Recently, the incredible Rosetta Thurman included me on her wonderful list of 32 Nonprofit & Philanthropy Blogs Written by People of Color – and I was incredibly honored and surprised by this gesture! Thanks again, Rosetta! But what was even more surprising to me was being clearly identified as a person of color!
In all honesty, my life experience has not shaped me to identify myself as a “person of color.” I moved to the U.S. at a young age from India, and since then have lived in safe suburban neighborhoods in a diverse region populated with immigrants and people of all different racial and ethnic backgrounds. In fact, although my parents worked extremely hard to rise up in this country, I have grown up in relative economic and political privilege. I grew up in the U.S. largely after the waves of hostility towards Indian-American immigrants had passed. Before my time, Indian immigrants were being called “dot heads” and other derogatory terms; by the time I got into middle school, I felt very integrated into my community and never experienced any hints of prejudice (or perhaps I was oblivious to it).
While I have a significant appreciation for the richness of Indian culture and the values my background imparted on me, I never felt fully Indian. I always loved American music, movies, television, history, politics, and books. I lived in a state and a town where I was literally surrounded by tons of other Indian Americans also growing up with a similar mix of Indian and American influences. I’ve always considered myself an American, and never felt singled out or ‘different’ because of my race throughout high school and my undergraduate years. I read about racism, and heard claims that “white people don’t know how lucky they are to be white,” but I never saw this in my own experience. Strange, but true. I was lucky. I never felt alone in forging my own unique racial and cultural identity.
Until now, that is. After graduation, I’ve chosen to enter the field of public interest, human rights, and civil rights law — a field with a conspicuous absence of Asian and Indian Americans. At a number of legal and civil rights non-profits I’ve worked at, I’ve been the only Indian American individual. Traditionally, South Asian Americans have leaned heavily towards the fields of science, medicine, technology, math, engineering, and finance. Of course, this is changing, and we are increasingly seeing more and more South Asians entering the fields of public interest law and politics as well. To name a few – Bobby Jindal, Nikki Haley, Fareed Zakaria, Kamala Harris, Mallika Dutt, Akhil Reed Amar, and many many more. Still, there is notably a lack of South Asian Americans in the non-profit sector; I see very few Indian Americans leading non-profit law firms or legal aid agencies. Most seem to be joining politics or academia.
Still, this is perhaps the first time in my life I have felt like a minority. My experience thus may be very different from the experiences of many others on Rosetta’s list, but I think she is absolutely right to encourage people of color to join the non-profit field. In particular, when it comes to the legal arena, we need more South Asians and Asian Americans to join the fight for human rights. After all, in many areas within public interest law – such as immigrant and refugee rights, fair housing, domestic violence, criminal justice, farmworker rights – our clients are poor people of color. It only makes sense for some of their attorneys to have a shared experience as a person of color. As the South Asian population grows in the U.S., we are going to need more lawyers who understand their language and the immigrant experience.
Ultimately, I hope that I can join a growing number of South Asian Americans who are venturing into the field of public interest law and politics despite the pressures to join the science, tech or business fields. While I have never before felt like a ‘person of color,’ Rosetta’s list reminded me that I am one after all — and that it’s becoming increasingly important to encourage South Asians to join the movement for social change. As we see the rise of more South American men and women to prominent public interest legal positions, I think we’ll see a broadening of perceptions within the South Asian community and an expansion of opportunities, passions, and ultimately – greater diversity within the non-profit legal field.
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