The crops swaying in the wind, The gushing canal watering the fields, Farms – India’s lifeline. Waking up at the crack of dawn, Tending to the fields, without complaining, Farmers – India’s lifeline. It was December 5, 2020. I was supposed to catch a flight to the US from New Delhi along with my family.…
Every time I go to visit my hometown, I have to hear, “You have gotten darker.” When I laugh and ask, “Why does the fairness of my skin matter?” I am being “rude” by not agreeing with the elders. Every time I go to visit my relatives, I am asked, “What is your height?” When…
In the early 2010s, APIDA representation in the media was‒frankly‒non-existent. It was nearly impossible to see somebody of APIDA descent in a major Hollywood film or in other forms of mass media. This lack of representation made many in the APIDA community accustomed to a mainstream culture dominated by whites that implied their narratives didn’t…
Officially, the model minority myth is the belief that all Asians are naturally high achieving. Unofficially, it meant that my childhood was a constant barrage of jokes about having to go to Harvard and become a doctor or lawyer. It meant stepping into a room and knowing that people already made assumptions about me and…
