinian lives. I recently got an opportunity to speak to Catt Knarr — Communications Director at the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights — about her time in Gaza and how to actively support the Palestinian cause.    Revisiting Gaza and the Stories That Continue to Haunt Its People  “I last visited Palestine in May 2 ..read more

By Meghana N. & Nikhil Dharmaraj We write this letter in a time of deep, continued emergency — an open letter to our community, fellow dominant-caste Indian Americans of Hindu descent. As we speak, there is a genocide happening on the ground in Gaza, Palestine. More than 825 bloodlines have been wiped from the family registry, more than 50% of homes have been flattened, the death toll is more than 11,500 (and rising) in the last month alone and a child is killed every 10 minutes. It is much too late, and yet the most urgent and precisely right moment to have this conversation. It is the mo ..read more

Every year on August 5th, the Sikh American community remembers one of our community’s most devastating tragedies in recent memory — the Oak Creek massacre. On this day in 2012, a white supremacist gunman entered the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, a gurdwara (Sikh house of worship) in Oak Creek, Wisconsin where he shot and killed six worshippers and severely injured others. This violent attack was the deadliest mass shooting targeting Sikh Americans in U.S. history, and at the time, was one of the worst attacks on a U.S. house of worship in decades. Six worshippers — Paramjit Kaur Saini, Sita Singh ..read more

6 min read In an age where algorithms dictate viewership, Nancy Jay uses her love of dance to propel herself onto TikTok’s “for you” pages. Jay is an Indo Guyanese, Bronx native who began dancing at the age of three. As an influencer and content creator, she amassed a social media following of more than 500,000. Versed in many styles of dancing including Caribbean, Bollywood, urban and Latin, Jay can be spotted in soca music videos such as Linky First’s “Rock and Come in” and “Jeune Femme,” Adrian Dutchin’s “Roll” and by soca king Machel Montano’s “Mami Lo Tiene.” Photo courtesy of Nancy Jay[R ..read more

3 min read There’s a reason brown girls aren’t allowed to date. Our parents know the stories of Sania Khan and Mandeep Kaur, two women of South Asian descent who were killed as a result of gender-based violence (GBV) just weeks apart. By many standards, Sania Khan did it “right.” She left an abusive marriage in Georgia, started a new life in Chicago and pursued her dream of photography. But Khan’s TikToks showed that it wasn’t as simple as divorce. She endured shame and isolation from the South Asian community. According to one of her videos, Khan was encouraged to “stay with someone because ..read more

7 min read Photo Credit: StockImageFactory.com via Shutterstock The Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012 was when I had to leave my bubble of naivety as a parent and come to terms with the harsh realities of living in the U.S.: Schools were not a safe place for children. The Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkman, Florida in 2018 and Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas school shooting in 2022 only further solidified this pattern. Schools are being targeted by shooters, and this could happen in any one of our communities. I realized that parents could do everything in their power to keep their own ..read more

3 min read Among the many taboo topics policed in conversations, one that particularly stands out is the topic of poverty. While most South Asians are stereotyped to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, there’s a massive population in this country, particularly in New York City’s meting pot — the hub for all immigrant communities — where a good majority are working class.  The number of Asian Americans living in poverty has increased by 15% in the past decade in the New York City Metropolitan area. The lack of dialogue on this issue is often perpetuated by the model minority myth. The stereoty ..read more

6 min read This past September, social media was flooded with backlash against an academic conference entitled “Dismantling Global Hindutva: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.” To those unfamiliar with the subject, the conference appeared to be a typical academic event: keynote speakers, hour long zoom sessions, university affiliations, and scholarly papers. Sponsored by over 49 universities across the world, a three-day global conference titled ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (DGH)’ aims to examine the ethno-nationalist ideology’s reverberations in India and the wor ..read more

4 min read Photo Source: Alexandros Michailidis via Shutterstock Narratives around what is currently unfolding in Afghanistan continue to centre around a largely accepted idea that Afghans have no one else to blame but themselves. Afghanistan armchair experts blame Afghan soldiers for the swift handover of power, pity the plight of Afghan women who are perceived as helpless and paint Afghan men as savage and barbaric. What these narratives fail to include are the nuances of how foreign interference, including from the U.S., U.K., NATO, Israel, House of Saud and Pakistan, have for decades direc ..read more

2 min read Photo by Drazen Zigic via Shutterstock.com I wrote “Here is the Thing, Mom” in 2017. This poem reflects the awkward and tense conversation about Black Lives Matter with immigrant parents, who often seem resistant to supporting race-based social justice causes. At the time of writing this poem, Colin Kaepernick was notorious for kneeling during the national anthem. I was a 49ers fan and was shocked at how his right to self-expression was stifled by the NFL. In those moments of disbelief, my mind kept going back to Travon Martin, Eric Garner, and so many others who were unjustly murde ..read more