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How to be an anti-racist: How to craft policies that promote equity
Can public policies be racist? Can they disadvantage certain racial and ethnic groups while advantaging others? Yes, that is certainly what has happened in our country, for a very long time, argues Ibram X Kendi, in his book How to be an anti-racist. Given the moment of time we are in, with police violence on…
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Should we take down Christopher Columbus’s statues?
With the ongoing protests surrounding equality for Black and colored people, around the world; the question of monuments (including statutes) has come up, rather forcefully. Should we continue celebrating Christopher Columbus, who treated the Native Americans cruelly? Should we celebrate his ‘discovery’ of the Americas as a great event or something that took away much…
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“Where are you from” and other questions
In the U.S., ‘Where are you from’ can be a loaded question. It took me a while to realize this. It could range from : a) genuine curiosity about your origins b) ignorance about who you are OR c) An arrogant assumption that you are an ‘outsider,’ even if you are more ‘native’ than the person…
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Should We Get Rid Of The ‘Southern Mystique’?
There’s an old joke I heard in India, that the Southerners tell about the Northerners (I am a Southerner, from the city of Bangalore) and it goes: The only culture up North is ‘Agri’ culture. While seemingly innocuous and said as light-hearted banter, it does capture the stereotypes South Indians have about the Northerners. The…
